The Warrau family, Guyana

Conservation
Shell Beach, a relatively remote stretch of 90 mile long beach, is located in the Northwestern Region of Guyana, South America. It is the only place is Guyana where four of the world’s seven endangered species of marine turtles, leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), green (Chelonia mydas), hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea), come to lay their eggs. These massive reptiles usually arrive under the cover of darkness from March to August every year. The name ‘Shell Beach’ is a generic one, encompassing nine beaches with names such as Iron Punt, Luri, Kamwatta, Foxes, Almond, Gwennie and Tiger Beach, given by local fishermen who have used the area for hundreds of years. These beaches are composed entirely of sea shells in various degrees of fragmentation and pulverization. The billions of shell fragments, washed ashore by tidal influences, act as natural nurseries for incubating the eggs of the sea turtles.Wardens tagging a sea turtle

Socioeconomics
For over 100 years, these turtles have been hunted by the Warrau, Arawaks and Caribs Amerindian communities surrounding the Shell Beach area. This harvest has increased over the years due to a combination of socio-economic factors, a lack of awareness among local hunters, and cases of accidental drowning in commercial fishing nets. In order to conserve these endangered species, harvesters require viable alternative income options and exposure to sustained education and awareness activities and training.

In an attempt to effectively address this compound problem, scientists worked with Amerindian former sea turtle hunters to establish a sea turtle monitoring and patrolling program in 1988. This bottom-up approach to conservation resulted in a sustainable monitoring program that greatly reduced sea turtle harvest, and which continues to date.

However, monitoring alone has proved inadequate because the harvesting of sea turtles is still prevalent. For example, approximately 200 sea turtles, mostly leatherbacks and greens, were killed at Tiger Beach in 2005. Added to this, in 2006 a sea turtle by-catch study noted 48 to 105 sea turtles were caught accidentally each year, with a 50% mortality rate. The continued harvesting can be attributed to several factors, including increased accessibility of the area, lack of sustained education/awareness and related skills training and the absence of economically attractive alternative livelihoods.

Turtle hunting in the 1960's

The Guyana Marine Turtle Conservation Society (GMTCS), formally established in April 2000, was designated the lead agency for the establishment of the proposed Shell Beach Protected Area to address some of these issues. Recognizing the importance of focusing on habitat management to increase species protection as well as the need to address the issue of sustainable livelihoods for local user communities, GMTCS has begun work under the below thematic areas. CREE has partnered with GMTCS to further leverage their influence on socio-economic activities, environmental education and capacity-building efforts.

Project Objectives

• Empowering the local community: Moruca Embroidery is defined as embroidery hand-crafted by Amerindian women for the benefit of their communities and sea turtle conservation in the Northwestern district of Guyana. CREE seeks funding for GMTCS that will identify economic alternatives for user communities as a mean of achieving sustainable livelihoods. Recognizing that the success of conservation at Shell Beach will depend on the empowerment of local communities, as well as improving the social condition of local user communities, GMTCS has been actively looking at sustainable economic projects for the beach communities. Activities have centered mainly on handicraft, embroidery, organic products and tourism. Recently, GMTCS in collaboration with various communities have established the Moruca Embroidery, an economic alternative projects aimed at improving the social conditions of local user communities. Additionally, it is necessary to purchase basic materials to help in the production process such as embroidery thread, sewing machines, and cloth for the women’s group. A new computer and printer are also needed to increase community self-reliance.To purchase Moruca Embroidery, please email Moruca Products Enquiry

Moruca embroidery products

• Promoting Education and Awareness: it is necessary to work with stakeholders at all levels to promote awareness of the need to protect the marine turtles. The activities under this theme have been conducted in partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency of Guyana and the Iwokrama Center, amongst other organizations. The success of this program has been a heightened awareness of marine turtle conservation in Guyana. In fact, the Ministry of Education has now formally indicated its cooperation in promoting turtle conservation in schools across the country and the children of the turtle communities are now forming community conservation clubs to help raise awareness in their villages. Much work remains; however, and CREE funds will help expand education efforts. Specifically, we hope to conduct an embroidery training workshop targeted for young girls.
• Business Training for communities: This will encompass all communities living next to or within the protected area; not solely along Shell Beach alone. CREE and GMTCS will hire a professional to assist with marketing the women’s products and product development. The communities are very interested in ecotourism. The Waramuri want to establish an all-purpose building which they can use to showcase their crafts, as well as a cultural museum and a tourist area where tourists can help with canoe building, embroidery, art work and basket making. We will also integrate some archaeological sites e.g. shell mounds. This area will be a tourism base before taking visitors to Shell Beach to observe the turtles.
• Conducting Research: Adaptive management continually informs GMTCS’ work focus. CREE will help invest in an assessment of why alternative income projects have failed or succeeded in order to establish a ‘good practices’ guide for implementation of alternative income projects. This will require funds to travel to communities and to hire a project assistant.

Project History
In May 2006, the Guyana Marine Turtle Conservation Society (GMTCS) met with fishermen from Waramuri and Santa Rosa to gather information on sea turtle by-catch. At these meetings, communities noted that economically attractive alternative income projects must be available in order to deter fishermen (and other persons) from harvesting sea turtle egg and meat. During the course of these meetings, the communities and GMTCS tried to find solutions so that fishermen would not have to fish during the entire peak nesting season, a period which coincides with the peak fishing period and hence sees an increase in sea turtle harvesting. For example, fishermen could spend a three week period instead of six weeks fishing at Shell Beach, thereby decreasing sea turtle bycatch. However, this could only occur if an alternative source of income came into their homes.

One evening in January 2007, the Guyana Marine Turtle Conservation Society was speaking with Mrs. Jean Rodrigues, a matriarch in the traditional sea turtle harvesting community of Santa Rosa, about the sea turtle by-catch study. Mrs. Rodrigues mentioned that some of the fishermen’s wives did traditional embroidery work and were currently seeking markets to sell their craft. GMTCS embarked upon trying to organize a group with wives of the major fishermen in Santa Rosa and Waramuri so that monies can enter into the homes of these fishermen, some of who harvest the egg and meat of sea turtles.

This simple beginning led to the formation of Moruca Embroidery, headed by Jean Rodrigues (or Aunty Jean) and comprises 30 women and young girls, ranging 20 to 65 years old, from the Santa Rosa and Waramuri communities. The women produce hats, bags, pillow cases and tea towels embroidered with local flora and fauna, especially the four species of sea turtles- Leatherback, Olive Ridley, Green and Hawksbill – that nest at Shell Beach, Guyana. All products are handmade and the artwork is created through the imagination of the women. Today, the entire business is managed by the women themselves and all proceeds go directly to the women in assisting their communities. The women work closely with the Guyana Marine Turtle Conservation Society (GMTCS) to help ensure sea turtle conservation is achieved by engaging the local indigenous communities in alternative income projects to sea turtle egg and meat harvesting. This project is also testament to the role women are playing in sustainable development projects that benefit their communities and the environment.