Turtles and MARENA

     Several species of sea turtles nest along the beach here at False Bluff and in our ongoing efforts to protect both the turtles and their eggs, we visited the Bluefields office of the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, or Ministerio del Ambiente y los Recursos Naturales, or, simplest, MARENA, to put our property on their radar and somewhat under their protection.  (Blog post at http://falsebluff.blogspot.com/2011/09/sea-turtle.html)
     MARENA is charged with protecting, studying, planning for, and managing the country's natural resources; and sea turtles are definitely a natural resource.   There are seven species of sea turtles in the world and five of the species nest somewhere along a Nicaraguan coast line.
     The visit to MARENA involved signing papers which will end up being registered at the main office in Managua plus a site visit that included a local MARENA staffer, a member of the police department, and someone from, I think, the Nicaraguan navy.
     I loaned a MARENA staffer my passport overnight in exchange for use of the only office copy of a book detailing strategies for management of sea turtles along the Caribbean coast.  I promptly had that book copied and the new copy bound at a local copy shop.    The copy now resides at False Bluff.

     The poster about not eating turtle eggs was a gift right off the wall of the MARENA staffer who was so helpful.  It's been laminated and affixed to a wall at the house at False Bluff.