Conservation vs. Restoration

For these last ten days of our expedition, we got on a boat and headed to paradise.  Literally.  The white sandy beaches, swaying palm trees and the warm turquoise waters of Maratua Island were much too picturesque to seem real.  As part of our stay here, we went in two groups to spend a night on nearby Sangalaki Island, previously an ecotourism venture for scuba diving, but now closed off to all except a small group of rangers who live on the island helping protect the sea turtles who come to lay their eggs.  The ecotourism program was closed to give the hatching turtles a more protected nesting beach, and the ranger program set up to monitor the hatching and keep data records of the laying and hatching.  While staying on the island, we noticed a few flaws with the system.  There was little monitoring of how many females were actually laying eggs, and large variations in what was done with the nests.  Some were dug up and kept in the hatchery while others were left on the beach and not counted when hatched.  The collected eggs were released at different times of the night, and at different days after birth.  These inconsistencies were most likely due to the general lack of knowledge of the best way to improve survival of infant sea turtles.  These inconsistencies came up in our readings of NGO efforts on Derawan Island and a local man we met on the other side of Maratua who had set up a hatchery pool in his own home to try and restore the local sea turtle populations.

This variation in methods reminded me that conservation is something we are still in the middle of figuring out, and got me thinking about the differences between preventative conservation and the idea of restoration or reforestation.  It seems to me, we don’t have all the answers yet for how to fix the world, so continuing to ruin it is increasingly dangerous.  Without a trusted ability to restore what we have destroyed, it seems ridiculous to continue on the same path that threatens our own existence with no solid plan or idea of how to turn it around.

Seeing these different contradicting sea turtle hatching methods was a strong reminder that conservationists are fighting the right fight, a strong reminder of just how important it is to stop destroying what little un-touched earth is left because of how unsure we all are of how to fix what we have ruined.  As we head back to North America and our lives as students and consumers, it will be important to remember this message, and help spread awareness, help others make the right choice with their consumer dollars and how to get involved.