Annual report

Living Planet Report

WWF’s Living Planet Report, released every two years, is a leading science-based analysis on the health of our planet and the impact of human activity upon it. The Living Planet Report 2014 detailed alarming declines in biodiversity, showing species populations falling by half between 1970 and 2010. It also showed that humanity, particularly in developed nations, continues to make unsustainable demands on nature.

This special edition takes a deeper look into these ndings, and their implications, for the marine realm. Data on marine ecosystems and human impacts upon them is limited, re ecting the lack of attention the ocean has received to date. Nevertheless, the trends shown here present a compelling case for action to restore our ocean to health. 

Carmabi’s mission is to work towards a sustainable society, in which the sustainable management of nature
leads to benefits that future generations can also enjoy. All parts of our community should be involved in this
process.
Our primary goals are therefore:
• To conduct or facilitate research to support effective nature management, nature conservation, nature
restoration, and nature development;
• The acquisition, conservation, protection, management, restoration and development of natural areas in the
broadest sense, including objects or places of value to geology, history and/or archaeology;
• To create awareness within the community, especially school children, regarding the contribution they can
make to achieve sustainable development on Curaçao.
 
Retrieved from http://www.carmabi.org on April 13, 2015

Throughout 2008 the staff and board of Nature Foundation St. Maarten undertook a range of
activities addressing both core management of the Marine Park as well as several projects.
One new staff member joined the Nature Foundation in 2008; Etienne Lake was employed as
the new Marine Park Ranger. The majority of staff capacity (53%) was used on management,
office and field administration. Information-Education-Outreach accounted for 28% of staff
capacity and working with stakeholders accounted for 8% of staff capacity in 2008
The most significant ongoing issue facing Nature Foundation is the lack of legislation to protect
the marine environment. The Marine Environment Ordinance would not only give legal
protection to the Marine Park it would also allow the Foundation to begin charging users of the
marine park. Despite repeated promises the ordinance remains ungratified.
One significant improvement in 2008 was that the Nature Foundation was able to purchase
much needed equipment and materials including engines, purchased in 2007 which have been
mounted onto the re-furbished Marine Park Boat, a brand new work shop close to the boat
launch, a new truck and dive equipment.
Two important documents were produced in 2008: 2007 Annual Report and St. Maarten
Proposed Land Parks Management Plan. Office administration was carried out by all staff
members to some extent – accounting for the time staff spend working with computers, filing
and on other office tasks. 3 % of the total staff time spent working in the year was spent on
formal patrols within the MPA, and 6 % was spent by staff on maintenance tasks, with mooring
maintenance taking a significant amount of time. Monitoring of beaches for sea turtle nesting
took place with the help of volunteers.
Nature Foundation St. Maarten continues to work with 16 different stakeholder and partner
groups. This includes the manager being an active member of DCNA, working with other NGO’s
on the island and involving school groups in environmental work.
The staff of Nature Foundation St. Maarten have been busy working on the new foundation
website, press releases, radio programmes and television programmes about the activities of
Nature Foundation. ‘The Foundation Update’ Newsletter was published 4 times in 2008.
The Manager of Nature Foundation St. Maarten, Beverly Mae Nisbeth attended both DCNA
Board meetings in 2008. Staff members also travelled, taking part in staff exchanges with the
other DCNA islands, as well as attending a WIDECAST meeting in St Kitts.
 
Retreived from http://www.naturefoundationsxm.org on april 13, 2015

2005 was a very successful year for Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire as we built upon the accomplishments of 2004. In all the program areas, staff and volunteers worked hard to move us forward in pursuit of our mission: to ensure the protection and recovery of Bonaire’s sea turtle population throughout their range.

On the research front, we observed sea turtle nesting in 2005 at lower levels than during 2004, with a total of 61 nests recorded for all the beaches of Bonaire and Klein Bonaire. The in-water surveys on the turtle foraging grounds yielded a total of 105 turtles handled, of which 21 were recaptures from 2003 and 2004. Satellite tracking of breeding turtles was again a success, with four turtles fitted with transmitters: three on hawksbills and one on a loggerhead turtle, all at Klein Bonaire. We successfully followed all tracked turtles during their long-distance migrations to their foraging grounds. We generated daily maps and gave relevant information via our newsletter to the public, creating awareness about the situation of the sea turtles around the globe.

