One Turtle Saved

Fifteen years ago the hawksbill sea turtle in my hands would have been hog-tied, whisked hundreds of miles, slaughtered and carved into trinkets. 

Now, it swims free. 

On Baja’s Pacific coast, an adult male hawksbill sea turtle found its way into a fisherman’s net. In the past, for the fisherman anyway, such a thing would have been considered a stroke of good luck. The endless demand for turtle meat, eggs, skin and shell on the black market can provide a nice payday to anyone willing to endure the low-level risk of being caught. 

Hawksbill turtles, once common, are now the rarest of the rare due to decades of being hunted for their beautiful shells, which get carved into combs, broaches, and other adornments. 

These days, however, a Mexican grassroots conservation movement called GrupoTortuguero.org has challenged the old ways and shaken things up a bit. A network of thousands of fishermen, women and children count themselves among its ranks.

Among the fishermen working to save turtles, is Julio Solis, featured in this short film.


Julio Solis, A MoveShake Story from RED REEL on Vimeo.

Wallace J. Nichols, Brad Nahill, and the team at SEE Turtles and SEEtheWILD chronicle efforts to save endangered sea turtles in the inaugural issue of WildHope, their new online magazine.

Burt Talks to the Bees

Via the Sustainable Brands newsletter:

Burt’s Bees is collaborating with artists and experts at the Pollinator Partnership to generate greater public awareness about the importance of honeybees to agriculture and the threats they face.  

For such small, short-lived creatures, bees do a lot of heavy lifting to keep life on Earth in balance. In fact, an estimated one-third of the food on Earth depends on pollination by bees. Because they are instrumental to biodiversity, they are what scientists call indicator species, functioning as an alarm system for the health of ecosystems.  

... 

Nearly every scientist agrees that all bees need nesting habitats and a variety of healthy flower food to thrive - and they’re in short supply. Humans have used up all the land - we've planted crops from field edge-to-edge, lawns from yard to yard (no bee food there), and fancy ornamental plants where once scruffy natives used to stand. In most agricultural settings today, bees find only one kind of food for days and weeks on end, which is unhealthy (and perhaps boring) for the insects.  

...  

This June for National Pollinator Week, Burt’s Bees will premiere "Burt Talks to the Bees", a series of three short films created by Isabella Rossellini, actor, director and Burt impersonator. The films introduce the bees - the queen, the workers and the drones - in an effort to make viewers more sympathetic to their plight. 

The first in the video series introduces us to worker bees and how honey is made. The Sustainable Brands piece outlines many of the reasons we are active in advancing the scientific understanding of pollinators and reviving the tradition of meliponiculture.

Help Fight Fire with Fire

We echo the Nature Conservancy in saying that our hearts go out to those affected by the wildfires burning up the American West.

Just as we asked for your help raising money to plant trees in the wake of the fire at the La Flor Wildlife Refuge, the Nature Conservancy is asking for your help restoring forests to reduce the risk of megafires.

As the Nature Conservancy's newsletter points out, "a new study looking back 1,500 years found no evidence for the kind of 'megafires' we are experiencing today. These large, severe wildfires are a new modern reality."

What is to blame for the new reality?

Summarizing last year's big wildfires, the Nature Conservancy's Jon Schwedler explained that "changing temperatures have simultaneously dried out forests and extended the living season for bugs that weaken our trees."

Paso Pacifico founder and director, Sarah Otterstrom, has been studying fires and forests for over a decade. A fire ecologist with an emphasis on climate change, Otterstrom is among the scientists paying attention to the links between carbon emissions and extreme weather events. Otterstrom's studies and her commitment to protecting wildlife habitat and biodiversity, are why Paso Pacifico works to mitigate climate change through reforestation in Nicaragua.

Jaguar & Her Cub Spotted on Colombian Plantation

From NatGeo DailyNews:

Jaguars currently live in isolated populations scattered across North and South America, which is part of the reason the species is listed as "near threatened" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

...

