Ophelia

Another Tropical Storm out at sea. Ophelia. With the very first predictions showing she was coming towards Antigua we waited expectantly to see her path. She is tracking well north of us. Nothing to see, nothing to worry about. 

Satellite image and projected path of Ophelia. www.meteo.gp

Maybe a bit of storm surge? Listening to the (French) news this morning (Friday), I caught the weather forecast and they mentioned the Caribbean weather. Une fois n'est pas coutume. Courtesy of Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana. They had warnings for strong swells. Well I guess we are seeing them. Or it is just exceptionally high tide – similar to those of TS Irene and Maria this year.

Storm surge / swell? ©D.Tilley/JBHP

On the second patrol of the night, we find a turtle down on the eastern end of the beach (-4). She has a twisted flipper and has difficulty digging. I start to help whilst Rob walks up the beach. A few minutes later the radio crackles into life. ‘Dom, there is a girl laying at 20. She’s a neophyte. And she is in the water’. No urgency then. Nicola – the EAG team leader – takes over the digging duties whilst I sprint up the beach. 400m in soft sand (mixed with sargassum and rocks in places) along with the swell slapping the legs took all of two minutes. I am out of shape; that was hard!

Sargassum along Pasture Beach. ©D.Tilley/JBHP

The turtle, we shall refer to as Ophelia from now on, had barely made it out of the water; only her head and fore flippers were on dry sand. 

Ophelia nesting in water. ©D.Tilley/JBHP

She made no effort to crawl up the bank – it is steep, it is difficult, but not impossible. She decided she had made enough of an effort, or she was desperate. We aren’t sure how much of a nest she dug as the waves were crashing onto her rear end and filling the ‘nest’ with water. Nevertheless she was laying. And seemed quite happy. Rob rapidly diving in to save the eggs whilst I work her up. She gets her jewellery, measurements are done and a tissue sample taken. 

Saving the eggs. ©D.Tilley/JBHP

After about 10 minutes she decides starts to cover. It is comical. She is trying to put wet sand into a hole, which is already full of wet sand and the waves keep washing her rear flipper clean. She manages to prop her front end up whilst undermining her rear end. She is now tipping dangerously and risks flipping herself over. Rob relocates the eggs to safer grounds; 139 of them with 26 of them fused in pairs. As I get back to the first girl, she is just about to lay. Nicola stays in position and starts counting the eggs. She lays 149 that fit perfectly in the nest. Good work Momma!

Back up with Ophelia, Rob gently rotates her 90° so she doesn’t flip herself over. Undeterred she carries on masking for a few minutes before slowly making it back to sea.

Welcome to Pasture Beach Ophelia.

200!

200 nests on Pasture beach so far this season, from 56 turtles!
My initial optimism faded long ago and I now doubt that we will reach the 2010 levels. And I think we will be closer to 2005 for total number of turtles.
Where have the neophytes gone? what is going on out there?

Mid season update

For a quarter of a century, the JBHP has been monitoring the nesting population of hawksbill turtles on Pasture Beach.  Following a slight drop in nesting activity during 2010, we hoped a surge in activity would mark the project’s25th anniversary.

However, the first half of the 2011 nesting season has followed a similar trend to the first half of the 2010 season: less activity, with an especially low presence of first-time nesters. From June 1st to August 31st, a total of 178 nests from 55 individuals were recorded. By comparison, we observed 31 more nests and 10 more individuals by the mid-point of the record-setting 2009. Only 11 individuals are new nesters, or neophytes, compared to 21 at this point in 2009. The observed decline may be related to events affecting the beach 15 to 20 years ago or more recent changes to the coral reefs where hawksbills feed. Some annual fluctuation is expected in the number of nesting turtles; this drop doesn’t necessarily represent a decline in the long-term trend of the population. It’s possible, however, that the JB nesting population has stabilized; factors such as the health of coral reefs may be impacting the ability of the marine environment to support higher numbers of turtles.

Evolution of the number of total nesters (in blue) and neophytes (in red) from 1987 to 2010.

