NOVEMBER 2008

HATCH has been very busy over the past few months.  Below is a list of updates:

1.) HATCH and Hlami Association for Turtle Conservation and Hope are now registered in the state of Florida as a non-profit organization.  We have identified a board of directors that include professional scientists that have experience with sea turtle conservation, public education, grant writing, and management.

2.) Last year we did two things to help promote the ecotourism possibility in Ada Foah: we had our project prominently described in the Bradt Travel Guide to Ghana and we passed out brochures to hotels in Accra.  Since doing these two things, the Ghana Wildlife Division has reported Ada Foah received more tourists in 2008 than in any previous year.  Most of these visitors (international tourists and Ghanaians) came to Ada Foah to watch a nesting sea turtle.  The hotel and restaurant owners have seen increased business and are hopeful that more people continue to visit the area.

3.) We have acquired enough support from NOAA to purchase two four-wheel ATVs, a commercial freezer, and a gas generator for the field station.  The US Navy is kindly shipping the ATVs and freezer from the US with an expected delivery of February 2009.  HATCH is going to work closely with NOAA to initiate marine mammal surveys in the region.

4.) The field site will be visited by students from Western Washington University in December 2008 as part of a National Science Foundation funded Study Abroad program.  The fifteen undergraduate students will work closely with HATCH to assist in sea turtle nesting surveys and to analyze the integration of the community into our conservation efforts.

5.) Andy Agyekumhene has mostly completed his thesis work at the University of Ghana, but he will be back for another season this year.  He will be joined by two graduate students from Florida Gulf Coast University: Sarah Funk and Andee Naccarato.  They will begin their thesis research while working on the beach in Ada Foah.

Phil Allman is visiting Ghana in December and will stay at the field site for one month.  We have a lot of things planned for this coming season so please continue watching our updates page for more information on the 2008-09 nesting season.......our third season in Ada Foah!!!

JUNE 2008

    Click on this link to help protect endangered monkeys of West of Africa:

               Tanoe Swamps Forest

MAY 2008

    Andy continues to monitor the beach for nesting sea turtles; however, only a few sea turtles have nested since the end of February.  We are now entering a low period for nesting activity so Andy is concentrating his efforts the community education programs and his thesis research.

    Andy and a few other students from the University of Ghana participated in an observer training program sponsored by the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  We are now working closely with NOAA and hope to establish collaborative work that will include marine mammal surveys in the area.

    We have sold a lot of t-shirts over the past few months and continue to get emails of support from international travelers as well as Ghanaians.  The money earned will fund school and community education programs through 2008 and will allow us to purchase one or two public education billboard signs.  Thank you for your support and we hope you and your friends will continue showing support in the future. 

FEBRUARY 2008

    Megan has now left Ghana after volunteering for almost three months in Ada Foah.  While in Ghana, she assisted Andy with his masters research (see RESEARCH section), conducted nesting surveys as part of the tagging program, and helped advertised the sea turtle walks.  Her and Andy distributed brochures to hotel owners in Ada Foah as well as in Accra.  The brochures were a success, the Ghana Wildlife Division conducted more sea turtle walks this past nesting season than any season prior.  Additionally, the sea turtle walks were requested not only international travelers but also domestic tourists that read the brochures in Accra.

    Andy continues his research and is collecting some important data concerning predation rates and hatching success on this beach.  He is also finding some interesting correlations with beach profile and nesting sites.  These data were recently presented at the Sea Turtle Symposium (annual meeting of the International Sea Turtle Society).  Andy will continue the nesting surveys until November 2008 and provide us with the first year-long nesting data from Ada Foah.

    We are already starting to think about next year and are hoping to raise more money to purchase an ATV motorbike and be able to support two volunteers during the 2008-2009 nesting season.  If you are interested in participating in our sea turtle conservation efforts then please contact Phil Allman and be sure to keep an eye on the job board at seaturtle.org. 

    I would like to acknowledge the wonderful work by: Emmanuel Tetteh Kuhameh

                http://www.fredd66.com/GBH/CREATE2/index.htm

    Emmanuel owns a beach-front hotel in Accra and is very concerned with the number of turtles that are slaughtered and sold to a nearby restaurant.  He is using profits from his hotel to purchase the turtles from the poachers before they are killed.  He then paints them and releases them with the understanding from the poachers they will not kill any turtles with paint on them.  This is certainly not a long-term solution to the problem of poaching; however, it is something and it is working for now.  He is hoping to increase his business by sharing his story with tourists that visit Ghana.  If you visit Ghana and would like to support his work, please visit the above webpage for contact information.  We wish him the best and are grateful for his efforts and interest in saving Ghana's sea turtles.

NOVEMBER 2007

I made a quick trip to Ghana and met with Ghana Wildlife Division and the University of Ghana to ensure that everyone was organized for the 07-08 nesting season.  The biggest news to share is that all necessary parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that gives the house over to the Department of Fisheries and Oceanography at the University of Ghana.  The house will now officially be used for our sea turtle research program and for any other research projects conducted by students or faculty of the University of Ghana or any institution around the globe that enters into a collaborative effort.

Megan McSherry, our volunteer for the 07-08 season, arrived while I was in Ghana.  She is helping Andy Agyekumhene and George Baffour (two graduate students from the University of Ghana) with their research and the tagging surveys.  She will also work closely with the Ghana Wildlife Division to continue the education work in the classroom and in the communities.

The week-long trip was too short, but did give me ample time to make sure everyone is organized and know what they are going to be doing during this nesting season.  Andy has already started his project and George will begin very soon.  They are both presenting a poster at the upcoming meeting for the International Sea Turtle Society in Baja California, Mexico.  As a group, we submitted four abstracts for this important meeting. 

