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Marine Turtle Newsletter 115:22-24, © 2007

Marine Turtle Newsletter-Online

NEWS AND LEGAL BRIEFS


This section is compiled by Kelly Samek. You can submit news items at any time online at <https://seaturtle.org/news/>, via e-mail to news@seaturtle.org, or by regular mail to Kelly Samek, 127 E 7th Avenue, Havana, Florida 32333, USA. Many of these news items and more can be found at <https://seaturtle.org/news/>, where you can also sign up for news updates by E-mail. Note that News Items are taken directly from various media sources and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the editorial members of the MTN.

AFRICA

Kenya: Conservationists Want Sea Walls Demolished


Conservationists in Mombasa want the walls along coastal beaches pulled down to save turtle species from extinction. Mr. Bernard Ogwoka of the Kenya Sea Turtle Conservation Committee said the walls and the hotel lights interfere with the breeding of the animals. Speaking at Castle Royal Hotel in Mombasa on Sunday, Ogwoka said the construction of sea walls along the Coastal beaches had interfered with the turtle nesting zones. But National Environment Management Authority Compliance Officer, Mr. Dickson Njora, differed with the conservationists saying demolishing the walls could lead to a long-drawn-out war in the courts with the hotel owners. Souce: East African Standard, 19 November 2006.

THE AMERICAS

Beach Lights Wreak Havoc on South Florida Sea Turtles


Many coastal South Florida cities, including Hallandale Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach and Pompano Beach, have adopted “turtle-friendly” lighting ordinances to deter turtles from wandering toward land. And farther north, most counties along Florida’s coast also have laws in place regulating lighting to protect turtles. Despite the ordinances, sea turtle experts say Broward lags behind the rest of the state in protecting the turtle population. Enforcement of lighting ordinances is spotty, and the “disorientation” problem is worse than ever. For the first time, Broward turtle conservationists aren’t relocating nests -- a practice already stopped by other coastal communities in Florida. Experts who’ve studied the practice say that moving the nests did more harm than good. Because all species of the reptiles are either threatened or endangered, the state and federal government has rules against relocating the nests. Up until the start of this season, nests in Broward were moved from brightly lit areas of the beach to darker spots where hatcheries -- a protective area or pen -- were set up. Sea turtle experts say the focus should be on educating the public on the dangers of artificial lighting to the population of loggerheads, green and leatherback turtles. Source: Miami Herald, 10 October 2006.

Fort Pierce Sea Turtle Activist, 78, Dies

Grace Kedziora, 78, a former South Beach resident known as a “Turtle Mother” for her extensive work with sea turtles, died Saturday night in Anchorage, Alaska. The cause of death was Lou Gehrig’s disease, the common name for amyothropic lateral sclerosis. A native of Pittsburgh, Kedziora joined the “Turtle Mothers,” a group that keeps tabs on—and occasionally rescues—nesting sea turtles and their hatchlings, soon after retiring to Hutchinson Island about 17 years ago. Source: TCPalm, 17 October 2006.

Flashlights Add to Turtle Woes

The number of sea-turtle nests found in Volusia County remained stable this year, but a new threat to the hatchlings surfaced during the just-completed nesting season. Dozens of baby sea turtles, emerging at night from their nests, got sidetracked this year from their usual trip to the sea when beachgoers disoriented them with flashlights, according to county reports. As many as 10 of the 46 cases of turtle disorientation may be traced to flashlights, which surprised Volusia officials, who had never seen so many cases of direct interference in past nesting seasons. To prevent disorientation, Volusia officials prohibit any lighting that illuminates the beach or any specific light source that can be easily seen from the beach. Source: Orlando Sentinel, 5 November 2006.

Loggerhead Nesting Trend Raises Alarm

Florida’s most plentiful sea turtle lays fewer nests these days, making some fret over its odds for long-term survival. The number of loggerhead sea turtle nests at 28 often-studied Florida beaches dropped by 42 percent in seven years, state researchers said recently. Loggerheads had 60,000 nests in 1998 on those “index” beaches, but dropped to about 35,000 nests in 2005. State biologists say early figures suggest another lackluster nesting season, which may shape up as the second lowest nesting year for loggerheads since the state began monitoring those beaches in 1989. Conservationists say the decline is cause for alarm and should inspire more restrictions on commercial fishing gear that kills turtles by the thousands each year in waters near Florida. Source: Ft. Myers News-Press, 13 November 2006.

