TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands End Sea Turtle Hunting Season in the BVI

As many of you have been following, Gumption has been leading an initiative to end the legal hunting of turtles in the BVIs. Some time ago, he and other advocates started a petition form on moveon.org. The goal was to collect over 5,000 signatures, and they are at 4,613 as of right now. Just today, the Branson family also signed it, so it should get more traction.

Wouldn't it be nice to see more of these beautiful creatures on our charters? Don't they really make the whole trip for our kids (and us)?

Please join the list by clicking here to sign the petition.

As you can see on their Facebook page, they have been working on this signature goal for some time. I trust that the TTOL community can help blow past the number by spreading this to your friends and family.

Once the petition is signed, additional help may be requested from the TTOL community to put this into action. Stay tuned. Any thoughts you have on how to enact this change are also GREATLY appreciated.

--

PETITION BACKGROUND The British Virgin Islands has a Sea Turtle Hunting season December 1st through March 31st.

They are legally allowed to harvest Hawksbill and Green Sea Turtles, both endangered animals.

Hawksbill turtles (must be 15+inches carapace length) and Green turtles (24 +inches carapace length) but these sizes still put them in the late juvenile / sub-adult age and the fact they do not have a size limit is even worse since those are the ones probably nesting here but live elsewhere.

There is a moratorium on loggerhead turtles, leatherback turtles, & all sea turtle eggs.

Thanks for posting this! Gumption and the team are working hard on this important initiative. You can also monitor activities on our website:
http://www.savetheturtlesbvi.com/
Thank you!!!
Diana

Done

Me too.

Done <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Done. Looks like quite a few people have signed on 3/1/15

Sea turtle stew is yummy. Made by locals its a renewable resource.

Not funny

I see that the petition is addressed to "Ralph T. O'Neal, Premier of the British Virgin Islands" which is a bit out of date.

Done and shared with my FB friends.
Hopefully this comes into fruition.

I understand local culture, but these beautiful animals are ENDANGERED.
I still have the vision of a local in Carrot Bay beheading a Sea Turtle that he had harvested burned in my memory.

Thanks Tarroc. Yes the person who started the petition has been notified that the directive needs to be updated to the new Premier. Thanks for spotting it though!!

Signed! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

Just Signed!

I understand and do not like it any more than you guys do, BUT, it is going to be very hard to end a practice by locals that has been going on since before the islands had names. While you are at it, add [censored] fighting to that list. I think at least they use the turtles for food, the [censored] fighting that goes on has no social redeeming value whatsoever.

Add dog fighting to that, too.

I would presume that dog fighting is illegal in BVI though, no?

just signed

Thanks for posting this.
I sign every petition I can on this subject.
These turtles are soooooo critically endangered... when they are gone, they are gone forever.

Done..and thanks..

accomplished and thanks for posting this

Signed

Dog fighting goes on all over the BVI...whether its illegal or not makes little difference..

Signed.

underatood and thanks for the reply Mal. My question was for real and two foldm one to ask if it was indeed against the law, dog fighting that is, and two if it was common practice. I was also making the point that outlawing something does not necessarily end its practice.

No doubt, cockfighting and dog fighting are barbaric practices that should be against the law and should be eliminated. Endangered species should be proteced. The politics of achieving that are tremendously complicated.

Signed

Signed

Signed!

Just signed

I signed the petition.
The sea turtles are not endangered but I like them and would not eat one and that's why I signed the petition.

sail445 - wiki has hawksbill sea turtles listed as "CR" which is critically endangered.

Is this incorrect? I'd love to learn that they are not critically endangered.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawksbill_sea_turtle

They have no way of checking the populations of sea turtles except maybe in certain bays.
There has always been an abundance in the Caribbean at least for the last fifty years.
People thought they could eradicate the Lion fish which turned out to be impossible they are in all the bay's and all sides of the islands and in all the corals between.

Done

signed

Done.

Twanger- Just to touch on your question, a recent National Geographic article lists the Hawksbill as Critically Endangered. The below article details the Hawksbill Turtles amazing plight, along with detailing it's endangered status.

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/hawksbill-turtle/

I hope this helps!

You'll notice NG states they're endangered but they don't tell you any statistics.
The turtle is and has been a food source for centuries.

Hawksbill = yummy

Always love the argument that something has been a food source for centuries. Look around. Some things have changed in the last 300 years. If you're hungry, order a pizza from your phone and have it delivered to your home in 20 minutes.

Thanks for posting and supporting the ban. I signed it and shared the link with others to consider signing it.

Tony

Wrong answer, enjoy your pizza.