Santo Domingo. – The Ministry of Environment and the company Haina International Terminals (HIT) signed an agreement establishing collaboration mechanisms for the protection and conservation of sea turtles.
The agreement agrees to jointly coordinate actions focused on protecting and helping to conserve these species at Manresa beach km.13 and Manresa Rompeolas, located in the city of Santo Domingo Oeste, Santo Domingo province.
Through this agreement, the HIT company undertakes to provide resources for surveillance, management and monitoring both day and night, in order to report and inform the competent authorities, with the established protocol, if nesting occurs and avoid looting of eggs of these species. In addition, it will provide resources to improve the space of the National Aquarium dedicated to the rehabilitation and release of stranded or injured organisms.
For its part, the Ministry, in addition to directing, supervising, monitoring and providing technical follow-up to the activities proposed under the agreement, will develop and deliver an orientation and training program aimed at personnel, as well as an awareness and education program aimed at to the community surrounding the port and its collaborators, in order to promote the preservation and care of sea turtles and the protection of the environment in general.
While the National Aquarium will participate, in coordination with the Technical Assistance Unit of the Vice Ministry of Marine Coastal Resources, to timely execute the activities of transferring nests to the National Aquarium and incubation of transferred nests, as well as monitoring, follow-up and subsequent release of neonates. In addition, it will participate in the training and awareness programs developed under the agreement.
“We are honored by the possibility of receiving this support and help. For us life is fundamental, in this case the life of the turtles, the opportunity to have this collaboration that allows us to conserve, protect and grow the population of turtles in the Dominican Republic”, said Minister Miguel Ceara Hatton.
In this sense, the CEO of the HIT company, Erik Alma, indicated: “The number one value is that life comes first and that obviously includes natural resources and fauna, and for a company that is linked to the sea like us, being able to Contributing to the conservation of marine species such as turtles, which spawn on beaches that border the port, is a great blessing and a project that fills us with great joy and enthusiasm.”
Sea turtles are protected through the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Ramsar Convention, included in the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and in the Red List of Endangered, Threatened or Endangered Species. Protected from the Dominican Republic. In addition, they are protected by the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles (CIT), as well as by Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Three species of sea turtles use Dominican beaches for nesting: Chelonia mydas, green turtle; Dermochelys coriacea, leatherback turtle and Eretmochelys imbricata, hawksbill. A fourth, the Caretta caretta, loggerhead, uses the island of Santo Domingo as a migratory route. They are all part of the biological wealth and heritage of the nation, for which the State has the duty and obligation to protect them.
