August 2008


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Sea Chantey for an Ancient Mariner

“Sea turtles are extremely ancient reptiles with a particularly effective lifestyle, which includes aweinspiring ways of finding their way across the open ocean and back to the place they were born”

“I see turtle conservation as an incredible challenge”, explained UWI Professor Julia Horrocks, who has spent a lifetime dedicated to researching the sea turtles of the Caribbean. She is a Professor of Conservation Ecology, Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences in the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences at the Cave Hill Campus, Barbados.

Professor Horrocks is also the Director of the Barbados Sea Turtle Project and coordinator of WIDECAST Marine Turtle Tagging Centre, which provides training in tagging technologies and archives data for over 20 sea turtle projects in the Caribbean. Currently, her research is focused on investigating the stock structure, population ecology, nesting and migratory behaviour of hawksbills and green turtles in the Eastern Caribbean.

Although over the years several groups have made in-roads in conservation – by helping the public to understand the importance of these marine animals to our ecology, our world and ourselves - there is still work to be done. Every year, during the nesting season, there will be at least one unfortunate incident reported in the local media of leatherback turtles being slaughtered for their meat. There are similar challenges in Barbados. Through her research she has examined the effects of coastal development on the nesting behaviour of these turtles.

“I remember one female turtle assiduously clambering over a curb and making her way across a car park of a fast food restaurant, looking for somewhere to lay her eggs,” Prof. Horrocks explained.

Although she has been honored widely by several agencies and governments including being awarded both the Governor General’s Environment Award in 2001 and the prestigious Pew Marine Conservation Fellowship in 2004 to further her research, she remains both motivated and saddened by the effects that pollution, urbanization and coastal development have had on the turtle population.

“Sea turtles are extremely ancient reptiles with a particularly effective lifestyle, which includes aweinspiring ways of finding their way across the open ocean and back to the place they were born…the gentle persistence of these animals trying to complete their life cycles on beaches lined with hotels and cluttered with beach chairs and umbrellas, both moves and motivates me.” (AWH)