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20 1 6 L O V

Romulus Whitaker 06 | Climate change 14 | Found in NEMO 18 | Success stories 22 | Blue mind 26 contents

photoframe perspective

03 Arribada at dusk 22 Successful success stories JACK FRAZIER research in translation 26 Outre’ banks of the mind 04 WALLACE J NICHOLS • Context adds depth, underwater • Snails ride on green turtles 31 Turtles left out in the cold MATTHEW GODFREY interview

06 Romulus Whitaker talks to books from the attic Kartik Shanker 34 Ongoing critiques of conservation MATTHEW GODFREY features

14 Too hot for sea turtles? Impact of climate change on sea turtle populations MARIANA FUENTES

This issue was produced with support from: 18 Found in NEMO Tracking turtles using telemetry and ocean models REBECCA SCOTT

The magazine is produced with support from:

Current Conservation carries the latest in research news from natural and social science facets of conservation, such as conservation biology, environmental history, anthropology, sociology, ecological economics and landscape ecology.

For more details, visit our website at www.currentconservation.org editor’s note Kartik Shanker Rushikulya photoframe

Arribada at dusk Lepiodochelys olivacea, Odisha Marine turtles are amongst the most ubiquitous icons of conservation. More, in 2 E 2 ISS U

20 1 fact, than perhaps whales and dolphins, or tigers or pandas. Most countries with a 6 L O V

Romulus Whitaker 06 | Climate change 14 | Found in NEMO 18 | Success stories 22 | Blue mind 26 coastline—even very cold ones—have some species of sea turtle along their coast. And a conservation programme to go with it. The fact that over 1000 participants from nearly 80 countries attend the Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation is testimony to both the popularity of these flagships, and the threats they face.

In this issue, we take a closer look at some of the concerns in sea turtle conserva- tion today. Sea turtles may be particularly susceptible to climate change as hatch- ling sex is determined by incubation temperature; hence, rise in temperature could lead to changes in sex ratios or to mortality. Moreover, sea level changes could impact the sandy beaches on which they nest. Mariana Fuentes uses a vul- nerability assessment to examine which aspects of climate change will most affect green turtle populations in the Great Barrier Reef. Rebecca Scott examines the oceanic routes of loggerhead turtles using satellite telemetry and ocean models. Jack Frazier asks the critical question: what constitutes success in conservation? Matthew Godfrey takes a closer look at the value of conservation responses to cold-stunned turtles. We also reprint J Nichols’ piece from ‘Catamaran’—where the ocean and the mind and turtles connect. The illustrations were generously contributed by Smitha Shivaswamy and George Supreeth (Pencil Sauce).

Editor Magazine Design Advisory Board Kartik Shanker Prachi Kamdar Rohan Arthur, India Brendan Godley, UK Senior Editor Illustration Ferenc Jordan, Hungary Ankila Hiremath Pencil Sauce Harini Nagendra, India Fred Nelson, Tanzania Managing Editor Wallace J Nichols, USA Suneha Mohanty Meera Anna Oommen, India Samraat Pawar, USA Staff Writer Madhusudan Katti, USA Divya Ramesh Javier Arce-Nazario, USA Madhu Rao, Singapore Bram Buscher, The Netherlands Jose Alexandre Diniz-Filho, Brazil

Copyright All articles in Current Conservation, unless otherwise noted, are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3 License. You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work, and to remix or adapt the work under the following conditions: • You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).

• For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. Kartik Shanker • Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. Olive ridley turtles are known for their arribadas or mass nesting behaviour. Over 50,000 turtles nested • Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author’s moral rights. The full text of this license is available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ on this particular night in February 2013, the most in the last decade of monitoring at this site.

currentconservation.org 03 research in translation Divya Ramesh Divya Ramesh Context adds depth, underwater Snails ride on green turtles

An inclusive method to measure impact of noise on marine First evidence of green turtles carrying passengers, piggy- mammals back style

oise from ships and coastal indus- includes contextual factors that were not taken Young green turtles on the Uruguayan coast hang measured the length of the carapace and weight tries is capable of traveling miles into account earlier, such as the influence of dis- around all year at the second largest South Ameri- of the turtles, to see if the whelks had detrimental underwater and scientists have tance between the sound source and the animal, can estuary, the Rio de la Plata, as there is plenty effects on their hosts. Most turtles had severe in- found that, in many ways, this af- whether the animal had heard the sound before of food. Once they become adults, these turtles juries on their carapaces caused by the attachment fects marine mammals. They used to and recognised or learnt it and whether the sound recruit to adult populations all the way in UK, of whelks. They found an average of eight to ten Nconsistently record the amplitude of a sound when was similar to natural sounds like that of an Venezuela and Africa. And new evidence suggests whelks on a turtle and up to 49 whelks on a single produced and drew concentric ‘zones of influence’ enemy. They call for similar inclusive assessments they might be carrying several passengers with turtle, causing a 20% increase in weight! It turns around it, thus measuring the potential effects of that will help in more efficient management of all them, riding on their shell! out that the whelks take advantage of the turtles the sound on an animal. However, they had not the noise we create. when the latter hibernate, and easily clamber on taken into account some other equally important Lezama and colleagues in Uruguay counted the because the carapace is a harder substrate than factors (read on to know what they are). Luckily, Ellison W T, Southall B L, Clark C W & A S Fran- number of Rapa whelks, large sea snails, on the the ubiquitous soft sand. some scientists have taken the hint from a few kel. 2012. A new context-based approach to assess carapace (upper shell) of 33 green turtles that earlier studies. marine mammal behavioral responses to anthro- were stranded or captured on the coast. They also The scientists also expected that whelks would pogenic sounds. Conservation Biology 26: 21–28. be harmful to turtles and reduce the latter’s body In one study, harbor seals were played sounds doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2011.01803.x weight. But they were surprised when they found of local fish-eating killer whales, and they barely larger and heavier turtles carried more whelks. shrugged their shoulders. But when migrant May be the healthier a turtle is, the more whelks mammal-eating killer whale sounds were it can support. The scientists now want to see if played, the seals reacted strongly. In another the added weight affects buoyancy, the extent of study, sonar signals were relayed from a damage to the carapace and also how long they stationary ship en route of migrating gray remain on the turtles. Do they take these free rides whales. They moved around the ship and all the way to Africa and the UK remains to be avoided it. But when the ship was moved seen. two kilometers away, even though the sound levels remained the same, the whales didn’t Lezama C, Carranza A, Fallabrino A, Estrades seem affected and continued on their original A, Scarabino F & M López-Mendilaharsu. 2013. path. Clearly there was more to this than just Unintended backpackers: bio-fouling of the inva- the intensity of sound produced. sive gastropod Rapana venosa on the green turtle Chelonia mydas in the Río de la Plata Estuary, So, Ellison and colleagues proposed a new Uruguay. Biological Invasions, 1-5.(2012). method to better assess the effects of sound on marine mammals. This approach Divya Ramesh is a staff writer at Current Conser- vation. [email protected]

Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) pick out familiar resting spots, mostly rocky areas where they are protected from Green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) are found throughout tropi- adverse weather conditions and predation, near a forag- cal and subtropical seas, with feeding and breeding grounds ing area. often separated by thousands of kilometres. Catalina Londono Rafn Ingi Finnsson

04 current conservation 6.2 currentconservation.org 05 interview

In 1988, the Students Sea Turtle Conservation Network (SSTCN) was formed and has, for the last 25 years, run a conservation pro- gramme centred around its sea turtle hatchery. Kartik Shanker talks to Romulus Whitaker, the founder of the Madras Snake Park and the Madras Crocodile Bank Trusts (MCBT), not to mention the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARRS) and the Andaman and Nicobar Environment Team (ANET). Best known for his work on snakes and crocodiles, Rom played a crucial role in starting the turtle walks and talks about the early days.

