The Cape Verdian Sea Turtle Network had its second annual meeting on the 28-30 June, which was organized in the Hotel Marine Club in Boavista.
During this meeting, the Cape Verdian Sea Turtle Network achieved many things.
The main thing was bringing together many people, institutions and organizations together, to discuss the problems and opportunities regarding sea turtle protection and conservation. Discussions included the need to improve protection, problems related to coastal development and sand mining, specially in the islands of Sal, Boavista and Fogo, the trade of sea turtle meat between the islands, standardization of research protocols, and regulation of turtle-watching tours.
Also very interesting was to watch presentations given by the different protection and conservation initiatives island wide. All these initiatives are very interesting, and it is inspiring to see how people in different islands with little or no resources sometimes are achieving so much in terms of protection, awareness and research... Many of the projects shared the same limitations (lack of funding, support from government and lack of volunteers), but all shared the same passion and dedication to the sea turtle cause, and it was great witnessing that!
Important decisions were made in terms of setting up a national regulation for turtle-watching, or to implement the Sea Turtle Conservation National plan.
The meeting took place between the 28-30 June. The next one will be scheduled for next Spring. We all look forward to it!