The turtle Gisela is on its way along the South American coast. She stops in Cerro Verde on the Uruguayan coast to eat and rest. In La Coronilla, located five kilometers away from Gisela's feeding
area is the marine-turtle-project Karumbé. This is their shared story:
Gisela is hungry. And she is tired. For weeks now she is travelling in the water, sometimes with, sometimes against the current. Being olny five years old, she is still a youngster. Her instinct drives her into a certain direction. It drives her towards Cerro Verde, the naturepark at the Uruguayan coast, in five kilometers distance from La Coronilla. She feels that she can rest there and eat. Besides Gisela other turtles are paddling in the same direction. Some are doing very badly. They have tumors on the soft spots between the fins and the corselet, dark blue or purple, growing
like cauliflower. Others find it difficult to dive down to the algae, something in their bodies stops them from going down, others can hardly rise to the surface to breathe, they are constantly pulled down.
In the water the biologists and oceanographers Gustavo, Gabi, Mati and the other volunteers are
waiting in wetsuits with flippers in the swell. They are looking out for Gisela and her colleagues. They have streched the special turtle-net. The turtles entangle in the net but cannot easily hurt or suffocate. The net is about sixty meters long and three meters deep. It is hanging on a leash, kept flaoting by floating buoys, such as the separation lines in a public pool. Dragged down by lead weights, it hangs nearly vertical in the water. The strong upper and underwater currents are tugging at the net. Gustavo is constantly readjusting, so it always hangs in the water at a right angle to
the current.
Gisela suddenly feels a resistance. She had just stuck her head out of the water to breath, then she was on her way down to the algae, when suddenly she was held back by some unknown force. Also, she cannot move her fins as if they were held by invisible hands.
A moment later she is gripped by the fins and lifted up. Careful fingers free her from the invisible forces that are tugging at her. Gisela relaxes. Nadège stands on the shore. She sees a signal. It is intended for her. Mati has closed his arms in a big circle above his head: "Tortuga", "Turtle in the net!". This is the command for Nadège to get into the water. Now, in February, in the Uruguayan summer, it is not cold. Mati passes the turtle to Nadège. Its head held slightly tilted upward, the body resting on the forearms, hands under the fins, she carries Gisela out of the water towards the
shore.
There, the other volunteers are waiting for her. They have observed the process and have in the meantime dug another hole in the sand in a row with five others in which turtles are already resting. Nadège puts Gisela in the new one. For protection against the strong the sun, the sand pit is covered with a coarse cloth. Felipe comes and poures seawater over her. Gisela for the moment surrenders to her fate and falls asleep.
GOING BACK IN TIME
At the end of the nineties the native Uruguayan, Alejandro Fallabrino, surfer and nature lover, went
to a congress about turtles in Mexico. The fate of these animals touched him, so he decided to start a turtle-project himself. He pricked up his ears and opened his eyes until he heard fishermen talking about problems with turtles that appeared increasingly in the region of La Coronilla, where they entangled in the fishernets and thereby did not only kill themselves, but also destroyed the nets. That was exactly what Alej had sought.
"I am the man with the ideas, the others are the specialists," he says about himself. He managed to
build up a group of specialists, biology students, soon to become veterinarians and idealists like himself, around him. Some money was collected and a plot of land near the beach of La Coronilla was bought. "In the beginning we only lived in tents," recalls Alej. "Then we have poured a floor with donated cement and built a roof with donated wood. In the beginning, we put the tents in the house, to have at least some privacy. "Karumbé", "turtle" in the language of the native Indians of Uruguay, the Guaraní, was born.
Eleven years later, the wooden roof still exists although some walls have been added, rooms are
visible. The windows are made out of transparent plastic stapled on wooden frames. Nevertheless,
there is running water, it has not been there for a long time. Tents are still in a room. There lives the core group of Karumbé. The ones who are staying all four months of the season, from january until april in La Coronilla, in order to have some privacy. There is a kitchen with a gas-oven, a large common room with a wooden table and wooden benches and an area with five double-bunk beds for up to twenty volunteers. Right next to the living quarters, the small lab, the "Centro de rehabilitation" is established. Here are three blue square plastic swimming pools fitted in, filled with algae for sick turtles under observation. Drips hang from the wooden ceiling, heating elements regulate the water temperature. Under the canopy sits biologist Luciana Alonso and enters data into the computer, only most recently two puppies chew on the flip-flops at her feet.
The Captura-crew in Cerro Verde has pulled the net from the water. Gustavo and the spanish Gabi, who
spent eight hours swimming in the water, eating only a banana and having a sip from the Coke bottle are tired. The crew has caught eight turtles today. Now the investigation of the turtles begins. It is Giselas turn first. A sign with the number 5 dangles from one of her fins. Volunteer Dani has been sitting all day at the edge of the bay and has noted every catch, including the time and has numbered all the turtles.
