PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM ON SEA TURTLE

NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-53 PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM ON SEA TURTLE BIOLOGY AND CONSERVATION 4 to 7 April 22 Miami, Florida, USA Compiled by: Jeffrey A. Seminoff U.S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Fisheries Science Center 75 Virginia Beach Drive Miami, FL 33149 USA August 23

NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-53 PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM ON SEA TURTLE BIOLOGY AND CONSERVATION 4 to 7 April 22 Miami, Florida, USA Compiled by: Jeffrey A. Seminoff U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Donald L. Evans, Secretary NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION Conrad C. Lautenbacker, Jr., Administrator NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE William T. Hogarth, Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Technical Memoranda are used for documentation and timely communication of preliminary results, interim reports, or special-purpose information, and have not received complete formal review, editorial control or detailed editing.

ii 22 nd Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation, Miami, Florida USA NOTICE The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) does not approve, recommend or endorse any proprietary produce or material mentioned in this publication. No reference shall be made to NMFS, or to this publication furnished by NMFS, in any advertising or sales promotion which would indicate or imply that NMFS approves, recommends, or endorses any proprietary produce or material herein or which has as its purpose any intent to cause directly or indirectly the advertised product to be used or purchased because of NMFS promotion. For bibliographic purposes, this document should be cited as follows: Seminoff, J.A., compiler. 23. Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-53, 38 p. http://www.sefsc.noaa.gov Technical Editor: Wayne N. Witzell Copies of this report can be obtained from: National Marine Fisheries Service Miami Laboratory Sea Turtle Program 75 Virginia Beach Drive Miami, FL 33149 USA or National Technical Information Service 5258 Port Royal Road Springfield, VA 22161 (8) 553-6847 or (73) 65-6 http://www.ntis.gov

Poster Presentations: Conservation and Management 15 Marine Turtle Research and Discovery Centre in Reunion Island Stéphane Ciccione 1, David Roos 2, and Pascal Melot 3 1 Ass CEDTM, 97436 Saint Leu, France 2 Ifremer, 9742 Le Port, France 3 4 rue Antoine de BERTIN, St Gilles les Bains, Reunion Island 97434, France The Marine Turtles Research and Discovery Centre was established in January 1998, on Region Reunions initiative, came within the framework of Ferme Corail reconversion. This centre is an original project devoted to sea turtles, and is one of the most visited places in Reunion Island. Since his discovery, Reunion Island was nicknamed turtle island because of his relief and the high number of turtles. At present time, on account of human activities development marine turtles, still present in Reunions waters, exceptionally lay on beach. The centre task is to promote sea turtles conservation by the way of theirs habitats conservation and recovery. The centre develops conservation and educational programs on natural sites in the region and on Ferme Corail installations. In the next months, infrastructures will be totally rebuilt using recent know-how for marine ecosystems reconstruction and presentation. The recovery of nesting habitat: a proactive approach for conservation of the hawksbill sea turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata, Long Island, Antigua, West Indies Tara K. Muenz and Kimberly M. Andrews Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 362, USA INTRODUCTION Throughout most Caribbean countries, threats exist for hawksbill populations and affect every stage of their life cycle. In particular, tourism and tourism-related development have critically altered many nesting beaches by increasing erosion and disrupting reproductive behavior, including nest-site selection and the nocturnal sea-finding behavior of both hatchlings and nesting females. Herein lies the conflict between man's vision of beautiful beaches, and the life-needs and instinct of the sea turtles. Among the many factors affecting hawksbill survival, beach (habitat) health remains a critical influence. The reproductive success of adult turtles and the survival of their offspring are often diminished by adverse environmental conditions at the nesting beach. Stressing beach health are both human induced (i.e. tourism, invasive species) and natural occurrences (i.e. hurricanes, wind, waves) that when paired, weaken beach structure, further intensifying the struggle for turtle survival. Conservation efforts must focus on reducing these threatening human alterations, through effective preventative and restorative measures. The Jumby Bay project has recognized the need for these efforts and has answered the call through landowner education and habitat restoration. The story of Pasture Bay Beach. Pasture Bay beach, located on Long Island, is a small privately owned island off the northeast coast of Antigua. Composed of aragonite sand, this windward facing beach (475 m in length) contains many shallow reef systems and marine grass beds offshore. Historically, a thick maritime forest of shrubs and trees such as button mangrove (Conocarpus erectus) and sea grape (Coccoloba uvifera) grew all the way to the high water line, stabilizing thick prevalent dunes with their roots. Turtles would immediately crawl up on the beach, attracted by the beach-edge vegetation, and enter almost 3-5 meters into these ancient forests to nest. Within the past few decades, much of the forest on Long Island was cleared for the development of elegant homes and recreational access to the beach by resort guests and private landowners. Planted in place of the forest were non-native species such as the coconut palm, which do not provide adequate cover for nesting turtles, nor stability for the beach. In addition, marine grasses washing ashore were removed from the shore in an effort to create an environment that echoed of cleanliness. This action took away the rich supply of organics for the soil, critical for the establishment of native beach flora. The steep, vegetated berm has now been replaced by a highly eroded low, flat beach. Vegetation Islands Beach Gardens. With all the knowledge of the nesting turtle population on the island, we have never been able to produce a beach management plan. The owners have been afraid that a plan would affect their choice of action and would infringe on the "environmental engineering" mode so many of them prefer to natural processes. It was not until Darien Joseph, a worker for the Homeowners Parks Department on Long Island, helped to develop the beach in a way that encouraged turtles to nest on P.B. beach as well as appeal to the landowners. Thus, the creation of a friendly and unthreatening concept, "beach gardens", which conveyed an image that was beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. The gardens created an interface between the turtles and stakeholders of Jumby Bay. We could finally proceed with restoration and recovery. The first islands were constructed in 1998, and were planted in an area of Pasture Bay beach that was predominately open and cleared of natural vegetation. More islands were built in the following years, ranging 9-16 meters from the water's edge. Marine grasses that wash ashore were collected and incorporated into the aragonite sand as compost for the islands. Plants such as Ink Berry, Sea Grape, Bay Cedar, Beach Pea, Morning glory, and Aloe were planted in patches along the beach to trap sand-preventing beach erosion while providing the preferred location for nesting turtles. PROJECT BACKGROUND AND BEACH ZONATION The Jumby Bay hawksbill project, located at Pasture Bay beach, has gathered superb data from its saturation tagging program begun in 1987, continuing each season through 21. The patrolling season begins in early June through mid- November, identifying every nesting female, noting where they nested on the beach, the distance from the high water line, and other reproductive parameters disrupted by human presence. Various habitat types comprise Pasture Bay beach, as well as different degrees and areas of modification. Zones were simply chosen according to the location of the established vegeta-

