ISTS42 Program/Agenda

Five species of marine turtles can be found in the Red Sea, The Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas), the Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), the Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta) are the most common, with the Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) and Olive Ridley Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) being infrequently seen with no recorded nesting. CITES lists all marine turtles in its Appendix I (prohibited from international trade), IUCN red lists include the species as Vulnerable through to Critically Endangered. Jordan’s territorial water in the Gulf of Aqaba is famous for its rich coral reefs, and it contains seagrass beds and these provide extensive feeding habitats for populations of two species of marine turtles: The Green Turtle and The Hawksbill Turtle. Turtles are not recorded as nesting on Jordan’s coastline and very little information is available in Jordan’s Gulf of Aqaba, regarding their abundance and distribution and their foraging sites. The scant published information indicates that the Hawksbill Turtle is the dominant species with majority in sub-adult stage within the Jordanian waters.

In Jordan's Gulf of Aqaba, turtles face significant threats and challenges. These include fisheries-related mortality (by-catch), habitat destruction (habitat loss), plastic pollution, and a lack of government commitment to biodiversity protection. Additionally, the absence of understanding about the ecological value of turtles and their habitats has led to inappropriate coastal ecosystem management and development practices. The Jordan Society for the Conservation of Turtles and Tortoises (JSCT) has developed a comprehensive plan encompassing a range of proposed actions. The primary objectives of this plan are to mitigate both direct and indirect threats to turtles and safeguard their foraging habitats. The aim is to achieve these goals through initiatives such as promoting turtle rescue and rehabilitation, conducting extensive research and monitoring efforts, to gather crucial information about turtles along the Jordanian coast. As well as organizing public awareness campaigns and capacity-building programs for diverse local community groups.

Among its activities, the JSCT implemented a follow-up program for two marine turtles existing in the lagoons at Ayla project - Aqaba, which were previously in the Marine Biology Museum of the Marine Science Station (MSS) and were suffering from some health problems and injuries. This program began on year 2022 and include visual inspection, measurements of growth rates, medical check and laboratory examinations. The results suggest that the two sub-adult female turtles are in good health and exhibiting normal growth progress, this reflects the favorable condition of the lagoon environment, making it a suitable place for rehabilitating injured turtles before their release into the wild.

Before the end of 2024, the association will implement a capacity-building program for a group of fishermen and a team of naval forces, this program aims to educate them on the steps for rescuing and rehabilitating marine turtles accidentally caught, with the goal of minimizing turtle mortality during fishing activities. The JSCT seeks to perform effectively through an integrated national network including community participation, government and related stakeholders.

Sri Lanka provides nesting beaches for five species of sea turtles including Green Turtles, Olive Ridley, Hawksbill, Loggerhead, and Leatherback turtles. In Sri Lanka, hatchery owners buy eggs from egg collectors and rebury them in a protected area. There, the eggs are incubated until turtle hatchlings emerge. These hatcheries have become a popular tourist attraction for many local and international visitors. While this ex-situ conservation method has gained popularity along the southwestern coastline of Sri Lanka, there is also a community based in-situ turtle nest protection programme that is underway in the Rekawa beach in the Southern province. Despite the ecological benefits from this initiative, funding for these community-based turtle conservation projects remains a challenge. Recruiting local community members as turtle nest protectors, maintaining research centers, equipment, vehicles, and other administration costs require consistent funding. This situation has been further exacerbated by the drop in tourism following the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant financial crisis, harming the sustainability of many sea turtle projects in the country and around the world.

Carbon financing is an innovative funding tool that places a financial value on carbon emissions and allows companies wishing to offset their own emissions to buy carbon credits earned from sustainable projects. Potential projects that can lead to emission trading can be projects that involve CO2 emission avoidance and those with emission sinks. As far as GHG emissions are concerned, the carbon sequestration potential in the forestry sector can be enhanced by encouraging plantations such as Mangroves in the coastal landscape. Considering these factors, the Sri Lanka Turtle Conservation Project (TCP) initiated a new Climate Resilient and Community-Driven Mangrove Afforestation Project in Sri Lanka in collaboration with the Ministry of Coast Conservation in 2021. This project aims to establish 3000 hectares of Mangroves around Sri Lanka with an initial budget of US $ 4.3 million. The project, expected to last 20 years, will receive more funding after the selling of carbon credits to a suitable buyer in the future.