KS: I’ve probably asked you about this many times KS: And you didn’t know at that point that ridleys since we first met when I was working with the nested on this coast? SSTCN in Madras in the late 1980s... What was Sea turtle conservation in India started with the scene like in the 1970s? Why did you guys RW: No idea, no idea at all. decide to do turtle walks and where did the idea Romulus turtle walks in Madras (now Chennai) on the come from? KS: And you guys didn’t know about the rookery east coast in the early 1970s and coinciden- in Orissa either? tally at about the same time in Gahirmatha, RW: I’ve probably told you this already that by Whitaker 1973 or so, the Snake Park was already well-estab- RW: No. Wasn’t that later? Romulus Orissa, at one of the largest rookeries for lished; almost a million people a year were already olive ridley turtles in the world. Started by a coming there. After we moved to Guindy Deer KS: Robert Bustard visited Orissa in 1974 and dis- Park in the city, someone brought in a female covered the rookery at Gahirmatha. But, J C Dan- Whitaker group of enthusiasts, the turtle walks and ridley that they’d found on the beach. I think iels and Hussain of BNHS apparently had heard of conservation activities on the Chennai coast he was a fisherman. He said, “This is the kind a turtle rookery in Orissa and that’s 1973. of thing that you guys do, right? I mean, turtles continued through state agencies (Central and crocodiles?” So he had it right. We realised RW: Yeah, I do know that they—Daniels and Hus- Marine Fisheries Research Institute and of course that we couldn’t keep the turtle. But it sain—were the first to mention Gahirmatha. was kind of a fun thing for all of us to do—to go to Forest Department) for about a decade. Elliot’s beach, which was the closest to the Snake KS: So when you guys saw that first ridley, you Park and release the turtle. had no idea that ridleys were nesting in Madras or

06 current conservation 6.2 currentconservation.org 07 interview

anywhere else? camels and dune buggies and any number of some of these guys in strange places. They’re now things, when we were plodding along, stepping on mostly as paunchy and balding as I am and we RW: No. human shit and stuff like that. trade a few stories and get into a laughing fit over “the good old days”. KS: That’s quite a coincidence, that you were KS: Yeah, so there’s a paper written in 1973 by independently discovering ridleys in Orissa and Valliappan and Pushparaj. I’ve never encountered KS: Did you have a hatchery the first year you Madras. Pushparaj either. started the walks?

RW: If we had known, we would have looked into RW: He was one of the kids I hired when he was RW: It must have happened right on, because it and realised that ridleys were one of the main probably about 15 or 16, out there in Rajakilpak- otherwise, why would we be walking? We’d be turtles nesting on this coast, but we didn’t have kam, along with Motorcycle Mani who’s probably going to collect eggs before the poachers got them, any information. still at the Snake Park or was until recently. Two basically. or three teenage kids started working for me. KS: Then you guys started the turtle walks and the Pushparaj hung around the Snake Park when KS: And you said that the first hatchery you had hatchery, right? it was based in Selaiyur, that’s where he lived too. was at Jean– He was hard working, and accompanied me and RW: Yeah, I think it must have coincided with others on field work. Later, he joined the Tamil RW: and Janine Deloche’s …in their yard. We other reports of people from Cholamandalam . We Nadu Forest Department as a guard. built a fence with Casuarina poles and stretched knew some artists there like S.G. Vasudev, Thambi bits of chainlink fencing and chicken mesh we had (S. Nandagopal) who would say “Hey man, we In the early 1970s, when the Madras Snake Park scrounged from here and there, mainly to keep the saw a turtle!” And then, it sort of started clicking, moved to Guindy, it became a local hangout for dogs out. We found that many nests on the beach that from December or January onwards, that’s young folks from nearby campuses like Indian In- were being dug up by dogs and jackals. We were the time the turtles nest. And that’s when the stitute of Technology (IIT) Madras, the AC College careful to measure the original nest holes, and turtle walks started. Initially, it was informants— of Architecture and the Madras Christian College when we reburied the eggs, we tried to make a nest people who were just interested in coming around (MCC). Even up to 30 years later, I would run into hole as similar as possible to the original. who went on walks. But then we really did it in a somewhat systematic way… I mean, all the way to Kalpakkam, 50 kilometres away. Valliappan KS: So, who were the people who would have been Turtle slaughter at Tuticorin market part of the first season? knows what else, and they just didn’t want to do their thing. It was much more fun hanging out RW: A bunch of us including my sister, Nina and with us. They didn’t know anything about reptiles. her (now) husband, Ram Menon, Zai Whitaker, Jean and Janine Delouche, Anne Joseph, Wendy KS: Really? [laughs] Bland. And Valliappan, who worked in Central Leather Research Institute across the road from RW: And sea turtle walking, it was more fun than the Snake Park. Not only was he on those first college. I mean, there were few other things you turtle walks collecting eggs and dissuading poach- could do. Yeah, we could go snake hunting with ers, but he took the first pictures of the sea turtle Irulas, but this was something that was very cool, slaughter at the Tuticorin Market which mobilised you know? There weren’t many party scenes hap- the Forest Department to clamp down. The turtle pening probably at the time either, so it was a killers then started the “Turtle Blood Drinkers As- good thing to do in the evening. But, we took it sociation” to try to fight the ban—but they failed. very seriously. And we did sections, you know, from Thiruvanmiyur south, and up to Neelankarai KS: So, what was his connection with you? and further. We were doing 10-15 kilometres in one day, then often we’d just get wiped and go to RW: He was bored with what he was doing— the main road and take a bus back. But sometimes almost all these guys were. They were just bored we’d walk all the way back—like 30 kilometers with their IIT and CLRI and ABC College and God —fairly serious walking. And we dreamed about Franz Ranacher

08 current conservation 6.2 currentconservation.org 09 interview

it, because anybody who knew anything about on sea turtles, you’ll become “Mr. Sea Turtle”. Islands for the first time and like so many of us, genetics or anything else would say [imitating a Because there’s nobody else doing it. You know, got hooked. Over the next few years, again thanks dissenter] “No, no! It’s not linked to the tempera- elsewhere there’s Archie Carr and there’s George to WWF and other funds, he visited many of the ture, you idiot! It’s chromosomally linked, it’s got Hughes and all these great turtle people.” And islands and most of the major sea turtle nesting nothing to do with temperature!” Satish probably wondered, “What the hell’s this beaches in the islands. guy ranting about?” But he eventually read all KS: Yes, I’ve experienced that when giving talks these reprints that we’d started collecting. And I KS: And the rest of the Indian coast, and the Lak- in schools in the late 1980s. Biology teachers were didn’t know it then, but Satish ended up walking shadweep, and West Papua…. the most suspicious. Anyway, the other seminal almost the entire coastline of India, thousands event for me and probably for many people, is of kilometers, giving us the very first handle on RW: I can’t imagine another human being on the the fact that Satish Bhaskar got involved. Do you what turtles were nesting, where and what kind of planet who could have achieved what Satish did in remember your first encounter with Satish? numbers. those years.