16 22 nd Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation, Miami, Florida USA tion islands. Three zones were established and are described as follows: Zone 1- east of Zone 2, this area contains exposed outcrops of ancient limestone reef and an accumulation of flint nodules; Zone 2 - all of the vegetation island and dune restoration plantings reside within this zone; Zone 3 - west of Zone 2, this area contains a mixed-shrub thicket with a narrow berm. PRELIMINARY IMPLICATIONS - DO VEGETATION IS- LANDS WORK? Total Num ber 18 16 14 12 1 8 6 4 2 1987 1988 1989 199 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 2 21 Fig. 1. Total number of nests and false crawls (1987-21). % o f N e s t s 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Mean = 16.7 % Mean = 32.5 % Mean = 44.4 % 1 987 1988 1 989 1 99 1 991 1 9 92 1 993 1 994 1 995 1 996 1 997 1 998 2 2 1 Nests False crawls Zone 1 Zone 2 Zone 3 Fig. 2. Percentage of nests in Zones 1, 2, and 3 of total nests for Pasture Bay Beach (1987-21). Although the mean ratio of successful nests to false crawls over the duration of the study is roughly 1:1, slight shifts have occurred. False crawls begin to increase in proportion to successful nests in the early 199's. It should be noted that this was the time period private development of beachfront homes began. Additionally, hurricanes occurred annually from 1995-. However, proportional shifts are modest enough that these causes can only be speculated (Fig. 1). The most significant change in nesting distribution has been observed in Zone 1, which receives the least sand buildup, and therefore has the highest erosion rate due to vegetation loss. Slight increases in Zones 2 and 3 suggest compensation for the loss of nesting opportunities in Zone 1 (Fig. 2). The percentage of successful nests out of total observed activity is fairly consistent until the mid 199's where Zone 1 decreases and Zone 2 increases. Once again, shifts could be attributed to annual hurricanes in the years 1995- after which both Zones 2 and 3 nesting begin to increase. It cannot be determined if the increase in Zone 2 can be attributed to restoration efforts (Fig. 3). The percentage of nests in this restored area (Zone 2) out of total successful nests for all zones from -21 has significantly increased (Fig. 4). The nesting increase observed in Zone 2 (Fig. 3), could be correlated with this increase (Fig. 4) due to vegetation islands. Although it is premature to state that restoration efforts are successful, hawksbills are increasingly considering restored areas as suitable nesting habitat. Efforts from this monitoring project can be used in tropical beaches throughout the world. Many degraded beaches are waiting for this instrumental opportunity. LITERATURE CITED Limpus, C.J., P. Reed, and J.D. Miller. 1983. Islands and turtles: the influence of choice of nesting beach on sex ratio. In: J.T. Baker, R.M. Carter, P.W. Sammarco, and K.P. Stark, eds. Proc. Inaugural Great Barrier Reef Conference, Townsville. JCU, Townsville, p. 397-42. Mortimer, J.A. 1995. Factors influencing beach selection by nesting sea turtles. In: K.A. Bjorndal, ed. Biology and Conservation of Sea Turtles. Revised edition. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. p. 45-51. % S uccess 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1987 1988 Mean = 45.9 % Mean = 62.5 % Mean = 58. % 1989 199 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 2 21 Fig. 3. Percent success of nests within each beach zone (1987-21). % N e s ts 14 12 1 8 6 4 2.8 % 8. % 11.8 % 2 21 Zone 1 Zone 2 Zone 3 Fig. 4. Percentage of nests in vegetation islands of total nests for years, 2, and 21.