Nesting Surprises
Our nest monitoring and data recording efforts across our field sites have thrown up some exciting surprises this quarter.
Beginning with the Maldives, Soneva Jani observed record nesting of 51 new nests between July and September, which brought us up to a total of 68 nests at Soneva. Interestingly, during a routine nest excavation, our sea turtle biologist opened up one of the unviable unhatched eggs to find a triplet. As can be seen in the picture, the two larger hatchlings are accompanied by a third, tiny embryo pictured on the bottom right.
We document all hatchling abnormalities so that we can understand how our data compares to other populations around the world. This data also helps shine a light on environmental factors that may be responsible for such aberrations.
Moving on to the Seychelles, we were pleasantly surprised with our very first green turtle nest at Félicité Island ! GS7 first approached our beach around 11pm trying to find a suitable spot for nesting. Unfortunately, she was not lucky with her first few attempts and ended up digging five egg chambers before finding the perfect spot to lay! This is amazing news, given that there has been no record of green turtle nests on Félicité in recent years.
Last but not the least, we observed uncharacteristic out of season nesting in Pakistan. Green turtle nests and turtle tracks were spotted on Hawke’s Bay beach in July during the monsoon season – an unusual occurrence since at this time of the year, the sea water is rather high and most of the beach is inundated. One nest seemed to have hatched as well, despite the bad weather.
We are continuing our monitoring efforts along the beach and will remain vigilant for any unexpected nesting. This data will not only help us chart out nesting patterns in Pakistan, but will also be used for developing conservation strategies such as localised beach patrolling, nest protection etc.
ORP Track
Our second satellite tagged patient Pickle was recorded spending her days swimming towards the east of the Maldivian archipelago just before her tag stopped transmitting data. Pickle had been swimming at the edge of Gaafu Atoll, before turning further south in the direction of Fuvamulah Atoll. This is where, 70 days after Pickle’s release, her satellite tag stopped transmitting data.
We hope Pickle is still swimming healthy and free, and that the loss of signal is due to biofouling (accumulation of microorganisms such as algae) of certain sensors on the tag, and not for other reasons – especially since Pickle swam in the direction of a well known tiger shark hotspot.
In total, Pickle travelled 2,481km at an average speed of 1.47km per hour. She covered 35.4km on average per day of travel and dove down to a maximum of 90m.
Even though both our deployed tags stopped within 55 days, our research continues as we are now in the process of analysing all the data that has been recovered from the tags. A first look at data shows that rehab patients still have exceptional navigation and dive skills!
Going Local for Conservation in Kenya
In Kenya, we engaged and partnered with several other local conservation projects who wished to initiate Photo-ID in the marine protected areas where they work, strengthening conservation action at the grassroots. We were delighted to officialise a collaboration agreement with local NGO Bahari Hai, based in Watamu, which coincided with initial training sessions on Photo-ID facilitated by our in-field supervisor Jenni.
The same training was provided to local conservation group Shimoni Turtle Watch, a grassroots group of young and motivated conservationists who we have been training and assisting in setting up the in-water turtle monitoring project in Kisite-Mpunguti National Marine Reserve.
The Photo-ID data they collect will contribute to the Internet of Turtles (IoT) and help characterise the sea turtle population in this area, ensuring an extensive and stronger Kenyan Photo-ID database.
seychelles’ Shifting Beaches
Did you know that many of world’s beaches are disappearing. This can spell doom for sea turtles as beaches are important nesting habitat for the species.
In Seychelles, bad weather conditions and the super moon in July 2022 caused some extremely high tides, leading to accelerated beach erosion.
Our sea turtle biologist has started to conduct frequent beach profiling to assess the changes on the beaches on Félicité Island in order to protect future sea turtle nests. High tides and erosion can cause nests to be inundated or washed away.
Given the endangered status of these animals, it is critical to conserve every single nest through nest relocations – which can only be done under a license from Seychelles Bureau of Standards.
An Oil Problem In Musandam
Unfortunately, one of the main themes of this quarter has been consistent influx of oil and tar from the shipping lane of the Strait of Hormuz which passes across the top of the Musandam peninsula.
A study by Milton et al. (2010) propounds that oil effects on turtles include increased egg mortality and developmental defects, direct mortality due to oiling in hatchlings, juveniles, and adults; and negative impacts to the skin, blood, digestive and immune systems, and salt glands.
Luckily we haven’t recorded any dead or injured sea turtles yet and we are working with the Environment Authority to take samples, find the cause of the problem and estimate how damaging this has the potential to be. This data will help us devise an action plan for limiting and preventing these occurrences.
news from the Rescue Centre
Between July and September, we had a total of five new arrivals, five releases, one transfer and, unfortunately, one death at the Marine Turtle Rescue Centre in Baa Atoll. The new arrivals were predominantly entangled olive ridleys, and four out of the five releases were also entanglement cases, with an average stay of 144 days at the Rescue Centre.
Our most recent case – Lakia, a sub- adult olive ridley, was found with a complete fracture in the right front flipper. Given that there was still pain sensation in the flipper, we decided to preserve as much of the flipper as possible and reserve amputation as the last resort. Hopefully, Lakia will regain moderate functionality in the flipper over time with some TLC and proper treatment.
We hope you enjoyed this quick snapshot of our activities from the last quarter. To get a detailed location based update, read the full report here.