RW: Actually I don’t. I’d like to make up some- KS: Did you know what others were doing else- thing like “Sunday! It was a glorious day…it had where? just rained”, but no. And I didn’t know it then, RW: I have to say we were writing a lot of snail but Satish ended up walking KS: Well, it’s amazing how people remember him. mail in those days to quite a few people around the I’ve had many conversations with fellow students world who were into sea turtles. As soon as we’d almost the entire coastline of of his from IIT from that time and they say some- found out a bit about the ridleys and we realised thing like “Oh, you work on turtles! You know, “Shit, man... we don’t know anything, we better India, thousands of kilome- back in the 70s when I was in IIT, there was this find out what other people are doing”. So I guess ters, giving us the very first guy from IIT, who used to go on the beach and it had a lot to do with my sister Nina and Brenda, look at turtles and I’ve gone out on a turtle walk my secretary who eventually married Satish, and handle on what turtles were Samir Whitaker with him”. I mean, it was Satish, of course—and I all these girls. They were typing all the letters and KS: How many nests did you collect? keep running into these people from all over. the posting that you don’t even do nowadays—and nesting, where and what kind getting feedback from all these fantastic, wonder- RW: We collected all of 11 nests in the first year. RW: Satish was already a legendary ‘aquaman.’ ful people from all over the world... who sent their of numbers. Over the next few years, we rescued about 20,000 He was a soft-spoken engineering student, a non- reprints, folded carefully, and their notes—coming ridley eggs from poachers and dogs. We released drinker and non-smoker, a real ascetic compared all the way to India and stuff… and that was the more than 10,000 hatchings and it made us all to the rest of us. His passion was the sea and thing that got us excited about continuing, because feel real good. “This is conservation action”, we he spent more time swimming than in the IIT there were other people doing things much more thought, as we patted ourselves on the back. In classroom. He’d run from IIT to Elliot’s Beach (a seriously than we were. later years, when we learned about temperature distance of 7 kilometres) every morning, swim sex determination, we realised our approach for a couple of hours and run back to the campus, KS: So how did Satish get started? should have been a bit more scientific. ostensibly to attend class. Opportunely (for the turtles), Satish was getting disenchanted with his RW: When he started hanging out at the Snake KS: Of course, you couldn’t have known then that IIT course and yearned to be a field man with a Park, we talked seriously about doing turtle sur- sex was determined by temperature in sea turtles. mission. veys along other beaches around the country. The Snake Park had a tiny research budget but it was RW: Bloody things, like any snake eggs, they’d The thing I do remember is that when we were enough to hire Satish as Field Officer and get him incubate under the ground, and they’d hatch and talking about what he could do, he said, “I’m really out on his first few survey trips. When the fledg- you let them go, you know? And then suddenly, interested in the coast, I’m really interested in ling World Wildlife Fund (WWF) saw the good these buggers come up with this finding that incu- marine biology, I’d probably end up doing that.” work he was doing for endangered sea turtles, bation temperatures determine hatchling sex. That At that time, I was being quite selfish or autocratic Satish landed his first grant which really set him wasn’t till what...mid-80s or late 80s, I think. or whatever, and thought that there should be one in motion. After our first visits to the Andamans person for each taxa—and that person should just in the mid-1970s, I encouraged Satish to go there KS: Late 1970s, mid-80s do everything they can to make that taxa happen, (we raised the funds for his travels) and start what and you know… the conservation of it, or what- became almost a decade of survey work for him. RW: It was so cool to give a talk at that time about ever. And I said to him, “If you just concentrate In 1978, Satish visited the Andaman & Nicobar Janaki Lenin

10 current conservation 6.2 currentconservation.org 11 interview

KS: Tell us about the Lakshadweep adventure. would swim the half kilometre of vicious cur- KS: Quite an amazing cast of characters. Any rents to Interview Island to collect freshwater words of advice for the young enthusiasts going on RW: In 1977, Satish first went to Lakshadweep and swim back with his load. Once though, he ran turtle walks ? and felt that the uninhabited island of Suhelipara into one of the notorious feral elephants of In- was the place for a green sea turtle study. The terview which promptly charged. As he ran down RW: Well, times have changed and perhaps the only problem was that the main nesting period is the forest path, he threw his shirt down which first inkling was when a small group of turtlers during the monsoon and no one goes there when fortunately distracted the angry pachyderm. Next was stopped by a group of ‘rowdies’ who were the sea is so rough. In 1982, Satish came up with day, he swam back to Interview to retrieve his pretty drunk and abusive in the early 1980s. Only a scheme to maroon himself (with WWF funding) jerry can and found his shirt, in three pieces. He one of our guys had a watch, which was quickly on Suhelipara for the whole monsoon, from May posted the pieces back to Brenda with a reassur- taken, and they also lost the few rupees they had. to September. That way he could collect data on ing note. Bonny, a heavyset Karen who worked for But it was a scary event and we were just happy green sea turtle nesting for the entire period. It the Andaman Forest Department, was based in that none of the girls were along that night. It’s also meant making elaborate preparations, like Mayabunder. He was so devoted, he delivered ra- good to have a savvy local person or two with you calculating the amount of food he would need. We tions to Satish braving very choppy monsoon seas. on turtle walks. Involving interested local village sat with Satish and talked about things that could Once he crashed his dhongi and had to repair it to youth is not only the safest way to do field work, it go wrong during this isolation—chronic tooth- go back to Mayabunder. All these people were so spreads the word! ache, appendicitis, malaria were just a few sober- heroic and yet so self-effacing. ing thoughts. The Navy did provide some signal Also, while it’s very satisfying to have a protected flares and there was talk of a radio, but eventually KS: Amazing. So, moving on to a slightly later hatchery and to be able to watch all the baby Satish just set sail and that’s the last we heard of phase in the Madras turtle walks, how did Anne turtles hatch out and take them to the sea, it can him till September. Actually that’s not true. A few Ahimaz get involved in the turtle walks ? be argued that it’s better to simply transplant the months after he was dropped on Suhelipara, his nest to a place a few metres from where it is found.

