Turtle news from the other side of the world, published in The Guardian on 12/11/2010 by Alok Jha

Study reveals enormous levels of illegal turtle harvesting in Madagascar

A green turtle hatchling. Photograph: Joe McDonald/Corbis

 

Up to 16,000 of the world's rarest turtles are being caught every year by villages in just one part of Madagascar, a year-long survey has revealed. The study is the first direct assessment of the level of exploitation of turtles in Madagascar. Until now, measuring information on the small-scale turtle catches in the most remote areas has been tough, because of difficulties accessing these regions. "Because turtles are an endangered species, it's important for us to know what's going on in the region so we can work with the local community to find a sustainable way forward," said Annette Broderick of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter, who led the latest survey. The harvesting of turtles is illegal in the region, but the ban is not enforced for various cultural and practical reasons. Broderick's team trained villagers to monitor turtle catches in Toliara, part of a remote south-western region of Madagascar. In 12 major villages along 60km of coastline, locals collected biological and fisheries data and photographed each catch. In total, they documented 699 marine turtle landings. The majority of these were green turtles, the commonest species in the water, but the catches also included the more endangered hawksbill turtle. "When we contextualise our data with those of previous studies elsewhere in the region, we conservatively estimate that the annual turtle catch in the southwestern province of Madagascar is between 10,000 and 16,000," wrote Broderick in a paper published in the journal Animal Conservation. Even this estimate is likely to be on the low end, Broderick said. "In reality it's likely to be much larger than that. We don't have a good handle on how the in-water populations have changed over the years." All species of marine turtle have experienced population declines in recent years and are included in the IUCN red list of endangered species. In Madagascar, all marine turtles are protected from domestic exploitation by presidential decree but the laws are not enforced because of lack of capacity for implementation along the enormous length of the coastline, and also the cultural history of turtle harvesting. Frances Humber of Blue Ventures Conservation said that catching turtles for meat is an important part of Malagasy culture in many coastal populations. "But the villagers also understand the importance of ensuring the future of this resource. This study is a great way of involving communities in the process of finding a sustainable way forward. Obviously we can't be sure every turtle catch is reported, so we view the figures from this study as a conservative estimate which is still nevertheless very valuable for informing policy." Stopping the decline in turtle numbers would be a matter of working out where the harvested turtles are being used. "The important thing is whether the harvest is for subsistence use or for commercial exploitation," said Broderick. "If it's for villages for subsistence use, it's quite a different management issue. It's very difficult to tell people that they're going to have to stop using a certain source of food, especially in developing nations where it's an important source of food. There's a danger with these kinds of harvests that these turtles are being taken to larger markets and possibly being exported out of the country." Humber added that Madagascar should not be singled out in harvesting turtles. "We'd expect similar harvests in many countries in the tropical coastal developing world, so this isn't an isolated issue, but clearly it is a cause for concern when dealing with endangered species. It's possible the model for this study could be used elsewhere to get a better idea of numbers. Until we get more details, it's difficult to draw conclusions about what is sustainable and how we can find solutions. Clearly making turtle fishing illegal hasn't worked, so we need to work with communities to promote sustainable practices."

Leatherback turtles breathe in for buoyancy

Not from the beach but turtle news all the same! By Victoria Gill  Science and nature reporter, BBC News

Leatherbacks use their lungs as buoyancy aids

Leatherback turtles, the ocean's deepest-diving reptiles, control their buoyancy simply by breathing in, scientists have found.

Researchers describe in the Journal of Experimental Biology how the turtles regulate their dives through the volume of air in their lungs.
This allows them to glide and forage for food at a variety of depths.
Scientists believed that the animals would exhale before diving, to avoid gas bubbles forming in their bodies.
US and UK scientists monitored the turtles' diving by attaching small data loggers to the animals' backs.

