University and environmental institutes demand answers / UNIFAP e órgãos ambientais cobram respostas

The Public Ministry of Amapá (MP-AP), represented by the Porto Grande prosecutor, Wueber Penafort, met on Monday, 19, with representatives of the State Government (GEA), Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio ), Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), Federal University of Amapá (Unifap), Operational Environmental Support Center (CAOP / AMB), Ribeirinhos Association and EDP . The main questioning was related to the disappearance of the yellow spotted freshwater turtles, which the UNIFAP studies show were caused by the Cachoeira Caldeirao dam..

O Ministério Público do Amapá (MP-AP), representado pelo promotor de justiça de Porto Grande, Wueber Penafort, reuniu nesta segunda-feira, 19, com representantes do Governo do Estado (GEA), Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio) Ibama, Universidade Federal do Amapá (Unifap), Centro de Apoio Operacional do Meio Ambiente (CAOP/AMB), Associação de Ribeirinhos e empresa EDP.   O principal questionamento foi em relação ao sumiço de quelônios da espécie tracajá, que os estudos da Unifap apontam ser efeito da barragem.

The representatives of UNIFAP, ICMBio and IBAMA spoke about the company's importance in repairing damaged areas, suggesting the action of creating artificial beaches, which was challenged by the company, which said it was willing to collaborate with the studies, but that the artificial beaches are not recommended because they will not fulfill the purpose but rather attract the public.

Os representantes da Unifap, ICMBio e Ibama falaram da importância da empresa na reparação de áreas danificadas, sugerindo a ação de repovoamento e praias artificiais, o que foi contestado pela empresa, que disse estar disposta a  colaborar com os estudos, mas que as praias artificiais não são recomendadas porque não irão cumprir a finalidade e sim atrair o público.

Full report / Relato completo

http://www.mpap.mp.br/noticias/gerais/mp-ap-unifap-e-orgaos-ambientais-cobram-respostas-da-uhe-cachoeira-caldeirao-sobre-impacto-ambiental-e-o-sumico-dos-tracajas

The environment and people suffer / Quem perde são o meio ambiente e as pessoas

G1 reports the results from our study in Amapa showing the impacts on turtle reproduction after dam construction.

G1 AP: pesquisa aponta danos à reprodução de tracajás em rio após construção de hidrelétrica

Impacts were detected in 2016 (see here) and continue today (see above).

Os impactos foram detectados em 2016 (veja aqui) e continuam até hoje (veja figura acima).

Complete coverage / Reportagem completa :

https://g1.globo.com/ap/amapa/noticia/2018/11/05/no-ap-pesquisa-aponta-danos-a-reproducao-de-tracajas-em-rio-apos-construcao-de-hidreletrica.ghtml

Community action 2018 / Ação comunitária 2018

The season started well, with nine turtle nesting beaches and 104 nests being monitored by the local communities along the Araguari and Falsino rivers.

A temporada começou bem, com nove praias de nidificação e 104 ninhos sendo monitoradas pelas comunidades locais ao longo os rios Araguari e Falsino.

The community monitored and installed predator exclusion devices on 9 ‘traditional beaches”. These are areas that the local communities know have had turtles nesting for decades. The beaches are clearly identified with a banner and then any turtle nests are located and covered with the predator exclusion device to protect against lizards, cats (e.g. ocelot), mustelids (e.g. raccoons, weasels), and birds (vultures) that will eat eggs from newly laid nests

A comunidade monitorou e instalou dispositivos de exclusão de predadores em 9 'praias tradicionais'. Estas são áreas que as comunidades locais sabem que tiveram nidificação de tracajás por décadas. As praias estão claramente identificadas com uma faixa e, em seguida, todos os ninhos estão localizados e cobertos com o dispositivo de exclusão de predadores para proteger contra lagartos, gatos (por exemplo, jaguatirica), mustelídeos (por exemplo, guaxinins, doninhas) e aves (urubus) que vão comer os ovos de ninhos recém-estabelecidos.

The teams also measure the location of nests and various characteristics of the beaches. All this information is vital to our studies that look to understand the patterns in turtle nesting to inform development of effective conservation actions.