wife Brenda back in Madras, received a letter from RW: She was Anne Joseph then, my secretary at Janaki Lenin Chances are animal and human predators won’t a Sri Lankan fisherman enclosing a loving note the Snake Park. Annie was one of those rare girls KS: Yes, I’ve heard Shekar Dattatri talk highly find the new site and the problem of temperature from Satish that the fisherman had found floating who could work with a gang of boys with complete of her enthusiasm in organising the turtle walks related sex determination in a hatchery need not in a bottle. We had always speculated whether that confidence, and she had the energy to keep up on in the late 1970s and early 1980s. I think he and be worried about. would really work! He had launched his message those long grueling beach walks. Plus she had a Vijaya were really active along with her during in a bottle on July 3rd. 24 days and 750 kilometres daytime job at the Snake Park, so it was a tough, that period. I think the work we started back in the early 1970s later, the bottle was picked up. but exciting life. has had a positive effect on sea turtle conservation RW: Shekar was deeply involved with Snake Park in India, mostly by waking us all up to the plight The emergency situation that arose on the de- work from the late 1970s onward and was at the of these wonderful but beleagured creatures. By serted isle is something none of us could have forefront of the sea turtle work, along with Vijaya protecting the breeding base of India’s sea turtle predicted: a huge dead whale shark washed up The turtle slaughter was an (Viji). Viji was another star researcher. We were population, by waking up people all along India’s on Satish’s little island and started rotting. The annual event up there: they then in touch with freshwater turtle man Ed Moll coast to the problems facing turtles we’ve seen a nauseous stench became so overpowering that our of Eastern Illinois University in the States. In lot of dedicated young biologists and naturalists intrepid sea turtle man had to move to the extreme were harvested by the hun- the mid-80s, Viji assisted Ed in doing freshwater getting seriously involved. I do believe all these other end of the tiny island to a somewhat precari- turtle surveys. She went up to Orissa and West efforts have helped save our sea turtles and it’s ous wave-lashed spit of sand. dreds and even thousands, Bengal and she got some pretty amazing but ter- very encouraging to see that the interest persists and being trucked up to the rifying pictures of the ridley harvest with the little and that the turtle walks and outreach to coastal KS: Remarkable. The only survey of Suheli that Minolta film camera we had given her. The turtle villages are still going strong! has been done since then is a brief survey in the Calcutta market from Digha. slaughter was an annual event up there: they were early 2000s by the Wildlife Institute of India. And harvested by the hundreds and even thousands, Kartik Shanker is Associate Professor at the Centre plenty of adventures in the Andamans too, right? Published in India Today, and being trucked up to the Calcutta market from for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science these pictures shook the gov- Digha. Published in India Today, these pictures and Dakshin Foundation, Bangalore. He works RW: Yes, another mythological Satish exploit was shook the government out of its lethargy and made on the biology and conservation of sea turtles and his many months sojourn, over several years, on ernment out of its lethargy them protect the turtle populations. Ed later en- owes his involvement to the turtle walks of the tiny South Reef Island on the West coast of North couraged Viji to go to the States to do her Master’s Chennai coast. This interview was conducted as Andaman. He was studying the hawksbill and and made them protect the degree. Vijaya died tragically when she was still in part of a series for a book on the history of sea green turtle population there, but it was tough her twenties. turtle conservation in India. [email protected] with no freshwater and of course, no food. He turtle populations.

12 current conservation 6.2 currentconservation.org 13 feature Mariana Fuentes

All life stages of sea turtles (e.g. hatchlings, juve- The uncertainty on whether and how sea turtles nile and adult) can be affected by climatic process- can adapt to climate change necessitates precau- es. The more detectable impacts of climate change tionary actions and adaptive management. A mix on sea turtles will occur during their interlude on of different short-term and long-term approaches land (during the laying and incubation of eggs and have been suggested including: 1) mitigating the hatching) because there are clear and relatively threat by reducing global greenhouse emissions; 2) straightforward effects of increased temperature, adaptively managing impacts from climate change sea level rise and cyclonic activity on their nesting to increase population persistence; and 3) employ- sites and nesting success. For example, predicted ing actions that build biodiversity resilience, such increases in sand temperatures will skew sea turtle as addressing current non-climate-related threats. population sex ratios towards predominantly Reducing emissions is perhaps the biggest chal- females, decrease hatching success and alter the lenge, but even immediate reductions will not stop size of the hatchlings. Sea-level rise and cyclonic the already apparent and unavoidable impacts of activity will cause loss and/or alteration of nesting climate change but are still essential to ameliorate beaches and egg mortality. A reduction of avail- threats. Adaptive management is hindered by risks able nesting area will decrease the area available associated with implementing mitigation strate- for nesting, potentially increasing nest infection gies (e.g. species relocations, manipulations or and destruction of nests by turtles. Other pre- management actions that improve habitat) and a dicted impacts from climate change include shifts lack of understanding of how effective and feasible in latitudinal ranges, alteration of reproductive these strategies will be at reducing impacts at rel- periodicity, changes in hatchling dispersal and evant temporal and spatial scales. migration and indirect effects on food availabil- ity. Indeed, research investigating the impacts of climate change on the largest green turtle popula- tion in the world, the northern Great Barrier Reef The more detectable impacts of (nGBR) green turtle population, predicts a com- plete feminisation of annual hatchling output by climate change on sea turtles 2070 and a potential loss of up to 38% of available will occur during their interlude nesting area across the most important nesting sites for this population. on land (during the laying and

Ultimately, the risk that climate change poses to incubation of eggs and hatch- sea turtle populations will depend on their ability ing) because there are clear and to adapt. Sea turtles have existed for hundreds of millions of years and during this time, they have relatively straightforward effects survived dramatic climate fluctuations and chang- es in sea level. It is speculated that sea turtles have of increased temperature, sea historically adapted to environmental changes level rise and cyclonic activity by redistributing their nesting sites and nesting season, by developing new migratory routes and on their nesting sites and nest- by changing their behaviour. The extent to which sea turtles will (or can) adapt either behaviorally ing success. Too hot for sea turtles? or physiologically and how these responses may counteract impacts of climate change, remains to be seen. Despite sea turtles’ ability to cope with The majority of the suggested strategies, to date, Sea turtles are particularly susceptible to climate past climatic changes, their ability to do so again focus on the nesting environment, as this is where change because their behaviour, physiology and life is uncertain. Current rates of climate change are most research on sea turtles occurs and baseline much faster than historic rates and at present, knowledge is strongest as well as where implemen- history are affected by environmental changes. they are being simultaneously affected by a variety tation and monitoring is logistically easiest. How- of anthropogenic activities. ever, even on nesting beaches, the implementation

14 current conservation 6.2 currentconservation.org 15 feature Mariana Fuentes

of these strategies requires an understanding of logistical, financial and political reasons, natural provide incentives for effective management and the thermal profile at different nesting beaches, resource agencies cannot address all of these driv- support for research, conservation and changes in the current sex ratio of hatchlings entering the ers or “threats” simultaneously; priorities must be policy. population and the proportion of males to females established. For this, there is a need to understand that are ready to mate at any one time for that the relative impacts of current and future threats Ultimately, an integrated approach comprising population; information which is rarely avail- to the overall population dynamics and the varia- several strategies will be needed. Most strategies able. Importantly, not many strategies have been tion of those impacts. This is particularly impor- will require community, government support and suggested for mitigating in-water impacts from tant for sea turtles, since each of their life stages voluntary behavioural changes to minimise social climate change or boosting resilience of forag- has a different reproductive value (potential for and economic impacts and in many cases commu- ing turtles, presumably because of a lack of data contributing offspring to future generations), and nity consultation to improve the effectiveness and or an understanding of how these systems will be therefore reductions to each life stage will impact acceptance of new management arrangements. impacted. population growth rates differently. The best set of strategies will likely be site-specific and will depend on environmental, social, eco- Building biodiversity resilience, to date, has nomic and cultural conditions at a particular loca- focused on reducing non-climatic threats under tion, yet also will be integrated at the appropriate the rationale that large, healthy and stable popu- As iconic species, sea turtles regional scale. Importantly, targeted research lations will help maintain (1) genetic diversity, could be used as flagships to to understand the adaptive capacity of marine which can facilitate adaptation to variable condi- turtles, the exposure and sensitivity of populations

