Centuries ago, Caymanian fishermen were renowned as the Caribbean’s best sea turtle hunters with the turtlemen and sea turtles, the hunter and hunted, symbolising the small islands’ prosperity and heritage. [1] Today, that relationship has radically changed with Caymanians forsaking tradition for conservation, an action born out of necessity to turn the tide for a species on the edge of local extinction.

The turtle is a living emblem of the Cayman Islands beauty and the human population’s bond with the sea. A major nesting ground of the green sea turtle in the Caribbean, and host to a range of other turtle nests including hawksbill, loggerhead, and leatherback turtles, the reptile permeates Caymanian culture, appearing on the British territory’s currency and adorning the islands’ coat of arms and airlines logo. [2]

Yet only two decades ago, the islands’ sea turtles had nearly vanished. Its current status as a national dish partly explains the disastrous disappearance. Though the Cayman Islands were not permanently settled until the 17th century, turtle meat intermittently fed sailors and indigenous populations. [3] During the 18th century, however, it became a delicacy consumed in Western cities. [4] It gave the islands’ an international economic presence, but overexploitation, and a thirst for commodified turtle soup, devastated turtle populations reducing them from an estimated 2.5m to a clutch of 78 nests. [5]

Today, the Cayman Islands’ turtle populations are back from the brink. New research by Cayman Islands’ Department of Environment and the University of Exeter shows that turtle populations are increasing again. When systemic surveys and turtle monitoring was set up in 1998, only 39 nests were recorded across the three islands. [6] That number has risen to 675 in 2019 with dominant species like green and loggerhead turtles making significant gains over 22 years. [7]

New restrictions on legal turtle fishing, introduced in 2008, have allowed loggerhead turtles to blossom while captive breeding at the Cayman Turtle Centre has helped green turtles populations recover. [8] Enforcement by conservation officers on ‘turtle patrols’ and new anti-poaching cameras have also deterred poaching. [9]

Recovery, though, remains fragile. Climate change is a looming threat with increased intensity of tropical storms wedded to rising sea levels already altering nesting habitats and rising water temperatures impacting sex ratios of sea turtles. [10] The proliferation of unprecedented amounts of sargassum seaweed across the Caribbean is also a new threat fuelled by farming fertilisers being dumped in the ocean. [11] According to Dr Jane Hardwick, of Cayman Islands’ Department of Environment, the mounds of putrid-smelling seaweed clogging up beaches have made it increasingly difficult for nesting females to lay eggs while creating barriers between hatchlings and the sea. [12]

Climate change has not yet dented two decades of progress though. A record turtle nesting season in 2020 perhaps best reflects the monitoring programme’s ongoing success and how Caymanians have shed certain traditions to preserve the turtle. [13] With tourism and finance the backbone of the economy, younger generations shying away from turtle meat [14] and turtle fishing now being commemorated rather than practiced, there may be hope yet for the islands’ sea turtles.

Sources

[1] The End of Turtle Soup, History Today, How food fashion changed the economy of the Cayman Islands. 8th August, 2021 https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/end-turtle-soup

[2] The History and Heritage of the Cayman Islands https://www.cigouk.ky/downloads/Cayman-Event-booklet.pdf

[3] The End of Turtle Soup, History Today, How food fashion changed the economy of the Cayman Islands. 8th August, 2021 https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/end-turtle-soup

[4] The End of Turtle Soup, History Today, How food fashion changed the economy of the Cayman Islands. 8th August, 2021 https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/end-turtle-soup

[5] Cayman Islands Sea Turtle Nesting Population Increases Over 22 Years of Monitoring, 3rd May, 2021 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.663856/full

[6] Cayman Islands sea turtles back from the brink, 4th May, 2021  https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/research/title_856702_en.html

[7] Cayman Islands Sea Turtle Nesting Population Increases Over 22 Years of Monitoring, 3rd May, 2021 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.663856/full

[8] Cayman Islands sea turtles back from the brink, 4th May, 2021 https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/research/title_856702_en.html

[9] Interview, Dr Jane Hardwick, Cayman Islands Department of Environment, 1st September, 2021

[10] Interview, Dr Jane Hardwick, Cayman Islands Department of Environment, 1st September, 2021

[11] Sargassum accumulation may spell trouble for nesting sea turtles http://www.sargassoseacommission.org/storage/Sargassum_accumulation_and_sea_turtles_Natural_History_Notes.pdf

[12] Interview, Dr Jane Hardwick, Cayman Islands Department of Environment, 1st September, 2021

[13] 2020 was a record breaking turtle nesting season in Cayman, 21 January, 2021 https://cayman.loopnews.com/content/2020-was-record-breaking-turtle-nesting-season-cayman

[14] This Turtle Tourist Center Also Raises Endangered Turtles for Meat, National Geographic, 25 May, 2017 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/wildlife-watch-cayman-turtle-farm-welfare-controversy