Every year between March and July around 40 to 65 leatherback sea turtles come on to Keys Beach in St Kitts to lay their eggs, and the St Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network has been making sure Keys Beach is clean, as it's one of the main nesting sites on the island. However over the past few years they've noticed that the beach is being affected by erosion, but this isn't the only concern as there are also worries about increased temperatures.
When the eggs are laid they aren't gender specific as this is determined by the incubation temperature. A higher incubation temperature tends to produce female turtles, while lower temperatures produce male turtles, and there are worries that rising temperatures could skew the turtle population. It's not just the turtles being affected, as a Conaree Fish Farm was recently established to grow fresh water tilapia in seawater.
The project pulls water from around 320 m out in the ocean before feeding it back into several artificial ponds where the fish are grown. However seaweed from the Sargasso Sea is now showing up on beaches in the Caribbean and is clogging the intake pipes. Apparently the change in temperature is causing the seaweed to release itself from the seabed as it needs sunlight to grow.
At least this organism is natural, and doesn't affect the sea turtles, and it's been found nesting birds on the beaches are feeding and foraging within the seaweed. However what's more important is the effect climate change is having on St Kitts, and even though the island emits minimal greenhouse gases it is likely to be greatly affected by climate change. The focus is now on adaptation, and millions of dollars are being poured into the Caribbean to help this region prepare.
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