2020 Informative Monitoring results spawning season sea ​​turtles 2019/2020 The Veracel Celulose, located in the Costa do Descobrimen in Bahia, performs the monitoring environmental impact of sea turtles in the vicinity of the Belmon-(TMB) for over 15 years. In September 2020, the 15th monitoring campaign started the high season of sea turtles, continuing until April 2021.

For Tarciso Matos, media coordinator environment and licensing of Veracel, the results of environmental monitoring systems help Veracel minimize possible interference from the maritime Terminal on spawning and hatching of sea turtles. “Control measures operational, structural changes in the terminal installations, such as those made in lighting project, lighting adjustments vessels, periodic monitoring the luminosity of the beaches, educational actions environmental protection for employees and neighbors about the importance of preserving the species, release, and control of machine access to the beach, among others. These are some of the environmental benefits brought by the program to the operation of the Terminal”, highlights Matos.

According to the coordinator, it is environmental licensing at INE-MA to install a Rehabilitation Center of sea chelonians in the TMB. That the center will receive weakened turtles and veterinary treatment needs but may also receive carcasses in good condition for carrying out necropsies to diagnose the cause of the turtle’s death. This will be the first specialized center in the extreme south of Bahia, and it’s scheduled to go into operation in 2021. The months of September to April represent the reproductive period of sea turtles on the Brazilian coast.

However, monitoring takes place all year round. According to Wilson Meirelles, CTA coordinator, company specialist who executes the monitoring program tortoise of sea turtles, the monitoring team takes turns to cover 35 km of beach. Flagrant females have performed spawning, the registration, and protection of nests of turtles. Last season, the team looked over 3,000 km of the beach, 413 turtle climbs were recorded in the attempting to spawn, which resulted in 325 spawning nests, and at the end, 19,491 little turtles went to the sea. Wilson explains that these numbers are within the range found throughout the monitoring seasons.

Source: Informativo ABAF outubro 2020

Toni Pitkänen