Marine Turtle Newsletter

Number 41 September 1987

Editor: Nat B. Frazer Department of Biology Mercer University 1400 Coleman Avenue Macon, GA 31207 USA

Associate Editor: John P. Eylers Editorial Board: Peter C. H. Pritchard, Anders G. J. Rhodin, Harold F. Hirth, N. Mrosovsky

REPORT FROM OROLUK

Oroluk is a low coral atoll in the Caroline Islands in the mid-Pacific region. It is located about 1600 km ESE of Guam and about 300 km east from Pohnpei Island. This small island (18 hectares) historically has had large numbers of nesting green turtles, and Pritchard (1977) felt Oroluk was the most important nesting ground in the state. From June through July 1985 and May through August 1986 turtles were tagged and their activities watched.

The arrival of turtle project personnel on Oroluk in May 1986 was a sad day for them. The residents of the island (7 people) killed three female turtles and cooked turtle eggs to take with them on the field trip ship back to Pohnpei. Project staff also found that two turtles tagged in May 1985 were eaten in August of the same year.

During the 1986 period, some preliminary work was done to protect two nests with wire cages and to look at hatching success. Humerus bones were collected, and forwarded to Dr. George Balazs of US National Marine Fisheries Service in Honolulu.

So far, one turtle tagged during the project has been seen elsewhere. A 99 cm female was tagged while nesting on Oroluk 2 June 1986 and laid 72 eggs. The turtle was captured alive in Nan- Way Bay in Taiwan on 18 April 1987.

It should be noted that for 1985 observations, turtle nesting averaged 2.3 nests/month, and in 1986, 3.4 nests/month were seen. This is considerably fewer than the 9-15 nests per night reported by Pritchard (1977). We do not know if the current nesting pattern has two peaks in December-January and June-July as has been reported. Nesting (maybe some false crawls) is reported by Oroluk residents all year round.

By law, FSM citizens are allowed to take green turtles greater than 34 inches except during

June-August and December-January, but commercial sales are illegal. The impact on the turtles by the residents of Oroluk is certainly great. Changing technology has also resulted in making catching turtles easier (McCoy 1974, 1981). Other people (from Truk and Pohnpei, for example) now have boats which can easily go to Oroluk to fish and possibly take turtles and turtle eggs. There have also been reports of dynamite fishing off the atoll reefs.

At the end of the 1986 project, workers made several recommendations to Pohnpei State government about the turtles of Oroluk. The sandy beach facing the ocean should be left out for turtle nesting ground and houses and pig pens moved inland. Pigs and dogs should be kept in fences or tied up. A proposal is being made to make Oroluk a sanctuary for wildlife, but state finances are very limited.

Funding for the turtle tagging project has been irregular. The past two years the project has been funded by Pohnpei Economic Development Authority, Pohnpei Marine Resources Division, a private grant from Ms. Donna Matson (Western Instructional Television, Los Angeles), and organized by Teresa Herring, a US Peace Corps volunteer. While a proposal to establish monitoring has been made, no funding has been granted for 1987. Attempts are also being made to make Oroluk a marine sanctuary (including seabirds and turtles). Project workers are continuing to seek sources of funding for the project, as well as for educational materials which can be used for turtle conservation education.

TABLE 1.

JUNE '85 JULY '85

Turtles Tagged 2 2

Tagged Turtle Nests 1 2

Tagged False Crawls 2

TABLE 2.

April '86 May '86 June '86 July '86 August '86

Turtles Tagged 1 5 3 2 0

Tagged Turtle Nests 0 2 8 2 1

Tagged False Crawls 1 4 1 3 0

McCoy, M. A. 1974 Man and turtle in the central Carolines. Micronesica 10 (2) McCoy, M. A. 1981 Subsistence hunting of turtles in the western Pacific; The Caroline Islands. In Biology and Conservation of Sea Turtles, K. A. Bjorndal, ed., Washington D.C.; Smithsonian Institution Press. Pritchard, P. C. 1977 Marine Turtles of Micronesia San Francisco; Chelonia Press

CLAY EDSON and FLINN CURREN, Marine Resources Division, P.O. Box B, Kolonia, Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia 96941

REPORT ON 6th CITES MEETING, OTTAWA, JULY 1987

Several items concerning sea turtles arose at the 6th meeting of the parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) held recently in Ottawa.