As equipes também medem a localização de ninhos e várias características das praias. Todas essas informações são vitais para nossos estudos que buscam entender os padrões de desova de tartarugas para informar o desenvolvimento de ações de conservação eficazes.

Turtles show environmental impacts / Tracajás mostram impactos ambientais

19 October 2018 - District attorney (Crown Prosecutor) confirms turtle research shows the environmental impacts of dams in the Araguari River.

19 Outubro 2018 - Estudo científico com tracajás aponta impactos ambientais no rio Araguari, diz MP-AP.

Complete cover / Reportagem completa;

https://www.diariodoamapa.com.br/cadernos/cidades/estudo-cientifico-aponta-impactos-ambientais-no-rio-araguari-diz-mp-ap/

Impacts were detected in 2016 (see here) and continue today (see photo below).

Os impactos foram detectados em 2016 (veja aqui) e continuam até hoje (veja foto abaixo).

· Specifically, the negative impacts on yellow-spotted river turtles (Podocnemis unifilis) extend at least 20 kilometers beyond the limits established in the original Environmental Impact Assessment of the newly formed Cachoeira Caldeirão hydroelectric dam. · The meeting took place together with Wueber Penafort (District Attorney for Porto Grande) and representatives from the State Environmental Agency (Sema) , the Instituto de Meio Ambiente e de Ordenamento Territorial do Amapá (IMAP) and the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA).

·  Especificamente, os impactos negativos sobre as tracajás (Podocnemis unifilis) ultrapassam pelo menos 20 km dos limites estabelecidos (Área Diretamente Afetada) no Estudo de Impacto Ambiental (EIA) da UHE Cachoeira Caldeirão. ·  A reunião aconteceu no Complexo Cidadão Zona Norte, com a presença do promotor de justiça da Comarca de Porto Grande, Wueber Penafort, assessor técnico do Ministério Público do Amapá (MP-AP), Alcione Cavalcante, representantes da Secretaria de Estadual de Meio Ambiente (Sema), Ibama e Instituto de Meio Ambiente e de Ordenamento Territorial do Amapá (IMAP).

See more / Mais detalhes:

https://www.diariodoamapa.com.br/cadernos/cidades/estudo-cientifico-aponta-impactos-ambientais-no-rio-araguari-diz-mp-ap/

https://selesnafes.com/2018/10/estudo-aponta-desaparecimento-de-especie-apos-instalacao-de-hidreletrica/

Norris D, Michalski F, Gibbs JP. (2018) Beyond harm’s reach? Submersion of river turtle nesting areas and implications for restoration actions after Amazon hydropower development. PeerJ6:e4228 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4228

Nest protection / Proteção de ninhos

Installation of simple predator exclusion devices is one of the ways we work together with the local communities to ensure the conservation of freshwater turtles.  There are many natural predators of turtle eggs, including lizards, cats (e.g. ocelot), mustelids (e.g. raccoons, weasels), and birds (vultures) that will eat eggs from newly laid nests. Along the Falsino and Araguari Rivers, together with the local communities we protect freshwater turtle nests from predators using predator exclusion devices.

A instalação de dispositivos simples de exclusão de predadores é uma das maneiras pelas quais trabalhamos em conjunto com as comunidades locais para garantir a conservação das tartarugas de água doce.  Existem muitos predadores naturais de ovos de tracajás, incluindo lagartos, gatos (por exemplo, jaguatirica), mustelídeos (por exemplo, guaxinins, doninhas) e aves (urubus) que vão comer ovos de ninhos recém-estabelecidos. Ao longo dos rios Falsino e Araguari, nós, juntamente com as comunidades locais, protegemos os ninhos de tracajás de predadores usando dispositivos de exclusão de predadores.

The predator exclusion device is light, cheap and easy to install. So far 100% successful (47 nests on three different nesting beaches). The device is both secured and flexible so that predators such as lizards cannot get under and wild cats/mustelids/birds cannot dig down from above.

O dispositivo de exclusão predador é leve, barato e fácil de instalar. Até agora 100% bem sucedido. O dispositivo é ao mesmo tempo seguro e flexível para que os predadores, como os lagartos, não possam entrar e os gatos / mustelídeos / pássaros não consigam cavar de cima.