Gisela has a few small shells on her back, that are carefully taken off and placed in a plastic bag for later examination. The shells are benign, but if solid in appearance can become a nuisance. Usually turtle and shells live in symbiosis. Gisela is measured on her top and her bottom in length and width. On a plastic plate, the date and time of the catch are noted. The sign is placed next to Gisela and photographed with her. Finally, a small skin sample for DNA analysis and a small blood sample is taken for analysis of the health of the turtle. At the very end Gisela is marked with a
stainless steel clip in the fins, weighed and placed back into her sand hole. With this number, Gisela can now be exactly identified all over the world.
All turtles have to go through this procedure. Each animal is examined by another pair of volunteers, each of them getting their turn. One examines while the other notes, accompanied by Gustavo and Gabi who watch that everything is running properly. In the Center, the roof with some wooden walls, the Censo-crew is coming home in the afternoon. Four
volunteers have taken the bus to the next town, Barro de Chuy, early in the morning. From there they walked twenty kilometers back home on a secluded beach, the hot sun always in the neck. Don´t forget to put on some strong sun-protection! On the way they were looking for dead animals which have washed ashore. Those are dolphins, seals, albatrosses, penguins and of course turtles, or at least what is left of them. Precise references are determined by GPS, the timing of the discovery is recorded, photos are taken, the corpses are measured and maybe a sample like a piece of bone or pieces of skin for later analysis are taken, to
determine the cause of death. Is there a virus? Do certain diseases appear frequently? The carcasses are marked so that they are not counted multiple times. The sea washes between three and twenty such carcasses a day on the twenty kilometers. Luciana is putting all the data in Exel spreadsheets in the Center.
It is getting dark in Cerro Verde. Gisela is restless. She has spent the whole afternoon in the sand hole, now she gets really hungry. Her neighbor in the next sandhole is in bad shape. He is calm, has not stirred almost the whole day. The Volunteers start packing the material, wet suits, flippers, the net, the anchor, food boxes, water bottles and the measuring equipment. What now follows, is the magic moment of the day: Liberation! Everyone grabs a turtle and carries her gently down to the water. Driven by instinct, the turtles always crawl downwards, in the direction of the roaring surf. It is a beautiful sight to see the turtles paddling to freedom, conquering back their element. As
soon as the waves are washing over the turtles, they are no longer visible. As slow as they are on land, as fast they are traveling in the water. The members of the Capture-crew are hugging one another, a beautiful moment. But now there is still a five kilometer walk up ahead and all the heavy baggage must be carried. Two volunteers carry one box. It is Giselas former neighbor, he is visibly ill. He is transported to the Center for further investigation.
In the Center, the Brazilian Washington and the Argentine Kharla have cooked dinner. Every day a new
team gets the task of feeding twenty hungry mouths. Today, there is rice, a bean-meat sauce, salad, bread and baked eggplant slices. The Frenchwoman Celine has baked a cake, it is Valeria's birthday! All are hungry, and at the same time, the latinamerican dinner traditionally takes place very late, no earlier than nine or ten o´ clock in the evening. After dinner Gustavo lays out the plan for the next day, distributes the volunteers to various teams. On the plan are Avistamiento and surgery, breakfast is at seven. The night is short, so off to bed. Stefan and Nadège leave in the direction of the campsite.
Gisela is happily paddling along the cliffs of Cerro Verde and is filling her stomach. The little pinch in the afternoon when she got the metalclip is long since forgotten. Her former neighbor is doing much worse, though. He lies in the plastic pool in the center, warmed by the heat rod and barely moves. He is very weak. Luciana doesn´t yet know why, but she has a guess.
At seven in the morning, the volunteers are drifting into the living room of the center. Nadège and Stefan are currently the only Europeans. The five Chileans are biology students as are the three Argentines. There are quite many "professionals". Spanish is the language of the day. Coffee and jelly sandwiches bring back the spirit. Let´s go to work! But first Luciana has to make a sad announcement. The turtle, which was brought yesterday from the Captura, Gisela's neighbor, has died overnight. Today it will be autopsied to determine the cause of death. Luciana is collecting a team around her. For aspiring biologists this will be an interesting hour of professional practice.
A second team is once again going to Cerro Verde, this time to do the Avistamiento, counting turtles. Sitting on the viewing platforms each observer looks at a particular segment of the sea along the coast. For ten minutes every emerging turtle head is counted, afterwards it is estimated how many animals there were. The numbers are listed. "Tortuga!" is the call that can be heard at irregular intervals by the observers. One must count the results. In ten minutes you can see about four to twelve animals. In the mornings the counting goes on for three hours, always ten minutes with five minutes break. The lunch break is three hours, then the counting goes on for another three hours. A somewhat boring work, which at the same time requires high concentration. The Avistamiento crew is also tired in the evening.
