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Marine Turtle Newsletter 153:13, © 2017

Marine Turtle Newsletter-Online

A Sea Turtle Nesting Beach Indicator Tool to Help Identify Areas with Potential for Sea Turtle Nesting

Neil Cousins1, ALan F. Rees2 & Brendan J. Godley2
1Bluedot Associates Ltd, 12 Whiteladies Rd., Clifton, Bristol, BS8 1PD, UK (E-mail: neil.cousins@bluedotassociates.com)
2Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, UK (E-mail: a.f.rees@exeter.ac.uk, b.j.godley@exeter.ac.uk)

In many countries where sea turtle nesting occurs or is expected, there is a paucity of data for understanding the spatial extent of nesting and relative habitat value of different beaches. As sea turtle nesting areas are a commonly encountered issue for development in some regions, and given the conservation importance of the species affected, we seek to promote enhanced detection of marine turtle nesting beaches in the absence of prior biological data. A better understanding of the likelihood of sea turtle nesting will allow the management of impacts and risks associated with projects.

The low level of baseline understanding can be due to lack of funding to deliver research, lack of easy accessibility to nesting beaches, focus on more easily accessible areas that skews spatial data, the lack of in-country expertise to undertake detailed research or the vast extent of beaches that need to be surveyed in areas where turtle nesting may occur during relatively short seasonal periods. There can also be a tendency for long term research to focus effort in areas that are known to support nesting, have historically been thought to be of greater importance and/or form part of protected areas.

We have developed an electronic tool to assess the nesting potential of beaches at minimal cost. The simple approach of the tool is seasonally independent. The approach should facilitate information to be collected rapidly across areas that are currently poorly understood, perhaps using local networks that do not require specialist knowledge – thus helping to quickly improve the understanding of nesting potential across wider areas. This may then act as a steer for the prioritisation of funds to promote research into understanding areas that are identified as being of greatest interest; and help to create a rapid assessment of nesting beach value across regions in a way that has not yet been achieved. This could then feedback into the creation of new data sets, which if made accessible, should help to promote better developer decision-making. It should be noted that the tool deals with physical habitat features only and that it provides indicative rather than conclusive results on nesting potential, i.e. indications of poor suitability for certain beaches should not be used as evidence there is no nesting. The tool is useful in lieu of, and supplementary to, seasonal surveys that record the signs of nesting activity. In most cases the indications should be followed-up by specialist surveys.

The tool’s inputs and outputs are divided into two sections (Fig. 1): the first section assesses the potential for supporting a viable nesting population, based on nearshore and beach geomorphology; and the second assesses if human disturbance is already likely to be impacting nesting activity. The tool (and accompanying explanatory documentation) is freely available, with no cost to download from www.bluedotassociates.com. It has been reviewed by several sea turtle researchers with experience from around the globe, but we are keen to hear how it can be improved and hence welcome feedback sent to thetoolbox@bluedotassociates.com. 


Figure 1. The Sea Turtle Nesting Beach Indicator Tool user interface.