The TCP was able to allocate part of the funding it received through mangrove afforestation for sea turtle conservation activities in Sri Lanka. It has identified crucial nesting beaches for sea turtles and is currently sponsoring conservation activities at these locations. The TCP is responsible for paying the salaries of the community turtle nest protectors working at Rekawa Turtle Sanctuary while also maintaining its educational information centers at Rekawa and Panadura beaches. Furthermore, TCP conducts many educational programmes and exhibitions at schools and coastal locations. Educational materials such as posters, leaflets, brochures, and magazines have been designed and printed for distribution among locals. All these conservation activities are being carried out through the funding received via carbon financing. Considering the limitations and challenges faced due to the lack of adequate funding, the TCP has identified how carbon financing projects can be used to implement turtle conservation activities. This paper discusses the potential for utilizing carbon financing as a partnership opportunity for turtle conservation projects in Sri Lanka and other developing countries.

Understanding where and how species' critical habitats are connected is crucial for adequate biological protection and habitat conservation of marine ecosystems. Sea turtles, being among the most widely monitored and protected organisms, are particularly vulnerable due to their migratory nature and susceptibility to various threats throughout different life stages. In Southeast Asia, where six of the seven sea turtle species are found, there are increasing spatial conflicts between animals and human activities including habitat degradation caused by coastal development, direct and indirect fishing capture, and disturbance from marine traffic and recreational activities. As sea turtles require a wide range of habitats and movement corridors through the waters of several countries and the open sea to complete their reproductive migrations and ontogenetic shifts in habitat use, it is imperative to identify the connections between habitats at scales and extents that are appropriate for the species’ persistence. However, as the common practice of searching and compiling literature and datasets on habitat use is mainly through English peer-reviewed journal articles, important work and information in non-English languages and grey literature are systematically neglected, rendering the conclusions of evidence syntheses at regional or global levels biased towards certain information resources. To overcome this barrier, we conducted a systematic literature search in seven regional languages to present a comprehensive review on the movement and migratory connectivity of green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) around Southeast Asia. Using regional and global literature databases as well as unpublished data, we identified 104 sources, spanning peer-reviewed journal articles (24.0%), reports (26.9%), conference proceedings (20.2%), online websites and databases (18.3%), theses and dissertations (8.7%), and unpublished data (1.9%). The empirical evidence for the movement and migration of green sea turtles is limited geographically, mainly to particular nesting and foraging sites. Interestingly, usage of information derived from low-cost technology such as flipper tag and photo ID in informing movement patterns and habitat use at the global/regional level is less apparent than satellite telemetry. This study also reveals that, while evidence of animal movement is consistently collected to various degrees across countries, substantial information fails to be made accessible in a manner that allows for regional synthesis. To bridge these knowledge gaps effectively, collaborative efforts at a regional level are essential. This involves standardising and contributing data to online repositories, reducing barriers to accessing governmental information, and enhancing organisational capacity for the online indexing of documents containing data and knowledge. These actions will enable us to synthesise a more comprehensive body of evidence, guiding the effective implementation of sea turtle conservation and management strategies.

