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Marine Turtle Newsletter 52:2-3, © 2001

Sea Turtle Conservation Program in Brazil Expands Activities

Maria Ângela Marcovaldi
Inst. Brasileiro de Meio Ambiente, Projeto TAMAR, Av. Juracy Magalhaes Junior n° 608, Cep: 41930, Rio Vermelho, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

The Brazilian Sea Turtle Conservation Program (TAMAR) is in its tenth year of operation and is planning to expand its activities to encompass important foraging grounds where incidental catch is believed to be very high. TAMAR has been working for the last decade on the main nesting beaches, controlling some 500 km of coastline (Figure 1). As a result, nearly 200,000 hatchlings were released last year (Figure 2). The next step for the preservation of Brazilian sea turtles (Caretta, Chelonia, Dermochely, Eretmochelys, Lepidochelys) will be a special program in the main feeding areas, where TAMAR plans to establish ten more stations. The methodology will be similar to that in the nesting areas, where fishermen work together with researchers on the beaches to protect females and nests. For the new stations TAMAR is intending to hire shore-based fishermen, who usually set their nets near the beach, to rescue the sea turtles and change, if necessary, the position of their nets. They will work as local controllers in these regions. The program will also involve local University students for training.