tions; (2) a wide geographic distribution, which promote understanding of the Mila Zinkova and key habitat to climatic processes, popula- can minimise the overall impacts of area-specific A green turtle, Chelonia mydas, at a foraging ground. Sea turtle tion-scale thresholds of concern, and synergistic threats; and (3) a large breeding population, which impacts of climate change on can be affected at multiple life stages by climate change impacts is necessary to help guide future efforts can help absorb impacts through an increased biodiversity, to build community to manage sea turtles and enhance their adaptive ability to recover from population disturbance. management can address emerging climate change capacity. support for conservation action threats. Arguably, many laws are ill-suited to cli- In this context, I conducted a survey with other mate change because of their static nature. Many Suggested reading: sea turtle specialists, to explore factors that may and to provide incentives for were written to address specific types of threats at influence the resilience of sea turtles to climate a time when climate change was not at the fore- Fuentes MMPB, Pike DA, Dimatteo A & BP Wal- change, which indicated that persistence of nest- effective management and sup- front of concerns and are consequently limited lace. 2013. Resilience of marine turtle regional ing grounds themselves may also influence the re- port for research, conservation in a changing world. Legislative flexibility will be management units to climate change. Global silience of sea turtle populations. This follows the essential, particularly for emergency responses. Change Biology, 19, 1399–1406. rationale that optimal nesting areas are necessary and changes in policy. But changes in legislation require scientific, politi- for reproduction and therefore the entry of off- cal, and community support. Public awareness of Fuentes MMPB, Limpus CJ & M Hamann. 2011. spring into the population. It also provides buffer the links between climate change, the potential Vulnerability of sea turtle nesting grounds to cli- areas for sea turtles to redistribute the geographic Risk and vulnerability assessments are increas- impacts to sea turtles, and the need to take action mate change. Global Change Biology, 17, 140-153. locations of their current nesting grounds, if nec- ingly being used to help prioritise management can provide the momentum to do something about essary, as an adaptive response to deal with envi- of species in the face of climate change and also it. As iconic species, sea turtles could be used as Mariana M P B Fuentes is a postdoctoral fellow at ronmental or land-use changes. This highlights the to investigate the risk of not addressing evident flagships to promote understanding of the impacts the ARC centre of excellence for coral reef stud- need to maintain and protect important nesting threats. For example, I used a vulnerability assess- of climate change on biodiversity, to build com- ies, James Cook University, Australia. mariana. beaches and to identify and legally protect areas ment to identify which climatic process will cause munity support for conservation action and to [email protected] that will maintain suitable nesting environments the most impact on the terrestrial reproductive in the future, even if they are not major nesting phase of the nGBR green turtle population and to grounds today. This will be particularly difficult in explore how the vulnerability of this population to areas where coastal development and beach altera- climate change will alter if the impacts of different tion is widespread and continually expanding. climatic process are mitigated. Impacts from climate change are likely to inter- act with other anthropogenic threats, such as Even with innovative decision-support tools, the coastal development. Therefore, managers face implementation of management will likely be com- the challenge of addressing the direct effects of promised without the necessary laws and policy. climate change, as well as ongoing threats that sea Existing national and international laws might turtles face throughout their geographic range. For need to be revisited and adapted to ensure that

16 current conservation 6.2 currentconservation.org 17 feature Rebecca Scott Found in NEMO Sea turtle ocean highways tracked through satellite telemetry and the NEMO ocean model.

any marine organisms travel great which are just a few centimetres when they emerge distances which presents a variety from their nests; much smaller than the satellite of research and conservation chal- tags currently available. It is thus very difficult to lenges. The movements of large study hatchling sea turtles during their first few Manimals like sharks, marine mam- years of life (which are commonly referred to as mals and sea turtles are now routinely studied the “lost years”) as these small hatchlings disap- with satellite tracking technology. Once attached pear into the sea after emerging from their nests. to an animal, these satellite tracking devices send us regular data on the animal’s location. For sea Nonetheless, it is now well established that surface turtles, satellite tracking devices can easily be at- ocean currents drive the dispersion of hatchling tached to adults when they come ashore to nest. turtles from predator-rich nesting beaches to Consequently, the regular migrations between safer oceanic habitats where they live and grow their breeding and foraging habitats (which can as juveniles. Indeed, ocean currents can transport be several 100s to 1000s of kilometres apart) are hatchlings on journeys that can span entire ocean now well documented. However, one of the biggest basins; hence the distances that they travel can be challenges in satellite tracking technology is the much further than the regular breeding migrations miniaturisation of these devices. Consequently, of adult turtles. In the North Atlantic for ex- Hatchling dispersal pathways in the North Atlantic Gyre. Hatchlings from nesting beaches in the southeastern USA (star) are first many small marine species and juveniles of larger ample, loggerhead turtle hatchlings from nesting transported north east with the fast flowing Gulf Stream, hatchlings are then transported east with the northern boundary currents species are too small to be tracked in this way. of the clockwise flowing North Atlantic Gyre (depicted with red arrows) towards juvenile development habitats near the Azores (red beaches in the southeastern USA are transported circle). At the northern boundary of the gyre, hatchlings risk being transported with the North Atlantic Current (blue arrows) towards This is the case for new born hatchling sea turtles north with the Gulf Stream current and then east the cold waters of northern Europe where they will die as the waters in northern Europe are too cold. Hatchlings that successfully remain in the warm North Atlantic Gyre spend several years feeding around the Azores before the westward flowing currents at the southern boundary of the North Atlantic Gyre aid their return trip to coastal development habitats in the southeastern USA. Turtles will spend many years in these coastal development habitats until they reach maturity at c. 45 years and return to beaches close to where they were born to breed. Coloured lines (created from the pathways taken by floating drifter buoys and virtual simulated floats) represent some potential dispersal pathways of hatchlings from nesting beaches in the southeastern USA.

with currents at the northern boundary of a large study hatchlings during the “lost years”. clockwise flowing ocean circulation system, the North Atlantic gyre. Transported in this gyre, Measurements of ocean currents are commonly hatchlings are able to reach their oceanic devel- made by releasing objects e.g. surface drifter opment habitats near the Azores islands > 5000 buoys, into the ocean and tracking their move- kms away from where they were born. Hatchlings ment pathways. Thousands of satellite tracked then remain at the Azores for several years before surface drifter buoys have now been deployed they return to coastal habitats in the southeastern throughout the oceans as part of the Global USA as large juvenile turtles. During their return Drifter Programme (GDP). Data from the GDP is journeys they are aided by the westerly flowing freely available online and is a very easy source of currents at the southern boundary of the North information for marine biologists to work with. Atlantic gyre. These large juvenile turtles then Additionally, sophisticated global ocean circula- remain in these coastal habitats until they reach tion models such as the “NEMO” ocean model can maturity and return to the area where they were be valuable tools for biologists as they enable us to born to breed. Whilst hatchlings are too small to release “virtual floating objects” anywhere in the be directly tagged/followed on these long jour- ocean and the movements of these virtual floats Rebecca Scott neys, oceanography approaches can be used to can be tracked on a computer programme as A green turtle, Chelonia mydas, returning to the sea after nesting in Aldabra, Indian Ocean