Luciana has in the meantime opened the dead turtle with a scalpel. An incision between the upper and lower shield plate, then the abdominal plate can be lifted off. It stinks horribly, but a biologist has to withstand that! The volunteers are making grimaces as Luciana puts the knife in intestines, stomach and lungs. "It´s a little death", she takes the scruples off the volunteers. The presumed cause of death is
confirmed: the gut of the turtle is hard as a stone. Luciana separates it and cuts it open. A slimy
but firm mass gushes out. It is a mixture of algae and plastic waste. Plastic marbles, plastic caps, plastic bags, small nets, condomes. The intestine of the turtle is totally blocked. A human would not have survived with only a minumum of such a blockage. It is a frightening, alarming sight.
The volunteers sift and clean the garbage. In the end a lot of plastic, which fills an entire jar, comes out. "Plastic garbage is the most common cause of death for the turtles", Luciana states sadly. "The seas are so full of plastic waste, I want to throw up! And many, many people are still not aware of this, a lot of educational work is necessary."
And education is taking place, Karumbé takes this very seriously. At least once a week, there is a big event going on one of the most popular beaches along the coast, Punta del Diablo, a surfers paradise. The volunteers put up a small stand with information-posters, Karumbé T-shirts and necklaces with tortugas for sale. One turtle swims in a small pool. There are games and the biologists inform the tourists about the activities of Karumbé. At five, Laura calls the kids to join in the singing. "Yo soy un Chucho, una Tonida, un Agua Viva, un Tiburon. Yo soy un Lobo, una Tortuga, un Pez Espada, un Gabiotin! - I am a Stingray, a Dolphin, a Jellyfish, a Shark. I am a Seal, a Turtle, a Swordfish and a Seagull." The kids dance, sing and play the different animals with shining eyes. Laura and Gustavo pick one of the kids of the crowd to help carrying it to the sea. It is put into the water and as soon as the first waves catch it, it happily paddels away. An exciting moment for everyone. A good 150 people join this moment, most of them are not even aware, that turtles exist in these waters.
Also, Karumbé has over the years built up a strong relation to the people of the area. Once a week, games are taking place in the Cultural Centre of La Coronilla, where the "Chucho-song" is sung and games with animals of wildlife are played. "My son is crazy about Karumbé!" explains one proud father. Goal achieved!
Also on that evening Gisela is happily paddling along the Uruguayan coast. Maybe she swims back to her birthplace, Costa Rica, maybe she is going to Africa.
TORTUGA-PROJECTS WORLDWIDE
"Sea Turtles" says Alejandro, "as the large Leatherbacks or the most common species in Uruguay, the Tortuga Verde, the green turtles, inhabit the world's oceans. Therefore, a turtle project cannot
take place only in one place, but must act around the world." In the past eleven years Alejandro has
initiated similar projects in Chile and Argentina.
"Look how we live here. Twenty people share one toilet and one shower. The sanitary situation is the
first thing we are going to change. Of course it would be nice to have a bigger house, and also a separation between working place and residence, but we lack the financial means. The population of Uruguay is structured very similar to the European. There are many older people but little younger ones. The thinking is outdated. Obtaining financial support for an idealistic project, such as Karumbé by the government, forget that! The people have not yet understood, that a healthy environment is also healthy for the people. There are some smaller organizations in Europe or North America though, who support us. And sometimes something even comes from the WWF."
Alejandro has just come back from a visit to Equatorial Guinea, a small African country next to Gabon. He has been invited there by a friend from Italy, to assist in the creation of a new turtle project. "To be white in Africa is also not easy. Hey, you rich white man, you are being called on every street corner. But I'm not rich. I don´t get paid any salary for my work, we cannot pay a salary to the staff, they are just idealists.
And we can always use idealists. "If someone has a masters, doctoral or other degree thesis in biology or related field and is interested in the topic, he or she is very welcome here! We are very happy to help!" While saying this, Alejandro slaps his open hand on the table that it shakes. He really means it.
Gisela paddles along the coast. In the shallow waters along the Uruguayan coast, in Cerro Verde, she has satisfied her hunger, has rested. At the end of April the volunteers are leaving La Coronilla, the season from early January to late April is over. Now a lot of data needs to be processed, analyzed, summarized, trade fairs and conferences are attended and the information is shared with other scientists. There are still many questions to answer. Through organizations such as Karumbé some questions will be answered. This takes years, maybe decades.
Let us make sure, that also in the future many happy Giselas can travel the world's oceans!
Need more information? Go to
www.karumbe.org
or send an E-Mail to
[email protected]