A sea turtle hatching. There has been outrage on social media after it was alleged a tourist and his boat captain were noticed catching baby turtles at White Bay in Jost van Dyke on Sunday, July 28, 2024. Photo: wallpapersafari.com

The Facebook post by ALex Fahie. Photo: Facebook

“Went to White Bay JVD yesterday and observed a tourist catching one of the baby turtles that’s always in the area feeding. We shouted at them to tell them release it and shockingly, the captain (local captain) operating his sailing vessel shunned us away,” Facebook user Alex Fahie posted on The Real BVI Community Board on July 29, 2024.

Fahie alleged that the guests proceeded to the back of their sailing vessel “out of our view and what looked like they tossed the turtle in the back of a dinghy.”

He said other guests from another boat shouted at them to release the turtle but the tourist that caught it said he already did “which was a lie as we can see there was another guy in the same dinghy taking pictures of it”.

Fahie further said he observed the captain pointing out another turtle to the guests as if he was telling him to catch that one also.

“We watched the tourist put his mask back on and hopped in the water to catch the other one. At this point we were all watching him which made him pause as the turtle he was after was right in front of him. The captain needs to be fined heavily!” Fahie stated.

Outrage

Many on social media condemned the alleged actions, with some pointing out that it is illegal to handle the turtles even if it’s just for taking pictures.

One person said the Fisheries Department and Marine Police were notified of the incident.

There was also some dispute about the name of the vessel and who the boat, a catamaran, belonged to.

Our news site will not mention the name of the vessel alleged, as we cannot confirm the information.