Soca on De Beach, which was scheduled to take place at 4:00 PM this evening at the Drill Hall Beach, was cancelled due to the harm it posed – and likely had already done – to nesting turtles in the area.
In a live stream on the Barbados Sea Turtle Project’s Facebook page early this morning, field director Carla Daniel explained that Drill Hall Beach is the “primary nesting beach” for hawksbill turtles in Barbados. The hawskbill turtle is a critically endangered species on the brink of extinction. Daniels demonstrated the possible damage that has already been made to what she estimates may be close to 100 nests at this time, by fence posts driven into the sand, stages that were not raised, large concrete slabs and vehicles that were driven over the area, evidenced by tire tracks in the sand. Daniel also shared photos that she had taken during the night to the page.
Daniel, along with representatives from the National Conservation Comission (NCC), 4D Entertainment and Yello Barbados, gave an update to the situation this evening, which was live streamed on both the Barbados Sea Turtle Project and Yello Barbados’ Facebook pages. Daniel, an NCC and a 4D entertainment representative explained that a misunderstanding led to the situation. The Yello Barbados representative stated that there was no intention “to disrupt the nesting of [the] turtles, or to displace or to cause harm to any of our beaches…” and apologised for any “miscommunication or anything that was against what [their] intentions were.”
Watch the two videos below:
https://www.facebook.com/thebstp/videos/1941634419228577/
https://www.facebook.com/yellobbd/videos/10155741282287879/