They're able to regulate the amount of air they take in when they're diving Sabrina Fossette

Sabrina Fossette from the University of Swansea in Wales led the study.
She and her colleagues attached the data loggers to five female leatherbacks in a wildlife refuge in the Caribbean.
"In addition to the depth, we could measure their acceleration," Dr Fossette told BBC News. "So we were able to model each dive in 3-D.
The researchers saw that the leatherbacks started their dives by actively swimming as they descended.
"Then, at some point during the dive they started gliding," said Dr Fossette.
"The turtles started gliding at deeper depths during deeper dives, suggesting they regulate the amount of air they inhale before diving."
This enables them to use their lungs as buoyancy aids to precisely counteract their weight.
The ability to glide at a variety of depths allows leatherbacks to conserve energy; it also means they are more flexible in terms of where in the ocean they can feed.
"Leatherbacks forage on gelatinous plankton," said Dr Fossette, "which can be found either at the surface or really deep in the ocean."
'The bends'

Dr Fossette and her team attached the loggers to five female turtles

Many other diving animals, including hard-shelled turtles and penguins also inhale before they dive, but the researchers we were surprised to see the same behaviour in leatherbacks because the creatures are such deep divers.
Scientists have recorded the animals reaching depths of up to 1,000m - the deepest leatherback dive ever recorded was more than 1,200m.

"Stick-on" data loggers allowed the scientists to monitor the turtles' dives

So the researchers expected that the animals would exhale before a dive, in order to avoid decompression sickness.
Otherwise known as the bends, this can occur when dissolved gases in an animal's (or human's) blood form bubbles inside their bodies.
"Many deep divers - notably deep-diving mammals - exhale before diving to minimise the effects of decompression," said Dr Fossette.
"Leatherback turtles share many physiological and physical features with deep-diving mammals and therefore we would expect them to exhale."
It seems that the turtles' body temperature increases the solubility of the gases and therefore decreases the risks of bubbles forming.
This tagging experiment was designed by Rory Wilson, also from the University of Swansea, and Molly Lutcavage from the University of New Hampshire, US.

3 weeks to go!

A late peak in nesting activity this season has left us much closer to last year's record numbers than we thought possible at the midpoint. With 3 weeks left, we have 71 turtles and 262 nests (last year we ended with 77 turtles and 324 nests). Neophytes however are still remarkably low at 14. Nesting activity nearing the end of October has slowed slightly; we now see about one nest per night.

Nest hatches on the other hand are starting to peak at 2 to 3 hatches a night. Even so, we miss most of them as it can take just 5 minutes for over 100 hatchlings to make it to the sea. We are left with only their tiny tracks printed along the sand as evidence.

Let's say all of these 262 nests laid so far this season hatch with an average of 145 eggs per nest and a hatch success of 80%... That gives us over 30,000 hatchlings entering Pasture Bay so far this season! That's a lot of hatchlings for a 600 meter beach!

Mid-season update

In the wake of a five-year, steadily increasing peak in nesting activity, the project aimed high in predicting this season’s numbers. The first half of the 2010 nesting season, however, has fallen short with significantly less activity at the midpoint than the last two years. From June 1st to August 31st, the project’s 24th season has 56 documented individuals and 159 nests, nine individuals and 49 nests less than last year’s numbers. Only ten of these individuals are neophytes, compared to 21 at this point last year. Despite relatively low records, August presented a surge of activity with more mothers arriving, the first nests of the season hatching, guests eager to witness a nesting hawksbill, and storms lining up in the Atlantic.

Waves of resort guests joined the turtle team on the beach several times a week and EAG (Environmental Awareness Group) turtle trips resumed on Friday nights, giving the project educational outreach opportunities for tourists and Antiguans. As a long-established program, the JBHP also has much to offer developing projects in the region and will be hosting and training two volunteers from the recently established Anguilla Sea Turtle Conservation Group of the Anguilla National Trust.

More to come!