1. Japan has withdrawn its reservation on green turtles. This means that the commercial import of green turtle products became illegal in Japan. The Japanese reservation on hawksbill turtles remains. However, the delegation from Japan said that they had in effect an annual import quota of 30 tonnes of shell (which represents about 28,000 hawksbills) and that there was no plan to increase this quota. The Japanese turtle shell industry is interested in the possibility of developing hawksbill turtle ranches to supply its markets.

2. Proposals for downlisting of the Indonesian populations of green and hawksbill turtles from Appendix 1 to II were withdrawn by Indonesia before being debated. The next CITES meeting will be in Indonesia in 1989. It is quite likely that Indonesia will prepare more extensive proposals for discussion then.

3. The proposal from France for downlisting to Appendix 11 the green sea turtle populations of the islands of Europa and Tromelin in the Indian Ocean was rejected in a secret ballot ( 37 against, 14 in favor, and 5 abstentions). Because of complex understandings with the European Economic Community (EEC), no members of the EEC can cast a vote, and France was unable to vote for its own proposal! The biological aspects of this ranching proposal were, on the whole, considered acceptable; the marking system for identifying the products from the ranch had been approved previously by the CITES Technical Committee. However, the matter of alleged infractions by France of CITES regulations was repeatedly raised during the debate, and was a major factor in the rejection of the proposal.

4. The conference passed a resolution requesting lUCN to convene a meeting of specialists in marine turtle biology, trade controls, and ranching, to prepare guidelines for evaluating marine turtle ranching. It is possible that such a meeting might take place in late January 1988 before the IUCN general assembly in Costa Rica. Among the reasons for holding a meeting are feelings that turtle ranching has not been handled adequately by CITES (see MTN 25:6-9 and 33:1-2 for reports on previous meetings), that the situation created by the Japanese hawksbill trade requires urgent attention, and that it would be desirable for people with different viewpoints to attempt to discover if it were possible to make any accommodations leading to a more united attack on problem areas in sea turtle conservation.

N. MROSOVSKY, Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A1, CANADA

MEXICAN HAWKSBILL PROJECT, 1985-1986 REPORT

During 1982 and 1983, with funding from the WATS 1 program, two flights were made along the east coast of Mexico, from Matamoros to Cheturnal. The surveys revealed several areas of important nesting, particularly in the states of Campeche and Yucatán, pertaining especially to hawksbill and green turtles. In both states there had been a traditional sea turtle fishery, specifically for the use of the meat of the green turtle and the shell of the hawksbill. Nowadays the catch of both species is prohibited; however, stuffed juvenile hawksbills and handcrafted objects of tortoiseshell are still sold to tourists in reduced quantities.

The Instituto Nacional de la Pesca is the Federal agency that, through its National Sea Turtle Research Project, undertakes all stock assessments for sea turtles in Mexico. Protection of the nesting beaches is accomplished with the assistance of cooperative fishermen, university students, fisheries

inspectors, and marines. This program has taken place in Campeche and Yucatán for several years with some success and with the following annual results (Table 1).

TABLE 1. Eggs translocated to the corrals and hatchlings obtained and released on the beaches.

______Campeche______Yucatán______

Year Eggs Hatchlings Eggs Hatchlings

1980 ------9,000 6,000

1981 2,304 6,119 15,000 11,000

1982 11,840 5,842 21,000 16,000

1983 2,000 1,340 17,500 11,000

1984 19,379 16,930 15,545 7,520

[ For both localities, the average of green turtle eggs varies between 10-30% of the total collected. The data for Yucatán, up to 1983, were obtained from the fisheries inspectors and are approximations. ]

Since 1984, all work has been carried out by staff of the Instituto Nacional de Pesca. Results of the 1985 and 1986 seasons are detailed below.

Campeche

The nesting beach extends from Isla del Cármen in the west to Sabancuy in the east. During the surveys more than 40 km are covered. The surveys and nest collection began in April and continued until September. Personnel arrived on the beach by boat and the eggs were collected and incubated in styrofoam boxes, as predation and poaching on the beach are too heavy to risk leaving all nests in situ. Table 2 shows the accomplishments for 1985 and 1986.

TABLE 2. Eggs and hatchlings obtained in Isla Aguada turtle camp, Campeche.