Surveyors Report Mixed Results for Sea Turtle Nesting

As nesting season winds down, sea turtle surveyors across Palm Beach County are reporting mixed results. Debbie Sobel, of the Sea Turtle Conservation League of Singer Island, is feeling good about her numbers this year, though she would have liked to see more leatherbacks. Her numbers were down from last year. This year, the group tracked 1,020 loggerhead, 222 green and 12 leatherback nests on more than 2 miles of beach from the Ocean Mall in Riviera Beach to John D. MacArthur Beach State Park. Loggerhead nesting is declining statewide, but current numbers could be part of a longterm trend, the result of what was happening 20 to 30 years ago, said Carly de Maye, a county environmental analyst. It takes that amount of time for the turtles to reach sexual maturity. De Maye monitors three beach areas: Ocean Ridge, Carlin Park in Jupiter and Coral Cove in Tequesta. Loggerhead numbers crept up at Ocean Ridge and Carlin Park but fell at Coral Cove. The two increases do not make up for the 21 percent drop in Tequesta, de Maye said. Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 18 November 2006.

Five Year Moratorium on Taking Turtles

In November 2006, the Kuna General Congress established a 5 year moratorium on the capture of sea turtles throughout the Territory of Kuna Yala. The Autonomous Territory of Kuna Yala, located in the western part of the Caribbean coast of Panama, was recognized by Panama’s Law 16 of 1953. The Territory includes a continental portion plus hundreds of islands, reefs and keys on the coast, including some excellent sea turtle habitat. The capture of the following species of sea turtles is now prohibited: Yauk Suer Sueret or leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea); Moro or green turtle (Chelonia mydas); Yauk or hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata); and Moro Non Dummad or loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta). This measure was adopted with the objective of allowing time for the populations of sea turtles to recover, and to preclude their further decline. The resolution also identifies and recognizes nesting beaches as Fishing Refuge Zones, wherein it is prohibited to harm nesting turtles in any way. Similarly, the collection, possession or sale of sea turtle eggs or other products derived from sea turtles is prohibited at all times. At these and other sites throughout the Territory, the take of juvenile turtles is now illegal. The local authorities will be entrusted with supervision of compliance with the resolution, and will adopt measures together with regional authorities. The full text of the new law can be found at <http://www.congresogeneralkuna.org/dupwala_resoluciones.htm>. Source: Kika Boletin, 01 December, 2006.

Red Tide May Threaten Turtles

During the past half-dozen years, loggerhead turtle nesting in Florida has dropped sharply. Fewer loggerheads are laying eggs in Florida, even though other Florida sea turtles, such as greens and leatherbacks, actually are nesting more. Scientists and conservationists say they suspect two main causes of the decline. One is commercial fishing - loggerheads sometimes get caught in long-line fishing in the Atlantic Ocean, for example. Another is the increasing number of sea turtle “strandings,” cases in which a group of sea turtles is found close to shore, dead or dying, possibly from toxins or disease. Scientists are paying attention, especially to a mysterious series of turtle deaths. At various places around the state, groups of turtles have been found stricken, floating and struggling to stay alive. But a central cause has not been found. In some of these cases, red tide is considered a factor. Such as last summer, when scientists from the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota tagged a loggerhead turtle named Ariel with a satellite-tracking device and released her. She later swam across a stretch of the Gulf of Mexico affected by red tide. Afterward, her behavior changed; eventually the satellite device showed she was floating on the surface. Scientists tried, but were unable, to recover her body. Source: St. Petersburg Times, 29 November 2006.