We install the predator exclusion device when the nest is laid. The device is removed 40 - 50 days after, so that hatchlings are freely able to emerge and reach the water (average of 60 days for Podocnemis unifilis hatchlings to emerge from eggs).		Instalamos o dispositivo de exclusão predador quando o ninho é colocado. O dispositivo é retirado 40 - 50 dias depois, para que os filhotes possam sair livremente e alcançar a água (em média 60 dias para os filhotes de Podocnemis unifilis emergirem dos ovos).
For more details download our step by step guide here  .		Para mais detalhes, baixe nosso guia passo a passo aqui .

First vídeo from 2018 / Primeiro vídeo de 2018

Watch the first short video of our activities in 2018. Looking forward to another year working with the turtles and the people of the Araguari River! Direct link: https://youtu.be/n8DE1uaRbDk

Assista aqui ao primeiro vídeo de nossas atividades em 2018. Empolgado com mais um ano trabalhando com as tracajás e as pessoas do rio Araguari!

Partnership with Escola Acre / Parceria com Escola Acre

A wonderful Saturday together with teachers from Escola Acre.

Um sábado maravilhoso junto com professores da Escola Acre.

·      Developing plans for actions in 2018. ·      Identifying beaches that are safe and adequate for integrating school lessons and project activities.

·     Desenvolvimento de planos para ações em 2018 ·     Identificar praias que sejam seguras e adequadas para integrar as lições escolares e as atividades do projeto.

Workshop: Conservação e uso de tracajás por comunidades tradicionais no Amapá

A busy few days. After months of planning, the workshop took place between 20 and 24 August 2018.

First day (20) presentation by Rafael Balestra to undergraduate students at the Environmental Sciences Department in the Federal University of Amapá. Rafael kept the students engaged for three hours discussing and debating conservation of reptiles and the role of ICMBio in Brazil, including the the work of RAN, the reptile and amphibian specialist team. This was then swiftly followed (day 21) by meetings at the Federal University of Amapá between the technical teams including ICMBio protected area managers, ICMBio turtle specialists and IBAMA .

Following these preparatory meetings, we all traveled to Porto Grande (day 22) to present to local schools. Finally we traveled by river to the ICMBio base at the FLONA do Amapá, where plans were made with the ICMBio managers and the local communities for protecting turtle nests during 2018/2019 (nesting season is from September with hatchlings expected from around December / January).

School and community meeting photos courtesy of Rafael Balestra and Scott Watson.

A real highlight was the participation of Lourdes Ruck and Eva Loja, both managers from the Peruvian protected area network (SERNAP). Both are river turtle specialists and are involved in the conservation and commercialization of turtles with local communities in Peru. They shared fantastic presentations of the work from Peru, which share many of the same challenges faced by managers here in Brazil.

Community involvement works where enforcement fails

Article published in PEERJ that shows how community based management generates conservation success for Amazonian river turtles.

Community involvement works where enforcement fails: conservation success through community-based management of Amazon river turtle nests.

Illegal harvesting of eggs remains a major threat to the conservation of endangered Amazonian river turtles. In the Brazilian State of Amapá an innovative community based management approach reversed unsustainable harvest rates (75% nest removal) to levels (26%) that are likely to maintain populations i.e. inverted the status quo where the majority of nests were harvested to a situation where the majority of nests were conserved.

Our findings suggest that the widely adopted use of law enforcement patrols as a nest protection strategy have little effect on river turtle nest harvesting. During years with extensive enforcement patrols by environmental police the nest harvest rates remained at unsustainably high levels of 61%. In the absence of law enforcement patrols the community involvement in protecting the river turtles nests temporarily against natural predators was a way that community members could actively participate not only in caring for the turtle nests but also the surrounding environment. As nest harvesting by humans was not specifically targeted these actions had general support and conflicts were not generated.

Norris D, Michalski F, Gibbs JP. (2018) Community involvement works where enforcement fails: conservation success through community-based management of Amazon river turtle nests. PeerJ 6:e4856 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4856

Programa de proteção de tartarugas alcança 80 milhões de filhotes em 40 anos

Resultados do Where is My Turtle citado numa reportagem recente sobre avanços e ameaças para a conservação de quelônios no Brasil. Segue link