18 current conservation 6.2 currentconservation.org 19 feature Rebecca Scott

are accidentally caught by fisherman in the Azores past age at maturity estimates based on captive Nonetheless, it is now well with (3) the time we estimated that it takes for growth rates were underestimated. This has im- established that surface hatchlings to drift between these sites, we were portant conservation implications as species, like able to produce the first robust estimates of the turtles, which take such a long time to reach matu- ocean currents drive the dis- growth rates of hatchlings. rity, are much more vulnerable to extinction than persion of hatchling turtles other species (like fish, marine mammals, birds, Unlike fish and other marine organisms, for which lizards etc) that mature at much younger ages. from predator rich nest- there are well established techniques to directly determine the age of individual animals and ing beaches to safer oceanic hence the age at which species reach maturity, sea Once offshore, hatchlings habitats where they live and turtles cannot be aged directly with accuracy. In- stead, reliable age estimates require information are also known to be able to grow as juveniles. Indeed, on the natural growth rates of hatchling turtles, larger juvenile turtles and adult turtles. The use geomagnetic information ocean currents can transport growth rates of large juvenile and adult turtles from the Earth’s magnetic hatchlings on journeys that can be measured at the breeding grounds and in coastal foraging habitats through mark-recapture field as a navigational sign can span entire ocean basins; programmes where turtles can easily be captured, measured and marked (typically with a metal flip- post. hence the distances that they per tag), and then recaptured/measured at a later date. Prior to our estimate, however, the growth travel can be much further rates of hatchling turtles were only well known for Since hatchlings are reliant on ocean currents to than the regular breeding mi- hatchlings in captivity. Since these captive indi- reach their oceanic development habitats, we can Rebecca Scott viduals are given a lot more food than they would use oceanography data to study the “lost years” A hatchling loggerhead turtle in the Peloponnese peninsula, Greece grations of adult turtles. get naturally in the wild, captive growth rates are and gain important information on sea turtle biol- much higher than natural growth rates. So, by ogy. However, laboratory observations by Ameri- the fastest current flows in the World (the Gulf combining our new hatchling growth rate esti- can researchers have also shown that hatchlings Stream). mates during the “lost years” with direct growth can undertake in periods of active swimming. they drift in modelled ocean current simulations. measurements of larger turtles, we were able to For example, when they first enter the sea they Our work highlights the value of oceanography Hence, for small organisms that disperse with produce the most reliable age at maturity estimate embark on a period of intense offshore swimming approaches for studying the biology of species ocean currents, drifter buoys and ocean models to date. In so doing, we revealed that the time (the “swimming frenzy”) which lasts for about a which are difficult to study using conventional like NEMO can be used in innovative ways by bi- these turtles take to reach maturity (c. 45 years) week. This frenzy period helps hatchlings escape techniques and the importance of taking into ac- ologists wanting to study these cryptic animals. is much longer than other animal species and that predator-rich coastal waters and reach offshore count the behaviour of animals when using these currents like the Gulf Stream which rapidly trans- valuable, albeit currently underexploited, oceano- For example, from beaches in the southeastern ports them towards safer oceanic habitats near graphic tools. Many other marine species, like USA, the loggerhead turtle hatchlings that dis- to the Azores. Once offshore, hatchlings are also fish, have juvenile life stages that also disperse perse in the North Atlantic gyre are typically not known to be able to use geomagnetic information with ocean currents and the swimming speed seen again until they are encountered by fisher- from the Earth’s magnetic field as a navigational and strength of these juveniles are comparable or man in the Azores. By using drifter buoys and sign post. By adding laboratory observations of greater than those of hatchling sea turtles. The po- ocean models to study the ocean current flows this swimming behaviour into ocean models we tential conservation applications of these oceano- (and therefore dispersal pathways of hatchlings) were able to show for the first time that limited graphic tools are thus huge as key information can between the southeastern USA nesting beaches amounts of swimming (just 1-3 hrs/day) can (1) be gained on the pathways, habitats, survival and and juvenile habitats in the Azores, we can get im- help hatchlings to remain within the warm waters biology of a range of species of conservation con- portant information about the “lost years”. Due to of the Gyre/reach safe offshore development habi- cern. This information is all crucial for designing the small size of hatchlings and the huge distances tats like the Azores and (2) avoid drifting towards effective conservation and management strategies. that they disperse, obtaining even very basic in- northern Europe where the cold water would kill formation on the biology of hatchlings is difficult. them. This is quite remarkable given the limited Rebecca Scott is a Future Ocean post doc- However, by combining data on (1) the size of new swimming capabilities of hatchlings (due to their toral fellow at the GEOMAR research born hatchlings when they first emerge from their Rebecca Scott small size) and the fact that these simulations institute|Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung, nests with (2) data on the size of hatchlings that A female loggerhead turtle, Caretta caretta, returns to her were carried out in a region that contains one of Kiel. [email protected] breeding grounds in Zakynthos, Greece

20 current conservation 6.2 currentconservation.org 21 perspective Jack Frazier

Yet conservationists are accused of promulgating ment as virtually world-saving. Just as there have a gross overabundance of bad news, often resort- been countless hoary predictions of environmental ing to scare tactics and doomsday predictions to calamities, we are now facing a blitz of success sto- Successful garner attention and raise support for their activi- ries and with each one the respective bard expects ties. There is nothing new about this strategy: to be rewarded. success stories environmental disasters have been predicted from the time of Genghis Khan and the Ancient Greeks. But what constitutes an authentic success story? Who defines “success”? The dictionary tells us that “success” is primarily about fame and fortune: is that what conservation success stories are about? There is nothing new Take marine turtles: there are few turtle conser- about this strategy: en- vationists who would question that more turtles signify more success. But if conservation really is vironmental disasters based on robust biological and ecological informa- have been predicted tion, then one needs to look more closely at what exactly “more turtles” means. If these are critically from the time of Geng- endangered hawksbill turtles, then population recovery and more of them is certainly the desired his Khan and the An- condition. On the other hand, if the more numer- cient Greeks. ous turtles are, say, olive ridley turtles, then their increased numbers may not necessarily be univer- sally appreciated. If you happen to be struggling to rehabilitate badly decimated populations of criti- But the trend of procuring attention and finan- cally endangered leatherback turtles and the olive cial support by proclaiming disaster has often ridleys are competing with them for food, nesting resulted in a jaundiced public; as we know from areas or other limited resources, the success of the the children’s story, crying “wolf” can have dire olive ridleys would be a threat to the leatherbacks. consequences—not on the wolf but on the person who cries its name in vain. Besides, who wants The point is, not all marine turtles are created to support a gloomy enterprise that careens from equal and measures of success need to be gauged one catastrophe to another? Not surprisingly, by bearing in mind characteristics and situations conservationists have identified the pressing need of different species—information that is often out to show success and move away from the constant of reach. environmental obituaries. Alternately, consider that a dolphin is severely A more balanced approach is long overdue, and threatened by incidental capture in certain fish- in recent years it has become ever more common ing operations, and there are, unfortunately, many to recount success stories. Surely we need more manifestations of success, for after all success in solving complex environmental problems is The dictionary tells us presumably the object of engaging in the great that “success” is pri- Conservation biology is routinely built on fears and portents, procla- conservation enterprise in the first place. Clearly, there are some excellent success stories from marily about fame and mations of one disaster after another. This species is on the brink of many projects and diverse lands. Yet as this extinction; that habitat has been destroyed; such-and-such environ- alternate strategy becomes more fashionable the fortune: is that what ment is in crisis… Prospects like these, routinely derived from bio- conservation industry is in danger of drifting back conservation success into the same swamp as before, only from a dif- logical and ecological studies, are indeed frightening; such fore- ferent path. Many conservationists now swing to stories are about? warnings warrant careful attention and diligent action. the other extreme—playing up any little improve-