The Jumby Bay Hawksbill Project: 24 years later and the return of Nina

A hawksbill in the early morning light is ready to return to the sea after laying her eggs. (Photo by Kate Levasseur)

From the Daily Observer

June 23, 1987
A hawksbill turtle emerges from the surf. She is not aware, however, that she is about to make history. She pulls her large body up a ledge of sand and crawls toward the bushes backing the beach. This sea turtle has left the weightlessness and comfort of her marine habitat to haul her body up the beach and lay a clutch of eggs. Her body’s design has been shaped by millions of years of evolution to move effortlessly through the water. It is covered by a flattened, torpedo-shaped shell and propelled by flippers in place of feet. The only occasion sea turtles leave the comfort of their marine environment is to lay eggs, ensuring the survival of their species.
This particular hawksbill is being observed as she begins the nesting process. She is named Nina. After digging a 50cm-deep hole in the sand with her hind flippers, she takes a deep breath from the labor and becomes still. Just behind her tail is her cloaca, where her ovipositor descends, ready to push out about 150 eggs. During these ten minutes of egg-laying, the researchers pierce her left front flipper with a metal tag inscribed with the serial number PPN001. She is the first nesting hawksbill tagged in a new sea turtle monitoring program located on Long Island’s Pasture Beach.
July 20, 2010

EAG Logo

A hawksbill turtle emerges from the surf. She is making history again. It is Nina, still with her PPN001 tag, reproductively active for 24 years. Over the last two decades, the turtles tagged in the initial years of the project have been slowly disappearing from the nesting beach. Researchers are again by Nina’s side to document this unexpected event. It is Nina’s tenth nesting season on record over these 24 years. They measure her, take photos, record the nesting location, and count her 170 eggs as they drop into an expertly excavated nest chamber. They also take a small piece of tissue from her back flipper to include her in a genetic analysis of the     population. How many of her daughters have joined the nesting population in recent years? Since monitoring began, 370 hawksbills have been tagged. The 2009 season was the busiest on record, with 77 hawksbills laying 324 nests, and an estimated 36,000 hatchlings scurrying across the beach into the surf.
The population has slowly but steadily grown over the last two decades, one of the few hawksbill populations in the Caribbean witnessing this trend. The critically endangered hawksbill continues to decline on a global scale, depleted by hundreds of years of harvest and increasing habitat loss. Today, fishing nets present an indirect threat, entangling and eventually drowning air-breathing sea turtles. The project received news this season of a hawksbill found dead, entangled in fishing gear off the coast of the Dominican Republic. She was identified as one of the younger hawksbills in the JB population, tagged in 2008. Although unfortunate, this turtle provides a clue about hawksbill migrations, telling us that a hawksbill nesting in Antigua travelled at least 1000km, most likely feeding on coral reefs in the Dominican Republic. This also shows us that to be effective, conservation efforts of long-lived, migratory animals like sea turtles must extend past geopolitical boundaries and promote partnerships at local, national and international levels.

the JB Green has returned!

A normal patrol. Except as we approach this turtle, she's flicking sand much farther than normal. We step over her crawl mark. It's wider with flipper marks close together, indicating a turtle pulling herself up the beach instead of crawling with alternating flippers. It's a GREEN! We get closer to see her massive body with front flippers powerfully whipping sand behind her. But is she OUR green? Is she the green turtle who nested two years ago? That girl was the first green turtle to nest on Jumby Bay.

She looks to be masking her nest. But surely she hasn't had enough time to finish laying - we were on the beach only an hour ago. She could be clearing (turtles clear an area before starting to dig). She continues making her sand angel as we notice a long trail of flicked sand behind her. This makes us think that it's likely she's covering, and has been for a while. We're used to hawksbills that clear only briefly before digging and then leave a long trail of loose sand behind them to camouflage the nest. Greens also leave long trails of sand after laying, but make enormous body pits - small craters - before digging their nest chamber. So there's a chance she hasn't laid her eggs yet.

Dom sneaks up behind her to see if she has a metal tag in her flipper. She does. He gets closer and gives us a thumbs up and huge smile. It's her. WH5650 from 2008, back for her second nesting season after a 2-year remigration interval, affirming that her presence in 2008 was not random.

