Lara in St Kitts: January 2011

Snapper is a salt-water talapia farm on St Kitts that has allowed us to house our rehabilitating sea turtles in their ponds.

The farm is completely made out of recycled materials. It is located next to the island garbage dump, and the owner of the farm is often seen heading down to 'the hardware store' to get his needed supplies.

Dr. Brown, as i've come to call him, came here from Jamaica planning to raise the talapia in converted salt-to-fresh water, an idea originally designed by the Israelis.

Talapia on the right, turtles on the left (can just see the top of Olivia's shell)

Olivia is an older juvenile that washed up on shore last year with her two right flippers missing. We suspect that she must have gotten them wrapped in a fishing line in the sea. Her shell took on a lot of air during her ordeal, and she is no longer able to dive for food. When we get ponds build on campus we will begin weighting her shell in an attempt to teach her how to dive again. In the meantime she has to be hand fed live fish every day. In this picture you can see her right front flipper is completely gone. Unfortunately it will not grow back, so she will never be able to be re-released into the wild. The Sea Turtle Monitoring Network uses her as a tool to educate the community about the importance of sea turtle conservation.