The Barbados Sea Turtle Project nesting beach monitoring programme is highly regarded as one of the longest running critically endangered hawksbill turtle conservation programmes in the world. Barbados is the destination of choice for over 600 nesting hawksbill turtles annually, the largest population in the insular Caribbean.

The Barbados Sea Turtle Project (BSTP) has recently lost its main source of funding . The project is currently in crisis and needs immediate resources for the 2020 nesting season which runs from June to November.

The Barbados Environmental Conservation Trust in response to this crisis is seeking to mobilize funding from our networks of people who care passionately about protecting Barbados’ wildlife and natural habitats. The goal is to mobilize supporting resources up to $100,000 USD to help support the operational costs and towards the development of financial sustainability plan for BSTP. The BECT and BSTP have signed an MOU to guide these efforts to ensure cash funding and supplementary resources raised through this campaign is directed towards the efforts of the BSTP.

Anticipated costs include:

• Equipment – Purchasing of equipment and supplies for supporting rescue efforts including:
  tracking systems to be put on turtles once released
• Season Headquarters-  supporting the upkeep and operational costs of the headquarters where volunteers are trained, eggs exposed by erosion are incubated, and injured hatchlings are cared for and housed until release
• Volunteer Training and Support
  • Costs of training and equipping of volunteers
  • Stipends for volunteers for day and night monitoring
• Hotline – Maintenance costs associated with the 24- Hour turtle hotline
• Coordination and Communication – supporting the overall costs of coordination and continued public education efforts of the turtle nesting programme