Cayman Turtle Center is a conservation and tourist attraction located in the West Bay district of the Cayman Islands. This is used to raise an endangered Sea Turtle. Founded in 1968 by a group of American and British investors as "Mariculture Limited", the center was originally a facility used to enhance Green Turtles for commercial purposes. By raising turtles in agricultural operations, investors can increase turtle meat for consumption without consuming the wild population of the species. Still operating as a farm that breeds and raises turtles to sell products, Cayman Turtle Farm has also become a center for research and tourist attraction. Currently, the center is the largest conservation and land-based attraction project in the Cayman Islands. The turtle center welcomes more than 500,000 visitors annually.
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History
While on a nautical trip, Christopher Columbus, when it came to the Cayman Islands in 1503, called the island "Las Tortugas", due to the abundance of Green Turtles found there. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Cayman Islands became a stop-off point for sailing ships in the Caribbean Sea in need of food; the turtles caught in the Cayman are taken aboard and continue to live as a source of fresh meat. When settlements and towns on the islands were established over time, "turtling" became a way of survival and means of income in the Caymans. However, in the 19th century, the turtle population around the island was running low and Green Turtle-centered trade shifted to the Caribbean off the coast of Nicaragua in Central America.
During the 20th century, turtles were still caught and used for their meat in the Caymans; however, the depletion of species around the island made it impossible locally for turtling to continue to be a viable source of income. In 1968, American and British investors - Irvin Naylor, Henry Hamlin, Samuel Ayres, III, and Anthony G.A. Fisher - obtained a license from the Cayman Islands government and grouped together to find Mariculture, Limited. Mariculture named this business "The Cayman Turtle Farm" and this is the first commercial company to tame the Sea Turtles Green. Founded as Mariculture Ltd by Irvin Naylor, Henry Hamlin, Dr. Samuel Ayres III & amp; Anthony G.A. Fisher with the exclusive blessing and franchise of the Cayman Islands Government. While Mariculture works to tame marine animals, protective regulations prevent the sale of all turtle products in the United States and other countries, limiting the commercial value of Mariculture products. In the mid-1970s, the facility housed about 100,000 turtles. Unable to sell their products, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1975 and was subsequently bought by an investment group from Germany. In 1983, the farm was sold again - this time bought by the Cayman Islands government and the facility was renamed "Cayman Turtle Farm, Limited".
In 2010, the facility was renamed the Cayman Turtle Center: Island Wildlife Encounter to let visitors know about other park attractions outside the sea turtle.
Maps Cayman Turtle Farm
Tourist attractions, conservation and trade
With the center becoming successful in breeding and researching Green Turtles as well as Kemp sea turtles, this center became one of the most successful sights in the Caymans at the turn of the 21st century.
The center is 23 hectares and consists of predators, birds, caiman, and other creatures other than turtles.
However, in 2001, a severe setback to the success of the center as a marine captive breeding, research and research facility took place on 4 November 2001, when a large wave generated by Hurricane Michelle flooded the facility. The storm lies 90 miles southwest of Grand Cayman and produces little wind, but its waves sweep the turtles of various sizes ranging from hatchlings to 600 pounds of adults to the ocean. The Cayman population responded to help save the turtles and many were saved at the time. For months afterward, the yellow-marked turtle from the center was visible around the island to follow Hurricane Michelle. 75% of the breeding turtles are gone. Central exemption and meat supply programs were reduced in an attempt to build up the population after the event.
As a result of the disaster, the Cayman Islands government created a new vision for the center when the nursery pool was moved to West Bay Road from its current facility. The new and more modern facility is quite far from the sea so it is no longer in danger of the high seas as it had experienced during the 2001 hurricane season. In addition, the new park became an expanded facility to include nature parks. A new tourist facility called "Boatswain's Beach". After the expansion, the entire park contains 23 hectares that include nature trails and bird cages as well as reef lagoons where visitors can snorkel with native fish and other local marine life, including Green Turtles. A freshwater lagoon and a waterfall are also included in addition to the predatory tank where the reef sharks will nest. Visitors are still allowed to enter the area around the turtle breeding and feeding tank. In 2010, the facility changed its name from "Boatswain's Beach" to "Cayman Turtle Farm: Island Wildlife Encounter" and in 2012 it added the water slide feature to the freshwater lagoon.
The Cayman Turtle Center is the only facility in the world. It is also the only facility to reach the 2nd generation of turtles raised in captivity. It was also the first facility to successfully cultivate the endangered Kemp's Ridley turtle in captivity. About 100 scientific papers have been presented or published based on work in collaboration with researchers at Cayman Turtle Farm. The biggest turtle at the facility is Sparky, a 70-year-old woman weighing about 550 pounds.
Controversy
In the 2000s, the Cayman Turtle Center was attacked by a group of animal welfare and conservationists who claimed that agriculture failed to meet the welfare needs of animals in its care and posed a threat to the conservation of turtles. The international animal protection group, the World Society for Protection of Animals (WSPA) mentions poor water quality, density, unsupervised human handling, increased rates of disease and congenital defects among the breeding creatures.
Joined in support by Sea Turtle Conservancy, the world's oldest sea turtle conservation group, WSPA has launched a campaign to stop the Cayman Turtle Ranch from turtle breeding for human consumption. Sir Paul McCartney, a former member of The Beatles has supported the campaign and urged agriculture to move on to a more humane, sustainable and profitable alternative.
At the House of Commons, the 612th Early Day Motion (EDM) 2012, titled 'Cayman Turtle Farm' calls on the British Government to condemn the practice of producing turtle meat for consumption and helping to help agriculture move towards practices that promote turtle protection instead.
The captive breeding program at the Cayman Turtle Center has long attracted criticism from conservation groups claiming that the center runs the risk of introducing infectious diseases into the wild by releasing turtles that have been raised in captivity conditions. Experts also claim that such programs fail to address the root causes of turtle decline and efforts will be better used to tackle illegal hunting - an ongoing problem in the Cayman Islands. But a panel of four international turtle experts inspecting agriculture in December 2012 concluded that the pond has a "positive conservation impact" as it provides turtle meat for local consumers thereby reducing wild population poaching, adding to the local turtle nesting population through passing turtle releases, enabling research applied from animals for four decades, and increased conservation of sea turtle conservation.
In addition to animal cruelty claims, the center's business model has been under the spotlight for being uneconomical. According to WSPA, the Cayman Turtle Center experienced an average loss of over Cayman's $ 9,976,000 a year over the last five years and is a huge burden for taxpayers. In April 2013 the Cayman Turtle Center released data showing that there have been some positive indicators in its financial performance in recent years.
The Cayman Turtle Center has denied allegations of cruelty and congenital defects, and stands up with its claim of having released 31,000 green turtles into the wild since it was first established. WSPA has stated that on average, the center only released 27 tortoises per year since 2007. The Cayman Turtle Center has confirmed that after Hurricane Michelle wiped out 75 percent of its breeding population, the center reduced the number of releases each year, stock rebuilding of its recent release has increased, with 75 turtles released in 2011 and 150 in 2012. The Cayman Islands Environment Department has released data showing that turtles released as hatchlings or children are aged from The Cayman Turtle Center a few decades ago, became sexually mature. and return as adults to nest on the beaches of Grand Cayman. Between 1999 and 2003, the average number of green turtle nests in Grand Cayman was 16.4. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of green turtle nests on the island in recent years, reaching a height of 181 green turtle nests by 2012. The sightings of the "living" turtles have confirmed that some of these nests are laid by turtles released from Cayman Turtle Center.
Picture gallery
References
External links
- http://www.turtle.ky/
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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