_____Eretmochelys______Chelonia______

1985 1986 1985 1986

Nests translocated 124 149 69 79

Eggs protected 17,229 22,554 7,280 6,367

Hatchlings released 9,779 14,290 5,018 5,164

Tags in adults 5 0 3 0

Known depredated nests 142 ? 33 ?

Nests left in situ 182 42 43 23

During the nesting season, we monitored temperatures on the beach profile and in the boxes. All fresh dead hatchlings were preserved for sex ratio analysis in the Manzanillo Center. The season for hawksbills is from April to August and for the green from May until September.

Yucatán

The nesting beach is located on the northeast coast of the Peninsula of Yucatán, between the mouth of the Rio Largatos and Chipepté , with about 70 km of sandy beach (of which more than 80% is suitable for nesting). The beach is paralleled almost throughout its entire length by a graded road on the inland side of the dunes.

One or two nest collection patrols are made every night, from the Rio Lagartos to EI Cuyo, from April until September (week days only). The eggs are carried in plastic buckets and relocated in two beach corrals, protected with chicken wire, in Coloradas and in EI Cuyo. Because of the access provided by the road near the beach, poaching is a severe problem; nearly all nests that are not collected by the patrols are lost to poaching or to natural predation. The results of the 1985 and 1986 seasons are shown in Table 3.

TABLE 3. Eggs and hatchlings protected in Las Coloradas and EI Cuyo turtle camps, Yucatán.

_____Eretmochelys______Chelonia______

1985 1986 1985 1986

Nests 114 82 61 16

Eggs 17,957 11,721 5,403 1,949

Hatchlings released 8,831 4,970 2,603 1,192

Tags: adults 15 30 12 2

Tags: juveniles 71 96 1 5

This work was made possible by many people and especially by the hard work of the technical staff of the Centro Regional de Investigacion Pesquera de Ciudad del Cármen in Campeche and two students under contract, and in Yucatán the work was possible because of the invaluable help of the Fisheries Inspectors; Miguel Erosa, Juán Alcoser and Juán Marfil, who enthusiastically, night after night, made the recorridos on the beaches.

For Campeche we had a grant from CONACyT [No. 021204]. For the work in Yucatán a small donation from the MEXUS-Gulf Program for the recovery of Kemp's ridley was available near the end of the 1985 season which was useful in completing the surveillance and collection of the last nests of that season.

RENE MARQUEZ M., CRIP - Manzanillo, AP 591, Manzanillo Col. 28200 Mexico RAFAEL BRAVO G., CRIP - Cd. del Cármen, Cale 26 y 23 de Abril, Playa Norte, Cd. del Cármen, Campeche, Mexico PATRICIA CASTAñEDA A., CRIP - Yucalpetén, AP 73, Progreso Yuc. Mexico

RIDLEYS TAGGED WITH PASSIVE INTEGRATED TRANSPONDER (PIT)

With the cooperation of Jack Woody, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Dr. James Dixon, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Southeast Fisheries Center, Galveston laboratory's Sea Turtle Head Start Research Project has tested the passive integrated transponder (PIT) as a tag for Kemp's ridley sea turtles ( Lepidochelys kempi ). The PIT tag1 essentially is a pre-programmed microchip capable of receiving and transmitting specific radio signals. The signals received by the transponder from the reading device induce it to emit a signal which is normally converted by the reading device to a numerical code containing up to nine digits. PIT tags have been used successfully to mark salmon smolt, rockfish, tuna, swordfish, and marlin (Glenn Callahan, NMFS, NFWC, Seattle, Wash., pers. comm.).

We PIT-tagged eight turtles (averaging 2443.6 g total weight, 25.2 cm straight-line carapace length, and 23.2 cm straight-line carapace width) from the 1985 year class of Kemp's ridleys. Tags were placed intramuscular in the left front flipper posterior to the radius bone of four of the turtles and in the carapace at the left fifth marginal scute in all eight turtles. Tags were placed in the flippers using a syringe and plunger applicator. Tags were placed in the carapace by first drilling a hole in the shell with a 3/32" drill bit, inserting the PIT tag, and plugging the hole with hystoacryl-blue (B. Brunmeisungen1 ).

At 147 days post-tagging, two of the eight PIT tags embedded in the carapace had been lost, two remained in place, and four were in the process of being expelled. The four PIT tags that had been injected into the left front flipper were still in place as verified by x-ray. All tags, including those that had been expelled from the carapace, were interrogated with the reading device and all responded with the proper identification number. The PIT tags in the carapace were then removed, cleaned, and disinfected with 70% ethanol.

