This month Dominic Tilley and I were invited by Dr Angela Formia (Partenariat pour les Tortues Marines du Gabon) the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Gabon Programme and Aventures sans Frontières (ASF) to help assist with training of 25 field staff from ASF, ANPN, Fondation Liambissi, PTMG and WCS Gabon who are responsible for monitoring and/or managing a number of key nesting beaches in Gabon. This workshop was held for three days at ASF’s field base in Pongara National Park from the 25th – 27th of September, and was designed to standardise data gathering capacity among field technicians (some of which were new, and some of which were old hands) in order to ensure rigorous scientific quality and application of consistent protocols between sites and seasons.
The first day involved a short test for each participant (which Dominic and I were requested to take part in by the participants) to see how much information they had retained or knew about sea turtles and nest beach monitoring. After this the teaching started and was based around improving awareness and knowledge of sea turtles, and included lectures on sea turtle biology and conservation with a wealth of course material provided by PTMG and ASF.
The second day started with theory on nest beach monitoring, species and track identification, and field data collection techniques, such as genetic sampling. After lunch the participants moved onto the practical based training which was designed to build on and reinforce the mornings teaching. This is where Dominic and I got involved with the teaching, ensuring that participants received practical training on how to: (i) correctly measure a turtle carapace (involving a rather brilliant paper mache leatherback), (ii) insert the flipper tags into the applicator/pliers, and where and how to attach them on the different species that nest in Gabon; and, (iii) something that we can all relate to, how to set up a GPS unit, check the appropriate coordinate system has been selected (something that can and often does go wrong in the field) and how to take and record a GPS position correctly on data sheets.
The third and final day started with a short test to assess how much the participants had improved during the course of the workshop. The participants were then separated into five groups and given a topic which they had to address through short plays; each group had to show how they would address the situation if it arose in the field. Topics included what to do when field technicians encounter a nesting turtle, how to ensure tourists behave around nesting turtles, and how to educate people on the status of sea turtles in Gabon, which are integrally protected. This was one of my highlights of the course, as these short plays showed how the workshops helped generate a strong team spirit and a shared sense of purpose and motivation for sea turtle conservation in Gabon. After lunch, the workshop was brought to a close with the presentation of certificates and some small prizes for those participants who had most improved, and for those who had consistently scored highly in both short tests.
This workshop was a collaborative effort between: Partenariat pour les Tortues Marines du Gabon (PTMG), Aventures sans Frontières (ASF), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Marine Turtle Research Group at the University of Exeter.
DI Central Africa 