In the area of education and public awareness, our year long education and outreach campaign that started in 2004 and done in collaboration with the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance, STINAPA Bonaire, and Coral Resource Management was completed. The very successful and well-received campaign focused on sea turtles and provided a year of constant attention through the distribution of newsletters, posters, flyers, buttons, school and community presentations, beach clean-ups and press releases. Our regularly scheduled ‘Sea Turtles of Bonaire’ slide presentation continued to draw the interested public. During the year, we generated a record number of press releases in our effort to bring attention to sea turtle conservation and alert the public to vital issues.

This last year we were able to take a step forward in the organizational arena. Our staff team grew with the addition of Dr. Robert van Dam as our Scientist Coordinator, Eric van der Keuken as our financial advisor and accountant, and a part-time field assistant. Volunteer support and assistance was significantly increased with the addition of three new island residents contributing their time and talents in a consistent fashion. We were also contacted by scores of people offering to assist on an ad-hoc basis.

Our website and electronic newsletters became important and very effective tools for us to share information about the endangered sea turtles and inform about our continuing efforts to protect these animals.

We focused our 2007 work on six objectives designed to help us achieve our mission:

• Science - Improved understanding of sea turtle biology through research in order to guide conservation efforts in benefit of these endangered species.
• Conservation - Effective management and conservation of Bonaire’s sea turtles and their habitats, resulting in improvements in environmental policy; law and enforcement that ensure conservation and recovery; clean nesting sites; and abundant, high quality foraging habitats.
• Education and Public Awareness - Increased public awareness of, and concern for, sea turtle conservation, resulting in increased volunteerism and participation in conservation policy, action and advocacy.
• Training and Collaboration - Provision of training and collaboration opportunities for conservation volunteers and workers that results in increased capacity, locally and throughout the region, for sea turtle conservation efforts.
• Fund Development - Increased financial investment, both public and private, in support of the protection and recovery of Bonaire’s sea turtle populations.
• Organizational Development - Development, maintenance, and use of systems and resources that facilitate effective operation of the organization 

Our 2008 work plan focused on the following objectives to help us achieve our mission:

• Science - Improved understanding of sea turtle biology through research in order to guide conservation efforts in benefit of these endangered species.
• Conservation - Effective management, conservation and advocacy on behalf of Bonaire’s sea turtles and their habitats, resulting in improvements in environmental policy, law and enforcement that ensure conservation and recovery; clean nesting sites; and abundant, high quality foraging habitats.
• Education and Public Awareness - Increased public awareness of, and concern for, sea turtle conservation, resulting in increased volunteerism and participation in conservation policy, action and advocacy.
• Training and Collaboration - Provision of training and collaboration opportunities for conservation volunteers and workers that results in increased capacity, locally and throughout the region, for sea turtle conservation efforts.
• Fund Development - Ongoing public and private financial investment in support of the protection and recovery of Bonaire’s sea turtle populations.
• Organizational Development - Development, maintenance, and use of systems and resources that facilitate effective operation of the organization. 

In 2010, we completed our 8th year of systematic research on the sea turtles of Bonaire. In this report you will read about the methods and results of our sea turtle research and monitoring activities, including nesting beach monitoring, foraging ground surveys, and turtle migration tracking.

Four of the Wider Caribbean’s six species of sea turtles are found in the waters of Bonaire. They are: the hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbracata), the green turtle, (Chelonia mydas), the loggerhead (Caretta caretta), and the leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea). The hawksbill and leatherback are considered “critically endangered” throughout their global ranges; and the green and loggerhead considered “endangered”. Bonaire offers a relatively safe haven for foraging juvenile hawksbill and green turtles, as well as critical nesting grounds for hawksbill, loggerhead, green, and the occasional leatherback.