The conservation and protection of marine megafauna requires robust knowledge of the location and movement of animals throughout different life stages. Migratory species depend upon critical habitats for breeding and foraging, as well as pathways connecting these habitats. The technological advances in remote monitoring devices have greatly improved our capabilities to assess animal movement and study the migratory connectivity of marine mega-vertebrates. Satellite telemetry in particular, has contribute to monitoring migratory animals remotely, allowing us to collect information on habitat use, movement, and connectivity. The green turtle (Chelonia mydas) is one of the most studied species in terms of movement ecology. Nonetheless, an understanding of connectivity between breeding and non-breeding areas for most populations still eludes researchers. Despite numerous studies assessing movement behaviour of green turtles, we have not yet found an adequate way to aggregate this information into functional networks that contribute regionally or globally to the species’ conservation. Here, we present a global migratory connectivity network for green turtles; based on available tracking literature, we identify important habitats for this species, and the linkages among them. We examined peer reviewed articles, book chapters, scientific reports, and conference procedures, published between 1990 and 2022. We compiled eligible references and extracted information on 1) ocean basin for each study, 2) sampling techniques used, 3) sex class and life stage of turtles monitored, and 4) geographic coordinates for deployment and destination sites for each turtle. To define a connectivity network, we identified sites used by green turtles as well as movement among different sites. Sites were defined as 1° georeferenced areas and routes were defined as connections among sites. Where sites overlapped and described a common area, they were aggregated into “meta-sites”. We compiled information from 113 studies, conducted across different regions: 42.5% in the Atlantic, 17.7% in the Indian, and 39.8% in the Pacific basin. We found four tracking techniques reported (Mark-Recapture, Satellite Telemetry, Acoustic Telemetry, and diving loggers), all addressing different questions: 37.2% investigated post-nesting migrations, 27.4% swimming behaviour, 17.6% habitat use, 12.4% foraging range, 3.6% were technical trials, and 1.8% assessed interaction with fisheries. Breeding females were the most studied animals, present in 68.6% of sources, followed by indetermined juvenile (24.2%), and males (7.7%). We based the global connectivity network on 525 sites where green turtles were studied in different stages during their life cycle. Those sites were determined to be nodes of connectivity for different populations. From these, we aggregated 195 “meta-sites” encompassing the occurrence of green turtles tracked from two or more sites. Finally, we discuss the implications of the immense regional and global connectivity described by this novel network model for conservation across scales.

Marine turtle Regional Management Units (RMUs) are region-wide discrete marine turtle population boundaries beneath the species level and above the genetic stock. However, the RMUs have a coarse resolution, which make it difficult for conservation professionals within an RMU to precisely identify and prioritize areas that require immediate attention or if threats within an RMU could even be managed within their regional, national, or local jurisdiction. We developed finer resolution boundaries in the green and hawksbill turtle Southeast Asian RMUs, called Marine Turtle Management Areas (MarTuMAs), with the objective of developing boundaries that “break up” regional RMUs into boundaries that would be meaningful for marine turtle conservationists . These are discrete boundaries which encompass a single or overlapping nesting-foraging networks (nesting groups), and hence lie beneath RMUs but above the genetic stock. We collated published and unpublished data from collaborators throughout Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand. Satellite tracks were first grouped by their nesting group, followed by bootstrapping satellite returns to develop multiple minimum convex polygons that were then averaged and merged (if overlapping was substantial) to create MarTuMAs. Six green turtle MarTuMAs and two hawksbill turtle MarTuMAs were identified from data contributed by regional collaborators. Green turtle MarTuMAs were identified for the Andaman Sea, Java Sea, Raja Ampat, South China Sea, northern Borneo, and the Sulu and Celebes Sea, while hawksbill turtle MarTuMAs were only identified for the Melaka Straits and the Sulu Sea. A future step is to develop conservation priorities for each identified MarTuMAs using a quantitative criterion that is scored by marine turtle conservationists for their respective MarTuMA. This will allow conservation professional to identify whether MarTuMAs that are relevant to them require immediate conservation action or not. The process of identifying sub-RMU boundaries was conducted within a biologically important region of the world, but this framework can be adapted and applied to other RMUs for other marine turtle species across the globe.