currentconservation.org 23 perspective Jack Frazier

species of dolphins that are in this situation. At which they depend will be under increased grazing problems, less ability to meet their own needs. the same time, incidental capture and mortality is pressure. This will have important consequences Although conservationists are adept at arguing It is said that “beauty also a major threat to most marine turtle species. on the plants and animals that live in the marine their case, providing alluring pictures and market- Consequently, there have been diverse attempts pastures: some of them will be under increased ing cuddly plush animals, in fact, there are far, is in the eyes of the be- to reduce or mitigate incidental capture of marine pressure because the green turtle population is far more fishermen than conservationists in the wildlife. Some of these methods work better for recovering. Indeed, an entire marine pasture world. So, what may be “success” for a few could holder”: the vision of turtles than for dolphins. So more turtles would ecosystem could be negatively impacted if grazing actually be failure for many. indicate success in dealing with incidental capture pressure by threatened green turtles increases too success is no less sub- of the reptiles—but if this came at the cost of more much. While it may be a blasphemous question to And we have only considered well-known and in- jective. Truly success- dolphin captures, then many people would ques- some turtle conservationists, could it be that too nocuous turtles. These reptiles have numerous at- tion if it really is “success” when one endangered many threatened green turtles in an ecosystem tractive features, they are central to many cultures ful success stories must species bears the brunt of another species’ tri- would actually be endangering to the ecosystem? the world over and there is no great challenge to umph. In fact, this dilemma has occurred repeat- get people to identify with these curious animals have many and diverse edly, often with specialists of one group of animals But these deliberations are simple when com- that live inside a box. In the conservationists’ lexi- eyes beholding them. focused on protecting “their critters”, but oblivi- pared to others that consider the impact of one con, these are “flagship” species, relatively easy to ous of the consequences of their conservation ac- other species: Homo sapiens. Even if it there were attract attention and interest. tions on other endangered species. consensuses that a conservation action was valu- some living thing with “brink of extinction” or able for an endangered turtle species and it did What if instead the conservationists’ attention some landscape with “environmental disaster”, So, not all endangered species are created equal. not cause any problems for other turtles or any were focused on some other endangered species, conservationists need to be very careful about other endangered species or ecosystems where say some critter that is barely known to biologists, painting a situation a glowing colour of success. Another critical consideration is what happens to the turtles live, we have not necessarily reached much less to the lay public, something that has no Employing either of these strategies to draw at- the environments where the species of conserva- a universally acceptable state of “success”. More clear redeeming qualities and is not attractive but tention and raise support could be counter-pro- tion concern live. For example, when a depleted turtles might be celebrated by all conservationists rather is generally disgusting to people. Would ductive, not to mention dangerous, if conducted population of green turtles increases, consequent- (turtlely ones and dolphiny ones), but the situ- most members of society really agree that more of without consideration of the complex ecological, ly there will be more turtles grazing more often, ation could still cause distress or annoyance to the “what-do-you-call-them” is success? sociological, and political context in which the looking for more food; the marine pastures on other people. For example, fishermen are often protected species exists. bothered by turtles getting into their nets, reduc- Or take some very well-known endangered ani- ing their catch and destroying their gear. In the mals. Does everyone whole heartedly agree that It is said that “beauty is in the eyes of the be- So more turtles would case of trawlers, the turtles can crush valuable more wolves, more bears, more panthers, more holder”: the vision of success is no less subjective. catch and increase drag, lowering efficiency and tigers, more elephants is unequivocally a suc- Truly successful success stories must have many indicate success in deal- profitability of the operation. For longlines, with cess? If your crops were destroyed, your livestock and diverse eyes beholding them. thousands of baited hooks, a few turtles can cause carried away, your child mauled or your own life ing with incidental cap- havoc, not only eating the bait and leaving the threatened by one of these endangered animals, Jack Frazier is a research collaborator at the ture of the reptiles—but hooks bare and useless but tangling up and knot- would you want more of them? Department of Vertebrate Zoology–Amphibians ting the lines to create terrible messes that take & Reptiles, National Museum of Natural History, if this came at the cost tremendous time and effort to put right: all this Without a doubt, we need more success stories. Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA denies the fishermen of the ability to fish. Nesting But just like the fashion of effortlessly stamping [email protected] of more dolphin cap- turtles that wander around on beaches at night, tures, then many people knocking over and destroying beach furniture are not welcome for some hoteliers. More turtles would question if it grazing on a marine pasture could mean less fish available to the fishermen. And so on… really is “success” when The point is: not everyone is madly in love with one endangered species turtles, no matter how endangered they may be bears the brunt of an- or how politically correct it is to show concern for them. For some people the chelonians pres- other species’ triumph. ent clear problems and threats to their livelihood. From their point of view, more turtles mean more

24 current conservation 6.2 currentconservation.org 25 column Wallace J Nichols

outre’ (oo’tre) adjective. Unusual and startling, violating con- vention or propriety: “in 1975 the suggestion was considered outre’—today it is orthodox.” Origin French, literally “ex- ceeded,” past participle of outrer (see outrage).

I’m standing on a pier 50 feet above the Atlantic. knows these edgy dunes as well as anyone, calls Ocean to the left and right, forward, back and them a “speed bump” for the Atlantic hurricanes, below. I’m wearing a light blue hat, like a bejew- squalls and relentless waves that batter her banks. eled swim cap. A heavy black cable snakes down As a result the beaches—literally, the entire my back like a ponytail. I look like an extra in an place—are inching incrementally westward, grain Esther Williams swim troupe who wandered into by grain. Woody Allen’s Sleeper. Living on the Outer Banks requires a certain Water fills the light, the sound, the air, and my tenacity, but there is a powerful and unmistak- mind. Waves steadily arrive under the pier, crash- able draw to this place. The twin phalanxes of cars ing to the beach and suspending their salt mist coming and going that queue up every summer and negative ions, which I rhythmically inhale Saturday and the two hundred percent premium with pleasure. It smells like summer to me. tacked on to the most sought-after homes in the “front row,” directly adjacent to the beaches, I’m a human lab rat. The cap is the nerve center are ample evidence of the draw. My hunch, as I of a mobile electroencephalogram (EEG) unit. I’m stand there on the pier, is that hidden beneath the just trying it on for size. The cap is not yet record- surface of the water we will find massive, yet to ing anything, but soon 68 electrodes plugged into be quantified, but irrefutable cognitive benefits. my head will measure my every neurological up I believe the ocean irresistibly affects our minds. and down. The sum effect of the cap, the grandeur It is a force that for millennia has drawn people of nature, our imaginations and the academic and all across our watery planet to camp out on wind- experiential gravitas of those with me is one of swept bumps of sand like the Outer Banks. beautiful absurdity. A somewhat ridiculous high- tech costume masking some seriously interest- A set of questions and hypotheses has begun to ing—you might even say revolutionary—scientific flow from the consilience of neuroscience and potential. water studies and the sharing of personal—some- times intimate—experiences. It is a conversation I An unlikely agglomeration of talent—neuroscien- call “Blue Mind.” tists, big wave surfers, psychologists, educators, seafood experts, veterans, marketers, realtors, In 1987, I was a 19 year old biology student at conservationists, evolutionary biologists, filmmak- DePauw University, a small liberal arts college ers and writers—have schooled up on Jennette’s in Greencastle, Indiana. On a late summer day, Pier on the Outer Banks of North Carolina to I received a message from Reverend Lamar, the consider the science behind our emotional connec- University Chaplain. In his office, he explained tion to water. It’s about time we figured out how that a local nursing home had a special patient the the words dopamine and amygdala meld with the nurses thought might benefit from guitar lessons. words, ocean and wave. DePauw, founded 175 years ago in the Method- ist tradition, is known for its community service. The Outer Banks or OBX, are the long, narrow Students learn that to be whole one must give strips of mostly sand separating the Atlantic from generously to those in need. I agreed to the chal- the sounds and from the mainland of North Caro- lenge. I was a quiet, introverted teenager. Barbara lina behind that. The Outer Banks are a sandbar, was a terrible guitar player. She had lost most of really. Gordon Jones, a realtor for 22 years who her memory in a car wreck 15 years before, when