The PIT tags removed from the carapace were placed in the left front flipper of those turtles that had not been tagged previously. Unfortunately, an error was made and two PIT tags were placed in the left front flipper of two turtles that already had tags there. The error was not detected until the turtles were x-rayed to verify tag retention. Interestingly enough, upon interrogation by the reading device both tags were recognized and the proper identification numbers of each tag were displayed, one after the other. The PIT tag shows great promise as a potential life-time tag for individual sea turtles. Manufacturer's specifications suggest the life span of the tag equals the life span of the tagged animal. It causes no adverse tissue reaction when implanted intramuscular in the flipper of the Kemp's ridleys, though we recommend against its implantation in the carapace.

1Mention of brand names or commercial products should not be construed as an endorsement or recommendation for use.

CLARK. T. FONTAINE and THEODORE D. WILLIAMS, U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Center, Galveston Laboratory, Galveston, TX 77551-5997 JEFFREY D. CAMPER, Texas A&M University, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, College Station, TX 78743

LEATHERBACKS IN BARBADOS

Reports of leatherback turtles nesting on Barbados are rare. There have been only two confirmed observations since 1984, both occurring in April and on east coast beaches. On September 18, 1986, a juvenile leatherback was found in a tide pool at Cattlewash Beach on the east coast of the island. The left front flipper was missing. Pieces of the flipper were found in a nearby tide pool, indicating that it had been bitten off there rather than at sea. This injury was therefore not responsible for the turtle's presence close to shore. When collected, the turtle was unable to swim in a straight line and had mucous strands hanging from its eyes. It measured 19 cm SCL and 13 cm CW, and still retained its covering of scales. It was kept for about three weeks at Bellairs Research Institute before it died. Whilst in captivity it was fed on pureed flying fish made into artificial "jellyfish" with gelatin. It aimed accurately at food suggesting that impaired vision was not to blame for its being close to shore at the time of collection. This is the first time that a leatherback of this size has been reported around Barbados.

J. A. HORROCKS, Bellairs Research institute of McGill University, St. James, Barbados

RECENT PAPERS

BLAIR, DAVID. 1987. A revision of the subfamily Octangiinae (Platyhelminthes: Digenea: Microscaphidiidae) parasitic in marine turtles (Reptilia: Chelonia). Australian Journal of Zoology 35:75-92. D. Blair, University of Canterbury, Dept. of Zoology, Christchurch, NEW ZEALAND. BOSC, P. and J.-Y. LEGALL. 1986. Nest site fidelity of the green turtle, Chelonia mydas, on Tromelin Island (Indian Ocean). Oceanologica ACTA 9:489-496. P. Bosc, Inst. Français Rech. Exploit. Mer., Reunion Stn., BP 60, Le Port 97420 Reunion, FRANCE. CARR, ARCHIE. 1987. New perspectives on the pelagic stage of sea turtle development. Conservation Biology 1:103-121. Address reprint requests to: Dr. Karen Bjorndal, Center for Sea Turtle Research, Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 USA. DAVENPORT, J. 1987. Locomotion in hatchling leatherback turtles, Dermochelys coriacea. Journal of Zoology 212:85-102. J. Davenport, Mar. Sci. Labs., Animal Sci. Group, Menai Bridge LL59 5EH Gwynedd, Wales, UNITED KINGDOM. DIAL, BENJAMIN E. 1987. Energetics and performance during nest emergence and the hatchling frenzy in loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta ). Herpetologica 43:307-315. DURON-DUFRENNE, MICHELE. 1987. First staellite-based tracking in the Atlantic ocean of a leatherback turtle, Dermochelys coriacea. Comptes Rendus de L'academie des Sciences Serie III: Sciences de la Vie 304:399-403. M. Duron-DuFrenne, Museum Hist. Nat., Palais Longchamp, F-13004 Marseille, FRANCE. ECKERT, KAREN LIND. 1987. Environmental unpredictability and leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea ) nest loss. Herpetologica 43:315-323. K. Eckert, Department of Zoology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602 USA. FRAZER, NAT B. 1987. Preliminary estimates of survivorship for wild juvenile loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta ). Journal of Herpetology 21:232-235. N. B. Frazer, Biology Department, Mercer University, Macon, GA 31207 USA. FRAZIER, J. 1987. Semantics and the leathery turtle, Dermochelys coriacea. Journal of Herpetology 21:240-242. J. Frazier, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC 20560 USA. GRASSMAN, M. and D. OWENS. 1987. Chemosensory imprinting in juvenile green sea turtles, Chelonia mydas. Animal Behavior 35:929-931. M. Grassman, Department of Biology, Memphis State University, Memphis, TN 38152 USA. HENWOOD, TYRRELL A. 1987. Movements and seasonal changes in loggerhead turtle, Caretta caretta,

