Conservation of Freshwater Hicatee
Published in
Published by Norman Budna - On 10 November 2007
About 10 years ago the Hicatee population in lower Rio Grande was very healthy. According to Hicatee hunters in Eldridge and Forest Home Villages, ‘Hicatee di get scarce’. It is uncertain what has led to this rapid decline; have humans become more skilled and efficient in capturing Hicatee? Has population growth led to the increase demand for this food resource? Is the current legislation enough to guarantee the survival of this valuable species? Or, is it a lack of enforcement due to not enough human resources on the part of the fisheries department? What about lack of education on the part of the communities who use this resource, and if so who is to blame? So many questions so little answers, but should we wait around for these questions to be answered before we take action?
The goals of this project are to conserve the remaining Hicatee turtles through community involvement. The community will:
- Be trained to monitor turtle population for protection and sustainable use. TIDE will reach communities via meetings, radio shows, and printed educational material. Seven community groups will be targeted. Three are East Indian and four are Mayan; they are: Cattle Landing, Forest Home, Jacinto Ville, Eldridge, Cux-Lin-Ha, Big Falls, and San Marcos.
- Some signs have already been posted along the Rio Grande or at other harvest sites notifying of the closed season. More signs will be posted to indicate catch size requirements, etc.
- So far, TIDE has hosted one community radio show about the Hicatee situation, covering such topics as size requirements, long term effects of over-harvesting, and other revenue options available to the communities. TIDE will host more Shows and survey the results.
- TIDE has held a few community meetings with Village Counselors to determine the problem. More meetings will be held to develop a plan for replenishing remaining stocks for eventual sustainable use. Alternative livelihoods trainings will also be included.
RESULTS
1) Over the long term, Hicatee will be replenished through controlled breeding, and releasing captured turtles back into the wild.
2) The project will continue after this grant to ensure success. Conservation in the Rio Grande is a part of TIDE’s larger work in the area.
3) Further down the road TIDE will develop a Habitat Conservation Plan for the entire Rio Grande watershed to promote sustainable harvesting to bring back healthy populations of Hicatee. People will be aware of how to harvest responsibly, over a certain size only, and of efforts to replenish during breeding season. Hicatee populations will return to their healthy levels of twenty years ago and will be removed from the endangered species list.
PROGRESS TO DATE
TIDE has held community meetings in 5 villages targeted in the buffer zones of the Rio Grande River region. During dialoguing with members and giving presentation on the rules and regulation, family households have become more aware of the dangers the Hicatee faces and how human can contribute to the extinction of this species. During the discussion with leaders and members in meetings, some communities have shown interest in organizing volunteers to assist in the patrolling and surveillance with the TIDE rangers. Others had suggested that in order to have control harvesting of Hicatee, they would like to establish a network of community leaders to join in with TIDE to monitor illegal poaching during the close season.
The primary schools targeted, were also visited where class room presentations were implemented. Information on rules and regulations were handed out to students. At these presentations, a questions and answer session was done to test students knowledge on what was thought during the presentations. The students with right answers would be given a small prize for the correct answer. In order to complement these school visits, a field trip to TIDE private lands and Protected Area on the Rio Grande was implemented. Students traveled up the River to the ranger station where they were able to identify and view the natural resources in the Area. They saw the riparian buffer zone and areas of key importance for the survival of the Freshwater Hicatee.
TIDE has also established a weekly radio program that host guest from the community and the public to assist in bring awareness to the region by sharing experiences and solutions and members of communities jointly with TIDE rangers participate on a local radio talk show. The show is called; “The Rising TIDE talk show”.
The project also incorporated students from the Toledo Community College Science Department who assisted in the construction of educational signs. These signs display the rules and regulations of the Freshwater Hicatee including the date of close season. Students jointly with TIDE rangers were successful in planting over 10 educational signs on the banks of the Rio Grande River. The signs are expected to educate fishermen, hunters and the general public who uses the Rio Grande River. Community households are now aware and are expected to respect the legislation set by the Fisheries Department and the 66 feet buffer zone along the river banks. These students will return to their classes and share information and experiences on the work they did on the conservation of the Freshwater Hicatee.
CONCLUSION
TIDE continue to do its part to aid in the conservation of one of the oldest species of turtle, and at the same time preserving an old cultural tradition of having Hicatee and white rice at Easter time. However, TIDE will work close with communities who are affected and dependent on this resource in respecting the legislation.
Together, TIDE rangers jointly with members of community and conservation partners will monitor this endangered species, and the natural resources in the lower end of the Rio Grande River. TIDE will continue to seek counterpart funding for a larger project of developing a Habitat Conservation Plan for the entire Rio Grande watershed.