Matt Knight

Hurricane Dorian could wash sea turtle nests out to sea amid promising nesting season The hurricane is hitting just as beaches are moving from egg-laying season into hatching season, said Grace Dotson, senior scientist at Ecological Associates, which monitors sea turtle nests on sections of shoreline throughout the Treasure Coast. “We still have a few nests being laid,” she said, “but we’re getting a lot […]

As recorded fires in the Amazon rainforest climb, Brazil’s citizens wait for government to fight illegal deforestation and end burning “The number of fires in the Amazon biome topped 41,858 in 2019 as of August 24 (up from 22,000 this time last year). Scientists are especially concerned about wildfires raging inside protected areas, such as Jamanxim National Forest in Pará state and Mato Grosso’s Serra

CITES CoP18 ends; among many amendments made, 5 turtle species moved from Appendix II to Appendix I (You can see the entire list of decisions made regarding proposals here) “The Conference revised the trade rules for dozens of wildlife species that are threatened by unstainable trade linked to overharvesting, overfishing or overhunting. These ranged from commercially valuable fish and trees to charismatic mammals such as

24,000 olive ridley sea turtle eggs seized near Salina Cruz, Oaxaca “This seizure is one of the largest we have carried out,” Profepa said. “What’s more, the person [apprehended] is apparently a repeat offender and presumably one of the largest gatherers and distributors of turtle eggs in the region.” The maximum penalty for trafficking in turtle eggs is nine years in prison and a fine

Record number of fires recorded this year in the Amazon rainforest, home to 45 species of turtles Wildfires often occur in the dry season in Brazil but they are also deliberately started in efforts to illegally deforest land for cattle ranching. Inpe said it had detected more than 74,000 fires between January and August – the highest number since records began in 2013. It said

Palm Beach Town Council, FL rescinds ban on plastic bags, polystyrene containers after Florida Retail Federation threatens to sue On June 2019, the Palm Beach Town Council unanimously voted to ban plastic bags and polystyrene containers throughout the city. However, that changed during a meeting just several months later. In July 2019, the town received a letter from the Florida Retail Federation, stating the ban

Sri Lanka joins India, Bangladesh, and Senegal in effort to move Indian star tortoise from Appendix II to Appendix I under CITES due to suspected high numbers of illegal trade, CITES may reject “The argument that will be made is the sheer volume of trade,” he (Sumanth Bindumadhav) told Mongabay. “The Indian states of Telangana and Andhra [Pradesh] alone ship out about 55,000 tortoises every

Puerto Vallarta in Mexico preparing for sea turtle nesting season and protection Currently, Puerto Vallarta is the only city to have a sea turtle protection plan on the Mexican Pacific, which has led to making Puerto Vallarta the best place in the country to see them in their habitat, the result of years of effort in conservation. The city records an 85% hatching rate. The

Meet Mona Khalil, founder of Lebanon’s Orange House Project protecting sea turtles and raising the next generation of conservationists Khalil founded Orange House Project in 2000 after finding turtles on al-Mansouri beach and felt compelled to protect the area so that they could continue to come and nest there. She informed the Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles that there were turtles on the