Usually, just one jaguar cub survives in a litter, so seeing two cubs alive and well is "heartwarming," he said. (Take a big cats quiz.) 

It's "important to note" that the camera traps were located on the plantation border, next to a well-preserved forest.

View more pictures (courtesy of NatGeo and Panthera) here.

Rio +20

Our friends at the International Institute of Tropical Forestry present a peek inside the Rio +20 Earth Summit, from a unique perspective, that of one of their students:

"In  1992 I was one year old, I was learning to be a person, walk, talk, eat etc. I had no idea that there was an Earth summit or even a UN."

You can follow the adventure on her blog.

Panthera’s Camera Traps Capture Jaguars On Colombian Oil Plantations

From Red Orbit:

The first ever photographs of jaguars within an oil plantation in Colombia have just been released...

Panthera, the world’s leading wild cat conservation organization, focuses solely on the study and conservation of wild cats. The camera traps placed by Panthera in the Magdalena River valley were meant to gather information about the dangers of Colombia’s growing oil plantations on the jaguar populations. Panthera’s objective is to understand how the plantations affect the jaguar’s ability to move throughout its habitat, reproduce, and the effects on species that the jaguars prey on.

Birds, bats, and bugs

Today's 60-Second Science podcast from Scientific American:

Birds and Bats Downsized Bugs

Insect size tracked with atmospheric oxygen levels, until hungry birds and bats hit the scene.

In the day of the dinosaur, insects had wingspans of nearly two-and-a-half feet. So why are today’s bugs so puny? 

Photo courtesy of Bruce Taubert Wildlife Photography
http://www.brucetaubert.com/

Birds and bats!

Researchers at U.C. Santa Cruz have published their findings on the evolution of insect size in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Visit the Scientific American site for more.

Visit our website to learn more about Neotropical Migratory Birds in Central America, or to learn how our scientists are Valuing the Ecosystem Services of Bats.

Swedish Fish?

As we honor the life and work of Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom, let's celebrate the fact that she was right: we can peacefully co-exist with each other and with nature.

A great way to understand how is to look at community-managed sustainable fisheries.

As reported on NPR's Morning Edition, when New England's fish stocks became severely depleted, a lack of fish put a lot of fishermen out of business. One group of fishermen in Port Clyde, Maine, changed the marketing and processing of their catch in hopes of making more money on fewer fish. Chefs like Joseph Margate of Boston's Liberty Hotel are fans of this approach. “Chefs are only as good as their ingredients; technique only gets you so far. And good ingredients would be impossible without healthy lands and waters," Margate said in an interview with Nature.Org.

A few small sustainable fisheries make a big difference. 
An international team of scientists has gathered the first conclusive evidence that even small protected areas can help the whole ocean. Their study, summarized in ScienceDaily has shown that even fish populations in areas open to larger-scale commercial fishing can benefit from small-scale protections.

Paso Pacífico has a new initiative for Sustainable Fisheries and Local Resource Management and we'll keep you posted about it on our website and here on our blog. This community-building program is empowering citizen scientists to monitor and manage the natural resources their livelihoods depend on.

Sustainable fisheries are turtle friendly!
One of the reasons Paso Pacífico is so active in sustainable fisheries is to reduce the number of sea turtles caught in fishermen's nets, so we'll publish some of the findings from our initial fisheries assessment later this week, just in time for World Sea Turtle Day, June 16th. If you want to stay in the loop, sign up for our newsletter.


Update, June 14
The New York Times has published an Elinor Ostrom reading list: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/13/elinor-ostrom-reading-list/

World Oceans Day

Paso Pacífico works from ridge to reef to protect biodiversity and empower communities. What are we doing along coastlines and at sea?

Understanding Marine Ecology
Our Coastal Marine Research Project contributes to the scientific understanding of sea turtle populations and marine ecology.