aggregations in the vicinity of Cape Canaveral, Florida (1978-1984). Biological Conservation 40:191-202. T. Henwood, NMFS SEFC Mississippi Labs., Pascagoula, MS 39568 USA. JACOBSON, ELLIOT R., JACK M. GASKIN, MELODY ROELKE, ELLIS C. GREINER and JACK ALLEN. 1986. Conjunctivitis, tracheitis, and pneumonia associated with herpesvirus infection in green sea turtles. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 189:1020-1023. E. Jacobson, U. Fla. College of Veterinary Medicine, Gainesville, FL 32610 USA. LUTZ, PETER L., and ANN DUNBAR-COOPER. 1987. Variations in the blood chemistry of the loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta. Fishery Bulletin 85:37-44. P. Lutz, RSMAS 4600 Rickenbacker Cswy., Miami, FL 33149 USA. MROSOVSKY, N. 1987. Animal behavior: leatherback turtle off scale. Nature 327:286. N. Mrosovsky, Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, Toronto Ontario M5S 1A1 CANADA. SOLOMON, SALLY E. and ROGER TIPPETT. 1987. The intra-clutch localisation of fungal hyphae in the eggshells of the leatherback turtle, (Dermochelys coriacea ). Animal Technology 38:73-79. S. E. Solomon, Department of Veterinary Anatomy, Glasgow University Veterinary School, Bearsden, Glasgow G61 UNITED KINGDOM. TISDELL, CLEM. 1986. Conflicts about living marine resources in Southeast Asian and Australian waters: turtles and dugongs as cases. Marine Resource economics 3:89-109. C. Tisdell, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, AUSTRALIA.

TECHNICAL REPORTS

HILDEBRAND, HENRY. 1987. A Reconnaissance of Beaches and Coastal Waters from the Border of Belize to the Mississippi River as Habitats of Marine Turtles. 63pp. Report prepared for NOAA NMFS SEFC Panama City Laboratory. Report Reproduced by: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region 2, Albuquerque, New Mexico USA. MILLIKEN, TOM and HIDEOMI TOKUNAGA. 1987. The Japanese Sea Turtle Trade 1970-1986. 171 pp. A special report prepared by TRAFFIC (Japan). Available for US $15 from: Center for Environmental Education, 1727 DeSales Street NW, Washington, DC 20036 [Note: The first 57 pages are also available in either Spanish or French.] MEMORIA I SIMPOSIO SOBRE TORTUGAS MARINAS DEL PACIFICO AMERICANO. (Universidad de Costa Rica 2-6 Decembre 1986). Douglas Robinson, Escuela de Biologia, Universidad de Costa Rica, Ciudad Universitaria, COSTA RICA. CAILLOUET, CHARLES WAX, JR. 1987. Report on Efforts to Prevent Extinction of Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle Through Head Starting. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFC-188, i plus 20pp. Copies can be purchaesd (no price indicated) from the National Technical Information Service, 5258 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161 USA. CAILLOUET, CHARLES WAX, JR. et al. 1987. The Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle Head Start Research Project: An Annual Report of Fiscal Year 1986. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFC-192, i plus 28 pp., 24 Tables and 1 Appendix. Copies can be purchaesd (no price indicated) from the National Technical Information Service, 5258 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161 USA.

ERRATUM: The Editor inadvertently omitted the following reference from the Literature Cited section of Jackson, et al. (MTN 40:10-1 l): Van der Heiden, A. M., R. Briseño-Dueñas and D. Rios-Olmeda. 1985. A simplified method for determining sex in hatchling sea turtles. Copeia 1985:779-782.

Partial funding for MTN 41 was provided by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Jeffery C. De Pew, Robert C. Guess, and Mark E. Laubach. The opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily shared by the Editor, the Editorial Board, Mercer University, or any of the individuals or organizations providing financial support.