Although hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) nest in almost every country in the Caribbean, nesting density remains low. Areas with high hawksbill nesting densities have been designated as index beaches, but many nesting beaches have yet to be evaluated adequately. It is essential to identify additional hawksbill index nesting beaches to recommend protective measures across the species' entire range. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, the majority of sea turtle nesting occurs on St. Croix, where hawksbill nesting has been reported on most beaches. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the west end beaches of St. Croix to quantify previously undocumented hawksbill nesting and evaluate artificial light levels detectable from the beach. We recorded sea turtle activity during morning beach patrols from 2021 - 2023. In 2023, drone photography was used to create a comprehensive image of the coastline and vegetation, and lighting surveys measured skyglow and lux to identify the brightest sections of the beach. Since 2021, volunteers have located and documented 620 hawksbill nests along 5 km of beach that is not designated as critical habitat. This nest density is comparable to known high-density, federally protected nesting beaches on St. Croix such as Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge and Buck Island Reef National Monument. We found the highest hawksbill nest density was on west end beaches with low artificial light levels and an adjacent thick coastal forest. We used drone images to map the vegetation and identified openings in vegetation cover. Artificial light hotspots match these gaps in vegetation and are areas that have the most hatchling disorientation events. Specific management strategies such as planting additional native vegetation and minimizing beachfront lighting is needed to protect nests in this area. Our goal was to identify anthropogenic threats for nesting hawksbills and to provide this information to stakeholders and territorial management agencies. The results of our study supports actions to mitigate the impacts of artificial lighting on nesting beaches on St. Croix and to establish all of St. Croix’s west end beaches as critical nesting habitat to protect and restore hawksbill populations in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

One of the strategies to help the recovery of marine turtle population is to maximize hatchling production. At the Jeen Womom Coastal Park in the Bird's Head region of Indonesia, this is achieved by protecting as many nests as possible against various threats. The Jeen Womom Coastal Park annually hosts the greatest leatherback nesting activity in the Pacific, at Jeen Yessa (18 km) and Jeen Syuab (6 km) beaches, that has declined significantly since the 1980s. Threats to marine turtle nests at these beaches include predation by pigs, dogs, and monitor lizards, high sand temperatures, tidal inundation, erosion, and invasion of Ipomoea sp. roots. The Abun Leatherback Project (ALP) has identified effective methods to increase the hatching success of leatherback nests and applies them to as many nests as possible. With 41-55 team members on the ground, the ALP protected 40-65% of leatherback nests in 2021, 2022, and 2023. With an overall hatching success of less than 50%, it is crucial to protect a greater proportion of leatherback nests, and this can be achieved by adding more resources at the nesting beaches. This paper provides a cost estimate for annually protecting 80% — 100% of the leatherback nests laid. We used nest count data between 2018 and 2023 to calculate the number of nests that need to be protected to reach 80% and 100%. Using a linear equation resulting from the relationship between the number of people working at the beach and the number of nests protected between 2021 and 2023, we calculated the additional number of people required to protect 80% and 100% of nests. Then we calculated the cost of protecting a single leatherback nest using expenses recorded in 2023, such as wages of field technicians and local patrollers, food, transportation of food and logistics, fuel for post generators and field boats, communications, and salaries of supporting staff at the project home base. To reach 80%, the ALP team has to protect 1894 leatherback nests on average per year (range = 1202 — 2232 nests/year). To reach 100%, the ALP team has to protect on average 2367 leatherback nests per year (range = 1503 — 2793). The cost of protecting one leatherback nest is 1,558,404 IDR or 100.54 USD. Therefore, the cost of protecting 80% and 100% of the nests at the Jeen Womom Coastal Park is approximately 190,387 USD/year and 237,983 USD/year, respectively. To increase the percentage of protected nests from 50% to 80% or 100% in an average year, the ALP needs an additional 37 to 62 people working at the beach and 71,383 USD to 118,939 USD, respectively, in funding annually. This is the minimum required without including the cost of community empowerment, outreach, and partnership programs in the project. Given that Jeen Womom hosts the last, largest remaining leatherback nesting population in the entire Pacific, protection at the nesting beaches is a global priority.