Sea Turtle
nesting season in seychelles
Please note: This article is being shared from the October - December 2021 issue of the Silhouette Magazine found on the Air Seychelles in flight entertainment magazine purely to create awareness for the plight of two species that come to nest in Seychelles And perhaps you’ll find it in you to sponsor a turtle. Find the relevant information at the bottom of this blog post.
Sea turtles are ancient creatures, having been around since the time of dinosaurs. Sadly, however, six of the world’s seven species of sea turtle are currently threatened with the two species known to nest in Seychelles, green Chelonia Midas and hawksbill Eretmochelys Imari are listed as ‘Endangered’ and Critically Endangered’ respectively on IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species. Poaching, entanglement, pollution, habitat loss, coastal development, bycatch and climate change are amongst the multitude of human-induced threats that they face. Sea turtles are found through the world’s oceans due to their migratory behaviour and spend the majority of their lives at sea. Females come ashore several times a season every two to five years to lay an egg clutch of between 50 - 200 eggs, depending on the species of sea turtle.
Over the years, the Marine Conservation Society Seychelles (MCSS) sea turtle monitoring team has observed several individual turtles returning to nest on the beaches it monitors. In order to confirm the identity of individual sea turtles, the team takes images of their facial profiles and inputs them to the I3S (interactive Individual Identification System) software, which uses its unique facial scale patterns to identify them. Hawksbill turtle nesting season in Seychelles is between the months of October to March. With the 2021-2022 nesting season underway, the MCSS’ turtle monitoring team is hoping to once again encounter familiar individuals, that come to nest on Mahé’s beaches. This presents an opportunity for our current turtle sponsors (or “adopters”) to receive updated information and new pictures of the individual they have sponsored. One particulnar individual, who was first encountered every two years since - every time returning to the same beach! This has earned her the name ‘Bienna’ from the word biennial. We hope to encounter her again during the upcoming nesting season and there remains the opportunity for someone to sponsor her.
Nesting season also means an opportunity to witness baby sea turtles emerging from their nests and scurrying down the beach to the sea in the hopes of survival. The sad truth is that only an estimated one in thousand to one in ten thousand of these little hatchlings will escape natural predators such as crabs, birds and fish and then survive to reach sexual maturity. With these odds, we’ like to shed some light on how best to ensure that as many of them as possible make it safely to the sea. After an incubation period of around two months, successfully developed sea turtle hatchlings will emerge from their nests and attempt to make it out to sea. ‘Imprinting’ on their natal beach - digging themselves out of the nest and making their way to the sea - is considered to be integral to the life cycle of turtles. It allows them to exercise the use their lungs to be able to swim and dive when in the water and potentially return to the same area for foraging, mating or nesting a decade or more later. Hatchlings should thus be left to do so and be observed from a minimum distance of four metres. To break open their shells, hatchlings use a temporary egg tooth, or carbuncle, though it can take a few days for them to actually emerge from the nest. They generally emerge at cooler times of day, such as morning or evening, when they are less likely to be predated upon or overheat.
When emerging in darkness, it is thought that turtle hatchlings are guided by the light reflected on the sea, which is why they are disoriented by artificial lights. As such, all lights visible from the beach should be switched off when hatchlings are emerging. If hatchlings become disoriented, it is advisable to guide them on a path to the sea without touching or handling them and remove obstacles such as holes, debri or other items on the sand. Remain a safe distance to ensure that they are not trampled on to ensure they safely reach the sea. The Marine Conservation Society Seychelles (MCSS) has been monitoring turtle nesting activity on Mahé since 2003. The data obtained over the years from this long-term monitoring programme has indicated some of the most important beaches on the island for the two species of sea turtle that nest in Seychelles. In order to improve conservation efforts of these marine protected species, MCSS has conceptualised and tested an innovative approach to the management of these critical habitats, which are currently beyond the Protected Area network - ’Temporal Protected Areas’ (TPAs). The concept of the TPAs is that they are transient conservation areas coming into effect only during the hawksbill nesting season.
There are serveral ways that the public can contribute to MCSS’ sea turtle conservation efforts, including volunteering on our beach rehabilitation activities, reporting illegal activities to the Greenline and sponsoring a sea turtle. The donations received through sea turtle sponsorships provide critical financial assistance, which facilitates ongoing research activities, including the monitoring of important sea turtle nesting beaches. This long-term monitoring programme would not have been possible without the financial support of the public. All donations and contributions really do make a difference. For more information on how you can sponsor a sea turtle or make a donation to MCSS’ ongoing research and conservation activities, visit the website www.MCSS.sc
Thank you for taking the time to read through this information and we hope you can help, even in just a small way.
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