She then curls a back flipper into the sand behind her. She shifts, flicks, and curls her other back flipper into the sand. She's digging. She hasn't finished after all, she's only just begun.

After digging an enormous chamber, she deposits 118 eggs (thank you Dylan and Hali) and masks for nearly 30 minutes, putting on a show for our spectators.

See you again in 10 days!

A loss in the JB population: WH5608 entangled in fishing gear

The JB hawksbill population has slowly but steadily grown over the last two decades, one of the few hawksbill populations in the Caribbean witnessing this trend. The Critically Endangered hawksbill continues to decline on a global scale, depleted by hundreds of years of harvest and increasing habitat loss. Today, fishing nets present an indirect threat, entangling and eventually drowning air-breathing sea turtles. The project received news this July of a hawksbill found dead, entangled in fishing gear off the coast of the Dominican Republic. She was identified by the WH5608 serial number of the tag in her left flipper. She was one of the younger hawksbills of the JB population, tagged in 2008. Although unfortunate, this turtle provides a clue about Caribbean hawksbill migrations, revealing that a hawksbill nesting in Antigua travelled at least 1000km, most likely either feeding on coral reefs in the Dominican Republic or using DR waters as a migration corridor from her foraging grounds back to her Antiguan nesting grounds.

This also shows us that to be effective, conservation efforts of long-lived, migratory animals like sea turtles must extend past geopolitical boundaries and promote partnerships at local, national and international levels.

Welcome back Old Girl!

June 23, 1987: A hawksbill turtle emerges from the surf, what she doesn't know is that she is about to make history. In those days little was known about the basic biology of hawksbill turtles; they were mainly known for their shell -the tortoiseshell pattern or bekko – and were extensively hunted. She is the first turtle tagged on Jumby Bay, and the star of many stories.

July 19, 2010: A hawksbill emerges from the surf, what she doesn't know is that she is about to make history. Nowadays a great deal of information has been collected on hawksbill turtles and there basic biology is understood. Many question still go unanswered, but time is an important factor in there life. How long do they live? For how long can they lay eggs? Well we don't know.
But 24 years after first emerging from the surf in 1987, she is back for a 10th nesting season.

Of course much has changed since the mid 80'; the beach is slowly recovering from the years of sand mining, much of the original native maritime forest has been lost either to hurricanes or to development. But efforts are being made to restore some of the vegetation, planting of native (and non native) species has provided cover for nesting turtles and has helped stabilise the beach and make it less vulnerable to erosion. More work is being done, more vegetation is being planted (native species) and the happy co-habitation of humans and turtles continues.

Her tag, PPN001; her name, Nina. If you cross her path, salute her as every egg that she lays, every season that she nests makes history: the turtle with the longest nesting life: 24 years.

Article from the Daily Observer

EAG encourages protection of the sea turtle  
By Kyle Christian - Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 

As nesting season reaches its peak for the Hawksbill Turtle the Environmental Awareness Group (EAG) is attempting to get residents actively involved in the preservation of the fragile species.
EAG representative Lia Nicholson, speaking on OBSERVER AM, has raised concern about artificial lights at Jabberwock Beach.

“Baby turtles, when they hatch, go towards the light because the moon reflects on the ocean and that’s how they know which direction to go,” she said. “What we are finding is that with coastal developments, sea turtles will head the other way into the land, towards the street lights.”
Areas of concern include Fig Tree Drive and any coastal hotel.

“You can wake up one morning and find 80 to 150 baby turtles dead around the light posts,” she noted.
Nicholson explained that sea turtles return to the beaches on which they hatched to lay their own eggs. Therefore, “when you have a population wiped out from a specific locale, it’s very difficult to get that revived,” she said.

The EAG is asking residents of beach front property to turn off their lights during the sea turtle nesting season, which runs from February to June for Leatherbacks and from June to September for the Hawksbills.