ASIA

Vehicles Barred from the Obyan Beach


Government agencies and private groups will be meeting at the Obyan Beach to install used power poles to prevent unauthorized vehicles from entering this Green Sea Turtle nesting site. Among the groups participating are the Coral Reef Management Office, Mariana Islands Nature Alliance secretary, CUC Power Division, and Department of Lands and Natural Resources’ Parks and Recreation Division. CUC has donated several used power poles and is providing heavy equipment to move the poles from Lower Base to Obyan. DLNR Parks and Recreation is donating heavy equipment and rebar to secure the poles to the ground. CRMO has conducted beach profiles and recorded beach vegetation patterns prior to their installation. They will be monitoring the changes in the beach over the next year and providing man power. Source: Saipan Tribune, 7 November 2006.

War Disturbs Turtles in Unlikely Refuge

Ghost crabs scuttle along an empty beach in south Lebanon, but other predators have already eaten the last green turtle hatchlings of the season -- foxes driven from the hills by Israeli-Hezbollah fighting. The foxes left their prints in the sand by the despoiled nest, strewn with the white shells the hatchlings had clambered from to start their doomed trek to the sea a few metres away. “This is a massacre,” lamented Mona Khalil, 57, who has run a turtle conservation project on the Mediterranean beach since 2000 with her 48-year-old associate, Habiba Syed. Israel’s 34-day war with Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah guerrillas erupted on July 12 in the middle of the four-month turtle breeding season, eventually forcing the two women to flee. Normally, she and Syed insert a wire mesh over the nests that female turtles dig in the sand. The mesh protects the eggs from dogs or foxes, but allows hatchlings to crawl through. The 1.4 km (one mile) long beach near the Shi’ite village of Mansouri might seem an unlikely refuge for endangered sea turtles, but Khalil and Syed have monitored 70 loggerhead turtle nests this season and nine nests of the rarer green turtles. Source: Reuters, 9 October 2006.

Sri Lanka’s Endangered Turtles Head for India’s First Marine Park

In a ground-breaking project with the BBC, the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has for the first time satellite tracked the migrations of endangered nesting green turtles from a wildlife sanctuary on the south coast of Sri Lanka to Asia’s first marine protected area off Tamil Nadu on the east coast of India. MCS and their local partners, the Turtle Conservation Project (TCP), and the Department of Wildlife Conservation fitted satellite tags to six female turtles after they nested at Rekawa Turtle Sanctuary on the south coast of Sri Lanka in August this year. The Sanctuary was declared in May 2006 as the country’s first Wildlife Sanctuary for marine turtles. Source: TravelVideo.tv, 17 November 2006.

Olive Ridley Turtles Keep Their Date with Orissa

The olive ridley turtles swim for thousands of miles to come each year to Orissa end October for breeding. They have been sighted end October, like clockwork, at the Devi river mouth near the coastal waters off the Ganga Devi beach in Puri district. The Orissa coast is the nesting ground for more than half the world’s population of olive ridley turtles, the other two being Costa Rica and Mexico. Source: TravelVideo.tv, 17 November 2006.

British Rugby Players Campaign for Turtles in Orissa

British rugby players, who are here for teaching tag rugby to aspiring players, joined a campaign launched by local environment activists in Orissa to save the depleting number of Olive Ridley sea turtles. The players joined the campaigners in Ganjam District during the launch of a crusade to protect the Olive Ridley sea turtles facing extinction due to large-scale fishing. The environmentalists and players were opposing the construction of new port near Rusikulya, as it will harm the turtle. During the launch, the players were carrying placards carrying messages: Save Olive Ridley sea turtles. The coastal region of Orissa is one of the three nesting grounds for more than half the world’s population of Olive Ridley turtles. Source: ANI, 19 November 2006.

Tracking Marine Turtles in Vietnam

A new satellite tracking programme to monitor green turtle populations in Vietnam has been successfully launched off the southeastern island of Con Dao. The satellite tracking data will provide critical information on turtle location and movement patterns. Conservation managers can then use this information to establish marine protected areas, as well as monitor fishing activities. To date, three of the four transmitters are fully operational. However, one device has stopped transmitting, either due to a change in the animal’s behavior (i.e. surfacing infrequently and thus minimizing the chance of sending a signal), or a technical malfunction. It is also possible the animal has died, perhaps killed by fishing gear such as gill nets or long lines. Source: WWF press release, 7 December 2006.

