March of the Turtles
History
An annual, generally 2-3 week long event that takes place from later summer to early fall, where sea turtle nests all along Shanai's coast hatch and the infant turtles make their way to the ocean. The event officially became a nationally recognized holiday on the islands in 19,822, allowing the Red Pineapple Corps to utilize national resources and funding to shut down beaches, roads, and night time boating activities for the duration of the hatchings, to ensure the survival of as many turtles as possible.
Since then, the number of sea turtles surviving has greatly increased, allowing the organization to double down their efforts in protecting turtle nests, and one such was is in their preparation for the Turtle March, such as having paid volunteers guard the nests from the time they are laid until they begin to hatch, rotating people out every few days to chase off predators and tourists alike who may disturb the eggs. Penalties for disturbing the eggs have increased in severity over time due to the group's lobbying
Execution
When the first sea turtle crawls onto land to lay its eggs, all nesting beaches are shut down for a period of 3-9 days, with no tourists or beach activities allowed at all by anyone outside of the Red Pineapple Corps or their seasonal volunteers until all the eggs are laid. Nests are marked and surrounded by cones, nets, and fences to keep track of them and deter predators, with observation stations set up to have at least one person guarding between 5 and 15 nests at all times, depending on their proximity to one another. Nest guards are rotated out in shifts, allowing for as many breaks as needed for rest, meals, and sleep, while also not leaving the eggs unattended.
As the guards are volunteers, typically locals and Pineapple Corps members, they are incentivized to give their time via rewards of plentiful food provided by local restaurants and cafes, alcohol for those of drinking age from resorts and bars, and often free merchandise. Shanai's government also pays out double what a volunteer would earn in missed earnings from their jobs, along with pay of their missed shifts and not allowing any penalization for a person leaving their job to volunteer. During this time, the guards chase off sea birds, cats, dogs, lava salamanders, and tourists who may try to steal or destroy the eggs. The same holds true for the actual Turtle March itself, when the eggs hatch.
During the actual march, all of Shanai's beaches are completely shut down and all buildings within sight of the beach will turn out their lights in a nation wide blackout at night. Tourists are completely banned from the beaches during hatching events, to prevent interference and theft of the baby turtles. Barricades prevent anyone who is not a volunteer from entering the beach, as thousands of newly born turtles make their way steadily to the water, often filmed and competitions held to see who can count the most turtles. Volunteers who have the most turtles successfully hatch are often given pins with turtles and their count after the festival.
Participants
The Burman Cafe is a long time participant of the March of the Turtles, providing free coffee and snacks to all volunteers and Asher Burman himself, the cafe's current manager, a frequent volunteer himself year after year.
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