Former Turtle Hunters Now Protect Them in Cabo Verde

The men walking Cabo Verde's beaches at night used to hunt the very creatures they now protect.

About a dozen former turtle hunters have become conservation rangers in this West African island nation, patrolling up to 19 miles of coastline each night during nesting season. They watch over loggerhead turtles as the ancient creatures crawl ashore to lay eggs from June through October.

Roni Nelson Batista Ramos, now a camp coordinator at the Turtle Foundation, remembers eating turtle meat without thinking twice. "I never realized I could make a living out of conserving them," he told Mongabay. "But now, I guard them against the poachers, and it's motivating to see how these efforts have driven positive impacts for their conservation."

The transformation began with 2018 legislation that made killing threatened turtle species a crime. But laws alone didn't change hearts. Awareness campaigns helped locals understand what was at stake, while ranger jobs offered a new way to earn income.

The work isn't easy. Rangers walk several kilometers each night, now aided by drones and specially trained dogs to spot poachers in the dark.

The Ripple Effect

The results speak louder than any campaign could. On Boa Vista island, where two-thirds of Cabo Verde's loggerhead nesting happens, illegal catches plummeted from 1,253 female turtles in 2007 to just 20 in 2024.

Over those same years, turtle nests increased more than sevenfold. Cabo Verde now hosts the largest loggerhead population in the east Atlantic Ocean and the third largest worldwide, trailing only Oman and southeast Florida.

The success extends beyond one species. Four other sea turtle species swim these waters, including critically endangered hawksbills. The conservation model shows how providing economic alternatives can protect entire ecosystems while honoring the people who depend on them.

Former hunters have become the turtles' fiercest defenders, proving that change is possible when communities have both reason and resources to choose a different path.