Shell Beach, located on the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

coast of Guyana in the

Barima-Waini Barima-Waini (Region 1) is a region of Guyana. Venezuela claims the territory as part of Guayana Esequiba. The region is located in the northwest of the country and has a population of 26,941. It covers an area of . It borders the Atlantic Ocean ...

Region, near the

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n border, is a nesting site for four of the eight

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhe ...

species - the

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

, Hawksbill turtleill,

Leatherback The leatherback sea turtle (''Dermochelys coriacea''), sometimes called the lute turtle or leathery turtle or simply the luth, is the largest of all living turtles and the heaviest non-crocodilian reptile, reaching lengths of up to and weights ...

and the Olive Ridley. Shell Beach extends for approximately 120 km.

Turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked t ...

s used to be slaughtered for their meat and eggs but are now part of a

non-governmental A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

conservation program called the Guyana Marine Turtle Conservation Society (GMTCS), founded by Dr.

Peter Pritchard Peter Charles Howard Pritchard (June 26, 1943 – February 25, 2020) was a leading turtle zoologist. Pritchard was educated at Oxford University and the University of Florida, where he received a Ph.D. and specialized in Zoology. He was most com ...

and Romeo De Freitas. Shell Beach was not formally protected, although direct and indirect conservation activities to protect the

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materi ...

ing sea turtles started in the 1960s, when Dr.

first began annual research visits. Due to his efforts to conserve the turtles in the region, Dr.

was dubbed "Hero of the Planet" by Time. As of 2011, it is a protected area, and

Amerindians The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the Am ...

from the local communities of Almond Beach, Gwennie Beach, and nine other villages within the area are involved in the programme.

References

Barima-Waini Beaches of Guyana Natural history of Guyana Protected areas of Guyana {{SouthAm-protected-area-stub