Bataan Turtle Poachers Turn Into Marine Guards

Turtle poachers in the coastal village of Nagbalayong have turned a new leaf and have become marine conservationists. The turnaround began after conservationists met with village residents a few years ago after government officials and non-government organizations noted an alarming increase in the rate of degradation of the towns’ forest and marine resources, said Wendel Acena of Bantay Kalikasan. The group, mostly poachers, started to pool efforts and meager resources to help save the endangered turtles in Morong. There are five known species of sea turtles in the Philippines and two, the hawksbill and Olive Ridley, are found in the coasts of Bataan. The concerted efforts led to the formation of Bantay Pawikan, a group composed mostly of local fishermen and farmers who used to poach turtle eggs along the shores of the municipality. In 2001, a pawikan center was established in Nagbalayong after the United Nations Development Program released funds for the community’s conservation works, said Acena. Japan also donated a delivery van, motorboat, warehouse, and fishing gear to the community so that fishermen could have a regular source of income. The daily catch is divided among the 20 active members of Bantay Pawikan. Source: Manila Standard Today, 01 January 2007.

EUROPE

Rescued Turtle Flown to New Home


An injured loggerhead turtle rescued on the Isle of Skye has been flown by seaplane to a new home in a Dorset wildlife sanctuary. The 66cm-long (26in) young male, which has a missing front left flipper, had been recuperating at the Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary, near Oban. Nicknamed Skye, he was spotted by tourists in July. Local resident Linda Elford, 50, managed to get hold of the turtle and get it on to her husband’s boat. Skye needs a bigger tank with warmer water than the Oban attraction can provide, which prompted his move to the Sea Turtle Sanctuary at Weymouth, Dorset, which opened earlier this summer. Source: BBC, 11 October 2006.

EU Looks over Turtle Measures

European Commission officials will be keeping a close eye on the Ionian island of Zakynthos until the end of November to determine whether Greece is breaching EU rules by not taking care of the island’s endangered sea turtles. Zakynthos is the most important Mediterranean nesting ground and home for the largest population of the Caretta caretta, or loggerhead sea turtle. The assessment could land Greece in front of the EU’s Court of Justice if recently introduced measures to help protect the turtle from humans invading their nesting areas are seen to be ineffective. Amalia Karagounis-Kyrtsou, the head of the marine park, is optimistic that the review will go well. The percentage of turtles that lay eggs on the beach this year has risen to 14 percent from 11 percent previously, she added. But the removal of illegally built homes on beaches used by the turtles is among the recommended measures that have not yet been implemented. Source: Kathimerini, 20 October 2006.

OCEANIA

Turtle, Dolphin Fear in Wider Net Fishing


The State Government plans to expand the use of net fishing in the North-West in a move that has sparked outrage from conservation groups, who claim it would damage stocks of turtles, dolphins, dugongs and other species. Fisheries Minister Jon Ford claimed the change could protect dwindling species of fish by focusing on less vulnerable reef sharks instead of the bigger, rarer sharks targeted by long-line trawlers. But the move was blasted by the WA Conservation Council, which said nets were indiscriminate and took sea turtles, dolphins, dugongs, sword fish and mackerel. The Minister admitted there was a risk that species such as turtles and dolphins would be caught. An authorised observer would be on board whenever a boat went fishing and if any threatened species were caught in the nets the fishery would be closed immediately. Source: The West Australian, 20 November 2006.

Locals Lead Year of Sea Turtle Campaign

Environment and Conservation Deputy Secretary Dr. Gae Gowae launched the year of the sea turtle campaign in Lae, Morobe Province this week during a colorful traditional singsing demonstrating the cultural link between turtles and the local people. “The campaign themed: ‘Protect them, Protect our heritage’ is very significant to us as marine turtles have formed an integral part of the marine ecosystems and traditional culture for most of the 13 Maritime Provinces in Papua New Guinea for many years,” he said. The province hosts three of the four major turtle nesting beaches in PNG. The communities in these nesting beaches are involved in a turtle conservation and management project aimed at reducing poaching, predation and environmental impacts to increase and enhance turtle population recovery in the country. Source: The National, 27 November 2006.