Our science-based monitoring gauges the effectiveness of management at marine protected areas and the protection of key indicator species – like sea turtles – which are also flagship tourism species. In addition to bolstering conservation efforts, this project provides field training to young marine scientists.

Cleaning up the Coastline
We are proud to work with the Ocean Conservancy as the coordinator for Nicaragua's participation in the International Coastal Cleanup each year.

We are pleased to partner with Café las Flores and Proyecto Tesón to gather trash and recyclables along Nicaragua's coast, and we are members of the Alianza Yo No Tiro Basura! alliance against litter.

We also work with the Ocean Recovery Alliance on the Global Alert system to remind people that riverbanks are actually inland coastlines and serve as conduits for floating trash to reach the ocean, and to encourage them to take local action to solve a global problem.

Protecting Mangroves
Our community guides lead eco-tourists on kayak trips and help these visitors understand the ecological importance of threatened mangrove forests which protect the coastline from erosion and storm, and provide critical habitat for aquatic wildlife.

Supporting Nicaragua's First Sustainable Fisheries
Although their stories are largely unpublicized, a number of fishing communities have avoided self-destructive overexploitation for decades. And they do it with minimal, if any, governmenal regulation.”
Donald Leal, PERC, “Community-Run Fisheries”

Around the world, community-run fisheries are being created by fishermen who want to preserve their livelihoods for themselves and their children. From the North Atlantic to the Northern Sea, to the Caspian and the Pacific, fishermen are banding together for self-regulation of sustainable fishing practices, and in so doing are earning more money for themselves and their families.

Our Sustainable Fisheries Initiative is helping the fishermen of Nicaragua follow suit, empowering them with the science and technology necessary to gather data, assess and monitor resourcess, and determine best practices.

Protecting Critically Endangered Marine Wildlife
Sea turtles throughout the world's oceans are endangered and species such as the Leatherback and Hawksbill turtles of the eastern Pacific are nearing extinction. Both critically endangered Leatherbacks and Hawksbills, as well as olive Ridley and Pacific Green sea turtles nest along the Pacific beaches of southern Nicaragua.

Paso Pacífico's turtle rangers provide the "thin green line" between critically endangered sea turtles and would-be poachers and protectors, helping thousands of baby turtles to the sea each year.

Protecting Reefs
Our reef rangers program will build on the successes of our turtle ranger programs. We are recruiting divers to receive similar training to encourage sustainable fishing practices and serve as ambassadors for conservation in the marine community.

Creating a Culture of Coastal Conservation
Our environmental education program includes a significant component on ocean conservation, particularly for those communities lying in coastal areas where often more than half the community is involved in fishing and other ocean-related livelihoods.

Our junior ranger program is teaching coastal kids about marine ecology and developing the next generation of biodiversity stewards along Nicaragua's Pacific slope.

Our surf ambassadors program works with Nicaragua's young and growing surf community to ensure a sustainable future for watermen and the marine creatures who share the waves with them. Thanks to the SIMA Environmental Fund, we are building a strong foundation for ocean conservation and surf access through leadership development, conservation science and education, capacity building, and international networking.

Photo courtesy of
The Barrio Planta Project

In July 2012 Nicaragua will host the ISA World Masters Surfing Championship, meaning more tourists than ever, and another big surge in surfing among local Nicaraguans. We're excited about this because the surfing community has a long tradition of environmental awareness and respect for the ocean.

You can help us create a culture of conservation in coastal Nicaragua!

Summer 2012 Fundraising Goals:

Today: World Ocean Day
Goal: $500
To publish maps of critical marine wildlife habitat.

June 16th: World Sea Turtle Day
Goal: $1000
To provide one hundred days of protection at a newly identified sea turtle nesting beach.

July 14: World Surfing Championships Opening Ceremony
Goal: $2500
To help budding filmmakers highlight the Nicaraguan surfing community's commitment to ocean conservation.

Help us reach our goals. Donate today!