As of mid-July, the first nests of the season started hatching, and thus far an estimated 5,200 hatchlings have scurried across the beach and entered the surf! Waves of resort guests joined the turtle team on the beach several times a week. EAG (Environmental Awareness Group) Turtle Watches also resumed on Friday nights, giving us the opportunity to share sea turtles with both tourists and Antiguans.

Several interesting characters on the beach have left lasting memories for the field team and guests. Deneb, WH5640, who disappeared in 2008 after laying only 1 nest of 40 eggs, returned for a second nesting season. During a torrential downpour in July, we confirmed her identity, checking her lone tag 3 times in disbelief. She has deposited two nests so far this season, one of which contained a record 222 eggs (perhaps she was making up for the 40 eggs in 2008).

Two mature ladies, PPN064 (tagged in 1988) and PPN075 (tagged in 1989) have deposited a combined 7 nests so far this season. PPN064 is on her 11th nesting season, making her one of the most prolific nesters on Jumby Bay. PPN075 is on her 7th nesting season. And finally, WH5780, a neophyte tagged at the end of June, happens to be the largest hawksbill ever recorded on Jumby Bay. The curved shell length of neophytes averages 83 cm; however, ‘Titanic Star’ (as she was dubbed by guests) measured in at 98.5cm!

During the past several months, unprecedented amounts of Sargassum have washed ashore on JB and across the Caribbean. This phenomenon, stretching even as far as the coast of West Africa, is thought to be due to a shift in ocean currents which has carried the Sargassum further South and West than usual.

Pasture Beach awash with Sargassum (D. Tilley)

Again this season, we were sadly reminded of the threat that fishing poses to marine turtles. A JB turtle originally tagged in 2003, who had deposited one nest this season, washed ashore dead on Blue Waters Beach in mid-August. As she presented no signs of obvious trauma, we assume that she drowned, mostly likely as a result of fishing gear. Unfortunately, the body was too decomposed to conduct a necropsy.

The last 25 years of protection granted to the turtles of Jumby Bay has undoubtedly contributed to the population’s increase. JB is one of only a handful of sites across the Caribbean documenting such growth in hawksbills. The Critically Endangered turtle continues to decline on a global scale, facing numerous threats ranging from the degradation of coral reefs and nesting grounds to illegal harvest and unintended capture in fishing gear. Fortunately, at Jumby Bay, hawksbills are in good hands!  The continued maintenance of turtle-friendly beaches, by preserving maritime vegetation, ensuring adequate sand depth and keeping the shore rubbish-free, will continue to provide a healthy and productive nesting environment.

We are very grateful to be surrounded by a community of support and encouragement. We thank you all for making this extraordinary project possible.

To the next 25 years! See you on the beach!

short video

Brought to you by the South Walton Community Council and the Environmental Awareness Group (EAG).

Good luck little one!

Over the last few days Tropical Storm Maria has been slowly but surely making her way towards the Leeward Islands. The only unknown is how strong she will be. So we took a ride down to the beach to get an idea of what it is looking like just before she hits.

On that front, the swell is coming up high – roughly 2 m higher than it has been – and vast amounts of fresh sargassum have made their way into the bay and are starting to get washed up.

Freshly arrived sargassum. © D. Tilley / JBHP

Walking past a nest that emerged in the early hours, we noticed a hatchling in the top of the nest. It was perfectly still and the initial thought was that it was dead.

On its way out. © D. Tilley / JBHP

So we picked him up and suddenly it started to frantically move its flippers. It was very much alive. We put it onto the sand and off it went, slowly at first but after a few steps, it started crawling very fast.

Avoiding the sargassum. © D. Tilley / JBHP

Avoiding the washed up bits of sargassum it made it to the water. The strong waves seemed to encourage it; with increased flipper rate it dived under the waves and came up the other side to get a breath of air, and off it went to start its ‘lost years’ life.

Good luck little one. ©D. Tilley / JBHP

Hatchlings face many threats, be it natural or anthropogenic; this one seems to have challenging weather to contend with for its first day out at sea.

Good luck little one...