03 October 2023, Apia Samoa - Sea turtles are cultural icons across the Pacific region and are embedded in the customs and traditions of Pacific communities – featuring in myths, legends, songs and traditions.
Turtles are also important for tourism, education and research. But more than this, sea turtles have vital ecological roles important to the Earth’s oceans and seas. Because of their diets, sea turtles act as what scientists call habitat engineers. They modify the habitats on which they feed and that helps those same habitats become more resilient and healthier.
“However, despite their cultural and ecological importance all six species of marine turtles found in the Pacific are threatened with extinction. Threats include overharvesting, coastal development, invasive predators and climate change,” said Mr Unity Roebeck, SPREP Turtle Database and Conservation Consultant. “We need a much better understanding of population trends across the Pacific as well as priority threats to enable us to meet the conservation challenges we face.”
To support more effective turtle monitoring in the Pacific, a new turtle monitoring manual has been produced by the Pacific BioScapes Programme.
The Programme is a European Union (EU) funded action, managed and implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). It contributes to the sustainable development of Pacific Small Island Developing States through the implementation of 30 focused activities taking place across a diversity of ecosystems in 11 countries (Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu) that are addressing critical issues concerning coastal and marine biodiversity, and ecosystem-based responses to climate change adaptation.
Dr. Nick Pilcher, who is the Author of the new sea turtle monitoring manual produced under the BioScapes Programme, summarises the challenge as: “When we ask ourselves what do we need to know to conserve turtles? There are three key questions: How many turtles do we have? From this we can figure out if the numbers are going up or down; where are they? From this we know where to look, and where to implement conservation actions and what are the main threats? This lets us know what we need to change to conserve sea turtles.
“The problem with trying to conduct status assessments in the Pacific islands region is we don’t always have all the information we need because of some very real limitations.
“In some places a lack of long-term monitoring data does not allow us to determine if the population is growing or declining. In others, some information remains unknown because it is expensive and logistically challenging to be on a beach for an entire season and record every single nesting event for every turtle,” adds Dr. Pilcher.
This means selecting the right method to find the required information is critical. Aside from traditional tagging, the manual covers interviews, literature reviews, hatching counts, satellite tracking, genetic sampling, aerial, boat, bycatch, drone, foot and vehicle surveys amongst 25 different monitoring processes.
“Effective design of sea turtle monitoring programmes using the most appropriate monitoring processes that are within budget will benefit SPREP member countries and territories in the Pacific to properly assess, manage and protect turtle populations,” said Mr. Roebeck.
If you, your community, or institution work with turtles, please download the new manual at www.sprep.org/bioscapes
Photo credit: Dr. Nick Pilcher