Design Competition

The Treasure Beach Turtle Group's abstract design has been accepted for presentation at the International Sea Turtle Society conference to be be held in Cartagena Colombia in March 2023, on the work we have been doing in the conservation of sea turtles in Treasure Beach, Jamaica.

We would like your help in getting there by donating to this venture. We will be the first group to represent Jamaica on turtle conservation and will be a great opportunity to learn from other like minded individuals towards growing the group and the community of Treasure Beach along with the information available to Jamaica's turtle community.

You may donate through our sponsor Treasure Beach retreats.

Nesting Season Starts

The female hawksbill sea turtles have started coming up on our beaches looking for a good place to dig a nest and lay their eggs. They like to get up above the high water mark and prefer to nest in the vegetation, especially the sea grapes. Come and stay at the Turtle House and we'll show you what's happening. Call Camar at 876 304 7778 to make reservations.

Sea Turtle Nesting Time

The Treasure Beach Turtle Group and the Treasure Beach Destination Management Organisation would like to remind you we are coming into the sea turtle nesting season of June 1 - November 30! 

We are asking all of you who have an establishment located directly on the beach to help us help the Hawksbill turtles by changing any bright lights that shine onto or near the sea to either a yellow or red light bulb.  The following is an excerpt from the attached information sheet explaining why dimming your lights is so important to the survival of the sea turtle.  The attached sheet will also give you examples of "sea turtle friendly" lights.

"Nesting sea turtles once had no trouble finding a quiet, dark beach on which to nest; now they must compete with tourists, businesses and coastal residents for sandy beaches. U.S. beaches, popular with humans and turtles alike, are lined with condominiums, private residences, businesses and hotels. Lights from these developments can be problematic for nesting females and hatchlings. The lights can discourage females from coming ashore to nest. If a female fails to nest after multiple attempts, she will often resort to a less-than-optimal nesting spot resulting in few, if any, hatchlings surviving from the nest.

"Beachfront lighting can also cause sea turtle hatchlings to become disoriented and wander away from the ocean towards the brightest lights. Hatchlings that head toward artificial lights often die from dehydration, exhaustion, terrestrial predation and passing cars."

Just as bright lights can deter, harm, and kill both nestings and hatchings the same will happen from a beach bonfire.  The bonfire will discourage females from coming ashore to nest the same way bright lights will and the hatchlings will wander right into the bonfire and will literally fry.  We were witness to this a few years ago when on our morning walk to record any hatchings or nestings we found the remnants of a bonfire on the beach and several hatchlings fried in the ashes.  It was heartbreaking to see.

Last year we recorded 113 nestings in the Black Springs/Billy's Bay area which is up from 75 last year.  However, sea turtle nesting has been reported from Back Seaside, Great Bay, Old Wharf, Calabash Bay, Frenchman's Bay, Billy's Bay and Ft. Charles.  Right now we only have funding to report the number of nestings and hatchings in a small designated area.

The Treasure Beach Turtle Group is currently working on their own website and on a promotion allowing all stakeholders to become Turtle Watch members of the Turtle Watch group!  We'll keep you posted!!

In the meantime if you have any questions or want to set up a tour please contact Camar at treasurebeachturtlegroupja@gmail.com

We are now the second largest sea turtle nesting area in Jamaica, however we are confident that with more monitoring we would become #1! So in summary, let us all join forces to save the Hawksbill sea turtles and preserve their natural environment.  After all we are the Home of Community Tourism and our sea turtles have been a part of this community for literally millions of years predating dinosaurs.

Thank you,

Rebecca Wiersma

TB DMO