Megan also plans to send me routine field updates for me to share with everyone.  You can click on the link above (in the green) to follow her field updates through the current nesting season.  I hope you will check the website often for continuous updates as well develop the program and the site.  Thank you for your interest and support for sea turtle conservation in West Africa.

FIELD UPDATE -- February 9, 2008

After some time off spent traveling through Ghana and Burkina Faso, I have just finished up my last week on the beach. I am very sad to be leaving here and wish very much that I could stay longer to continue looking for turtles and assisting Andy with his research and also working to expand our education efforts. I have had an amazing time getting to know Ghana and Ada Foah and learning a lot about one of the most fascinating animals on this planet. I am very thankful to Phil, Dr. AK Armah, the Department of Oceanography and Fisheries of the University of Ghana, HATCH, the Ghana Wildlife Division, and Andy for making this opportunity possible and for helping make my time in Ghana so wonderful. Thanks so much!

Our last week, while similar to previous weeks in terms of low nesting activity, was punctuated by one olive ridley sighting. We found the turtle as it was digging the body pit and happily, we were able to count and measure the eggs as well as fit the turtle with two shiny new metal tags. It was great to tag one last turtle before heading home although we really wish we could have tagged more this season.

We also made it to our first and sadly, my last, education program in a local school this week. We accompanied the Ghana Wildlife Division officers and observed as Dickson Agyeman, the chief officer, gave the presentation we helped to develop. It was a lot of fun and the kids seemed to get a lot out of it. They asked great questions. In addition, a class from the Department of Oceanography and Fisheries from the University of Ghana joined us on a walk one night to learn about the turtles and the work we are doing here.

Well it was a pleasure working here and writing for this blog. If anyone has any questions or comments, feel free to email me at megan.mcsherry@gmail.com.

FIELD UPDATE -- January 19, 2008

Regrettably, there is not much good news to report regarding the tagging. We have seen very few nests since last writing and tagged only two more olive ridleys. It seems the leatherbacks have stopped nesting altogether and while it looked like the ridleys were starting up again several weeks ago, we have seen only one new nest since the first two.

                                                                                 

However, we have been very busy with other activities since writing last. We were able to visit a nearby island where the community is working with the Ghana Wildlife Division on various conservation and ecotourism projects. Later we worked with the Wildlife Division officers to develop an education presentation on wetlands and biodiversity conservation with a focus on sea turtles. We had intended to meet with one community this week but unfortunately, the presentation was cancelled. We hope to reschedule it as soon as possible and to also start scheduling programs in the schools now that they have reopened. We also did a daytime survey looking for nests and tracks on the beach west of where we regularly walk. We started at the Songor Lagoon and ended at the Cocoloko Beach Resort. We saw 4 leatherback nests and 2 olive ridley nests, both of which were found depredated. In addition we conducted this month's beach profiling on Saturday, January 19th with the help of a member of a local community member. Finally, we went through our data to find the locations of nests that should be ready to hatch and have begun checking them on our nightly surveys. On three occasions we dug up nests that were over 70 days old and found that the eggs had indeed hatched. Sadly, we also found several of the olive ridley nests to be depredated. We are yet to find hatchlings on the beach but are hopeful that we will soon as more nests reach the time to hatch.

FIELD UPDATE -- DECEMBER 22, 2007

FIELD UPDATE -- DECEMBER 9, 2007

The turtle tagging season in Ada Foah has started out slow but with a few exciting, turtle-filled nights thrown in. For the first week, we encountered dozens of nests yet no turtle. Finally, on Monday the 26^th, we encountered our first turtle- a big, beautiful leatherback, just as we stepped onto the beach. She was digging the egg chamber when we met her and we patiently waited for her to finish digging and then drop the eggs before coming up behind her to tag our first turtle of the season. We then watched her spend about a half an hour disguising the nest before slowly making her way back to the sea. Afterwards, we set about counting the eggs and measuring and weighing a sample of 25 of them. Not long after that first encounter and farther down the beach that same night, we managed to tag four more turtles, all olive ridleys. One was almost to the water after coming out for a non-nesting emergence when we caught up to it. We were luckily able to get a hold of it long enough to tag it and take its measurements. All in all, it proved to be a very exciting, albeit long, night! It was followed by another night of being able to tag three more turtles: 1 leatherback and 2 olive ridleys. Since then though there has been somewhat of a lull in nesting activity. However, early in the morning on December 5, with the help of Seidu, a Wildlife Division officer who was out on the beach with a couple of tourists and alerted us to the turtle’s presence, we were able to tag our third leatherback and a few days later our fourth. We are hopeful that things will start to pick up again early next week.

Andy and I have also been keeping busy with outreach activities as well. We spent one Saturday walking around Ada Foah delivering brochures to the local hotels and guesthouses highlighting opportunities for turtle walks. The managers agreed to post the brochures on their notice boards for interested tourists to see. The information sharing has already begun as a few tourists taken for walks by the Wildlife Division had learned about the opportunity through the brochures. Andy and I, together with the Wildlife Division officers, also met with the Ada Foah Hotel Commission and discussed with them the tourism appeal of promoting sea turtle walks. We explained to them how important it was to direct interested tourists to the Wildlife Division to ensure the proceeds went back into sea turtle conservation efforts. Many of them were unaware even that the beach in Ada Foah held such possibilities and were delighted to learn that promoting turtle walks will help attract business. More recently this past weekend, Andy and I traveled to Accra to distribute brochures to some of the hotels and tourist-visited restaurants there. We also gathered information from the local hotels in Ada Foah on rates and contact information to be included on the website and on hand at the Wildlife Division office for people interested in coming to see the turtles. Next weekend with Mr. Armah from the University of Ghana, we hope to meet with some of the local fishermen to discuss the importance of protecting sea turtles and to inform them of ways that they can help.