Impact case study database

The loggerhead sea turtles of the Cabo Verde islands represent 20-25% of the global population of this endangered species, making their protection of local and global importance to ensure the species’ survival. The sea turtles face direct threats via coastal development, bycatch from fisheries, tourism and illegal poaching for meat. However, because each island is exposed to its own set of human pressures, designing an effective approach to the turtles’ conservation is challenging. A citizen-science research project, led by Dr. Eizaguirre, has transformed the strategy for protecting the sea turtle populations on Cabo Verde, leading to a dramatic increase in turtle numbers on the islands, of benefit to local people, tourists from around the world and to global efforts to conserve biodiversity. By engaging local organisations and communities, the researchers have built capacity for conservation work, raised public awareness of the importance of conserving sea turtles, and created new economic opportunities for the people of Cabo Verde.

A new strategy for conserving loggerhead sea turtles informed by research

Eizaguirre’s team identified the importance of Cabo Verde’s small nesting groups through the discovery of unique genetic diversity and patterns of behaviour. This knowledge has led to a new turtle conservation management strategy - previously protection had focused on the main nesting group on Boa Vista, the island with the highest nesting density, and smaller groups were neglected. Maria Silva, Director of the Institute of Marine Research (IMar) says: “his [Eizaguirre’s] nationwide genetic research has shown that the loggerheads of Cabo Verde are divided in small genetic-diverse groups, stressing that the need for the protection of small sea turtle populations, like the one in Sao Vicente, is of national interest...This has contributed to increase the efforts and funds invested to protect the species” [5.1]. The new conservation strategy to protect all turtle groups, including small populations, has led to the deployment of night patrols to new beaches during the nesting season, involving military personnel and local communities. These night patrols are led by ‘Ambassadors’ (see below), trained by Eizaguirre with the University of Cabo Verde and IMar, working closely with local NGOs.

The Director of Cabo Verde’s National Environment Office says: “Dr Eizaguirre…has formed the first sea turtle conservation initiative in Cabo Verde to coordinate the collection of data, using standardised protocols, across all islands of the archipelago. As a result of this work and research, we now know that the Cabo Verde nesting aggregation is composed of many nesting groups that need specific protection. This knowledge has resulted in the development of local initiatives to protect those nesting groups” [5.2]. As a result of increased turtle recruitment to beaches and research-informed conservation strategies now in force across Cabo Verde, turtle numbers have soared across all islands (Figure 1). For example, in 2007 there were estimated to be 3,133 turtles on Boa Vista, but by 2020 this had risen to 41,965. Indeed across all islands, populations are growing fast, including the small, rare and most threatened unique nesting groups on Sao Vicente, where nesting turtle numbers have risen from 28 turtles in 2009 to >700 in 2020 [5.1].

In 2017, Eizaguirre’s research attracted interest from ‘Explorations de Monaco’, an initiative led by Prince Albert of Monaco, which improves knowledge, management and conservation of the oceans. At a meeting in September 2017, Prince Albert, Dr Eizaguirre, the Director of the National Directorate of Environment and all NGO leaders working to protect turtles in Cabo Verde, discussed new strategies for sea turtle conservation in Cabo Verde informed by Eizaguirre’s research [5.3]. At the meeting, a joint report was presented to Prince Albert of Monaco and discussed with the President of the Republic of Cabo Verde, Mr. Fonseca [5.4]. The report is now the guideline for conservation of sea turtles in the country, with the initiative being the first to produce national standardised protocols in sea turtle conservation [5.2].

Building capacity in sea turtle conservation work

In 2013, Eizaguirre established a community-based citizen-science conservation programme to help protect the loggerhead turtles. Being one of the largest conservation programmes for marine megafauna in the world, it has engaged with 24 coastal communities, recruited more than 300 local volunteers and trained 36 Cabo Verde University students (“Ambassadors”) in sea turtle conservation. Of these Ambassadors, 24 have subsequently been employed by NGOs and 10 have permanent management roles in conservation [5.1, 5.5, 5.6]. The Director of the National Environment Office says: “The coordinated efforts across islands has built local capacity and empowered a team of national students and conservationists that have now become leaders of conservation initiatives or have found a professional career within conservation-related organisations. Nowadays, being a sea turtle conservationist is recognised as a professional opportunity for many young people” [5.1]. The programme was a finalist at the UK National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement awards in 2016.

Establishing an alternative economic model for the people of Cabo Verde

As well as helping to reduce poaching, the citizen-science programme has enabled local people to find alternative sources of income to poaching. Specifically, on the island of Maio, 11 coastal communities have generated income through conservation and employment, amounting to ~EUR70,000 between 2016-2019. These are substantial sums, given an average salary is GBP250 per month. Thus the new income alleviates poverty [5.5].

Now that poaching has decreased and nesting populations are growing, eco-tourism has been established as an alternative economic model for local people, helping to further secure the sustainability and growth of turtle populations. In 2019, two agreements were signed between a local conservation group and two eco-tourism companies, enabling tourists to visit nesting beaches on the island of Sao Vicente. These beaches now have larger numbers of turtles and predictable turtle activity, so tourists can enjoy observing this animal in its natural habitat [5.1].

Enabling local NGOs to access new international conservation funds

Eizaguirre and colleagues’ discovery that the distribution of genetic diversity and population structure of the Cabo Verde turtle aggregation is not uniform contributed to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) decision to adjust its assessment of the Cabo Verde population in 2015. At a global level, the status of the loggerhead turtle is ‘Vulnerable’, but locally this status was elevated to ‘Endangered’, which means that Cabo Verde NGOs can continue to access vital international conservation funds. For example, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the MAVA foundation protects small nesting groups with strategic funding [5.5, 5.6] and provides new financial support worth >GBP805,000 to fund the night patrols on nesting beaches [5.1, 5.5, 5.6].

Increasing knowledge transfer in sea turtle conservation

To provide a reliable census of sea turtles and their nesting on Cabo Verde, Eizaguirre developed a field protocol that allows the status of nesting groups on different islands to be compared [5.5, 5.7]. The director of Project Biodiversity, an NGO operating on the island of Sal, says: “Standardising the field protocols…for the first time made possible country-wide comparisons facilitating knowledge transfer which was previously impossible” [5.6]. In 2019, Project Biodiversity presented a report drawing on evidence of the spatial distribution of turtles that challenged a new Tourism Land Use Management Plan [5.6]. The report showed that loggerhead turtles were using a small coastal area that was not protected and was therefore vulnerable to development plans. The report highlighted the importance of this local population, leading to a review of the Tourism Land Use Management Plan. Eizaguirre’s data are summarised in a publicly available database, TurtleBase [5.8], the largest database of a marine megafauna to date, with data on >6,000 individual tagged turtles, genomic resources and stable isotope information. This resource is providing accurate information that can be used to inform nationwide strategies for the conservation of sea turtles. As of 31 December 2020, TurtleBase has been viewed 1,898 times and generated 231 downloads.

Engaging young people to secure the future of loggerhead sea turtles

Eizaguirre and colleagues have used their research for diverse public engagement activities. In 2017 and 2018, 2,000 booklets for children about turtle conservation, funded by Explorations of Monaco, were distributed by conservation NGOs in Cabo Verde to primary schools on Boa Vista, Maio, Sal and Sao Vicente [5.9]. These booklets explain the societal value of turtles over their economic value gained by poaching. In 2019, with the UK company Wolf in Motion, Eizaguirre developed a research-based virtual reality experience, called Atlantis, which simulates the experience of swimming with a turtle [5.10]. More than 3,000 children and adults in the UK, Spain and Cabo Verde have experienced Atlantis [5.1, 5.5].