Other than artificial light, sea turtles are also threatened by poachers. The hawksbill turtle is hunted for its notoriously beautiful shell, while all are hunted for their meat. The green turtle is known to have the best tasting meat.

Each clutch (nest of eggs) can contain between 80 and 150 eggs and turtles lay three to five times per season, thus each season can contain between 450 and 750 eggs. Despite the large amount of eggs laid, the survival rate is very low, about 1 in 3000. The turtles that do survive can take 10 to 20 years to mature to the age when they themselves can reproduce.

Persons interested in signing up to volunteer to patrol beaches for laying turtles can do so by calling the EAG Office at 462-6236. The cost for volunteering for non-EAG members is $50 for adults and $45 for children. EAG members pay $30 for adults and $25 for children. Anyone can become a member of the EAG. Persons who spot nesting turtles or hatching eggs can report sightings to the hotline at 720-6955.

There are six species of sea turtles in the Caribbean and four are found in Antigua. The Hawskbill, Green, and Leatherback turtles use Antigua for nesting and foraging, while the Loggerhead comes here for foraging only.


View Larger Map

6 week update!

Since our last post, we've had 6 more girls join the nesting cohort, 2 more preseason nests hatch, loads of rain for this time of year, and a turtle in the pool (again!).

Last night we came across a seemingly normal track leading up the beach from the water. We follow it up and over a ledge that borders a property and keep following it until it disappears against a raised tile patio. Oh no...

She's in the pool, Dom tells me.
Crap.
We have to finish the beach and check on the other girl, Dom.
Well she's not going anywhere in there. Let's leave her for a bit.

OK, she is peaceful, comfortable and in her element. And we did get another girl out of the same pool last year (I bet it was her sister). And there's one more of us this time to hoist her out.

So Dom and Rob slide in the pool and slowly corral her to the steps so as not to scare her. When she comes up for some air close to the edge, they gently but firmly hoist her up and over the edge. She scrambles across the tiles into the grass and stops abruptly to breath. Without warning she crawls again quickly for a few meters and stops again. Tired and a little scared, she makes her way back to the water. Relieved, we say goodbye, certain that we will not see her again for at least another night.

To our surprise, we find her 20 meters down the beach digging a nest chamber only an hour later. She successfully nested, laying 124 eggs.

Tonight we finally had a neophyte (first time nester) after a 3 week dry spell. That brings the new girl total to 7, while maidens (2nd time nester) are at 11 and old girls are at 10. These 28 girls have laid 51 nests so far - we're off to a good start. Each female will come up and lay about 5 nests in one season. Last year we had 77 girls and 324 nests!

And we're back for season #24!

All of a sudden we're a month into the nesting season with 22 hawksbills to date! 6 are neophytes (first timers), 9 are maiden returnees (second timers), and 7 have nested for 3 or more seasons.

We recognize several girls from 2008 - our first season with the project. In fact, 9 of the 16 remigrants so far are on a 2 year remigration interval. Cassie is the first neophyte we ever tagged, Speedy is our fastest nester (able to finish in an hour when it normally takes an hour and 20 minutes!), and PPN040 is one of our old girls who is easily pushing 45 years old.

Although only a month into the season, we had our first nest hatch a few nights ago (surprising as nests incubate for about 2 months). This means preseason nesters arrived at Pasture Beach as early as the first week of May. The nest hatch was also a surprise because the hatchlings were emerging from beneath a nesting turtle attempting to dig her nest chamber! This turtle was digging the same chamber that another turtle dug 2 months earlier.

After a slow start, the season has now begun to pick up speed along with the arrival of intern Rob. We're predicting a strong year again to follow last year's 77 turtles.

Dom: I predict 123 turtles. no just kidding, 83.
Rob: 85. (after some serious thought) love it!
Kate: 79. seems safe I know. but I don't think we're going to have another jump in numbers after last year's 15% increase.

Seth and Carol?

Off to the last patrol of the night!