22 current conservation 6.1 currentconservation.org 27 column Wallace J Nichols

she was a university music student, herself just 19 And the ten words just before that are: swimming along the Pacific coast of the Ameri- March 9, 1997. Barbara Garrison, an elementary years old. I stammered and had a disabling fear cas. As most school kids will tell you, the first and school teacher in San Diego who was following of public speaking and performance. I preferred “as small as a world and as large as alone” perhaps most impressive thing you learn about Adelita’s progress with her students, receiving diving in the quiet rock quarries of southern sea turtles is that they return to the same beaches my regular emails and thoughts, wrote this poem Indiana and the company of my dog and guitar. I read them backward and forward, and back- where they were hatched to nest as adults. With during the journey as the turtle neared the Inter- In a carpeted corner of the institutional lounge, ward again. I read them that way to myself, to not one single loggerhead nesting beach anywhere national Date Line, which bisects the Pacific: we started in on the standard folk classics of her my daughters, to strangers, and to students. I on the shores of the eastern Pacific, many ques- teens: Dylan; Simon and Garfunkel; Peter, Paul, don’t know if E. E. cummings meant it that way, tions were unanswered. Adelita sleeps. and Mary. Simple chords, clear lyrics, nothing but I like to imagine he did; or, at least, that it Do you ever find yourself too demanding. Our Wednesday guitar lessons didn’t matter to him which way you read them as Martin and I had attached a small box to Adelita’s thinking of her continued for 8 months. Some days it was ago- he wrote them at his desk, seaside, planning the back. It contained a transmitter. Twentieth-cen- nising work. We would play into dark dead ends. forward and the backward and the forward again tury technology glued to a one-hundred-million- in the middle of the day? Our hour together would drag with poorly formed permutations of his paean to the sea. year-old body plan. Each day the box relayed her thunky chords and start-overs. Other days, a location to us via satellites linked to a base sta- Sister of mercy song—or a simple melodic phrase— would open a Have you ever lost a you? Did it happen at the tion in France. Each day we studied the data and adrift in the world door into her memory and she would come alive. sea? I’ve lost several me’s. So many me’s, I’ve lost then uploaded it to the Internet. Each day tiny her carapace around her John Denver, in particular, caused knobs to turn count. I used to know the number; it was at least dots aligned on a map, surrounded by nothing but like a habit and long-locked memories to flow. On those days ten. They’ve mostly been lost in the sea, but one blue. Soon, other people took note. Then more. following the liturgy of longitude we spoke more than we played. Music brought time I lost a me at the bottom of a water-filled Schoolkids, scientists and turtle lovers the world back images, names, stories and other music. The quarry. There must be many me’s lost in the water. over were watching Adelita’s progress. Alone, but like the Stations of the Cross nurses smiled. With a backlog of me’s-in-waiting, yet to be lost. not alone, Adelita stroked on through the deep- the draw string of dream Sometimes, the me’s or the you’s lost in the ocean est, wildest, most humanless expanse of our blue gathering with each dive. “All my memories, gathered ‘round her. Miner’s will return. Those lost to rivers have to travel to planet. lady, stranger to blue water.” the sea where one can search for them. Successful A sea shadow searching often requires a guide—a young scien- People would write to me to talk about Adelita: cradled in the arms This was my first intimation of Blue Mind. These tist, perhaps. “Hi J., this is Meghan and I was just wondering if moments enthralled and disturbed me. Late nights you are as excited about this as I am?” of the great Turtle Mother. in the racks of neuroscience journals failed to August 13, 1996. Martin Arce, a thick-handed provide satisfactory answers to my questions. The lobster- man and I watched Adelita, a loggerhead At night, I couldn’t sleep. I’d lie awake thinking The Virgin of Cobre guiding requisite formaldehyde-infused dissections in sea turtle, swim under and away from our small about Adelita. Praying for her safety. Wonder- through the dangerous sea my anatomy courses paled in comparison to the skiff bobbing in the immense Pacific offshore ing what was beneath her and above her. Was she the black sand memory wonder of Barbara’s living brain. I began to cher- Baja California in Mexico. We stared out across hungry? How did it feel to be going home after so of her natal beach ish Wednesday afternoons, strumming my guitar the expanse of blue before us and thought maybe, many years? I became obsessed with checking my ringing her course in time with hers and trying to find keys to unlock perhaps, possibly these turtles aren’t born in Baja email for the latest position. I’d imagine mem- her memories. In the process, slaking my nostalgia at all. Maybe they migrate here only to return bers of our loosely connected club sitting in front in peals of instinct. for acoustic three-chord simplicity and swimming home again—somewhere. We gazed at the horizon. of glowing blue screens all over the world, plot- holes. Somewhere out there, across the vast Pacific, was ting, calculating, imagining, hoping and dream- Cartographer Japan and the nearest known loggerhead nest- ing about that vast blue space. We tracked the sea explorer These words from E. E. Cummings haunt me: ing beaches, a mere 7,000 miles west. Genetic turtle due west out of Baja making a steady 20 world traveler evidence suggested the possibility of epic ocean- miles per day; a healthy walking gait for you or Adelita sleeps. “it’s always ourselves we find in the sea” spanning migrations by sea turtles, but in the face me. By January 1, she was just north of Hawaii. of the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, the hypothesis From there, she tracked west and ever so slightly The words connect me to a dozen emotions, a was revolutionary at the time. Too revolutionary, I north. Sure enough, she was headed straight for A Shinto priestess hundred places, a thousand memories, and to the guess. Unfathomable. absurd even, but also loaded Japan. leads the way color blue. I prefer to read the lines last to first. with scientific potential, as the best hypotheses a goddess path usually are. I was a doctoral student in wildlife Brie, an Internet follower, wrote, “What are you from Mexico The preceding ten words of the poem are: ecology and evolutionary biology at the University gonna to do when Adelita gets to Japan? I mean to the arribada of Arizona. Debate was rife among scientists about are you gonna send a team to get her?” “I’m not on a distant Kyushu shore. “for whatever we lose (like a you or a me)” the origins of endangered loggerhead sea turtles really sure,” I wrote back.

28 current conservation 6.2 currentconservation.org 29 column Wallace J Nichols perspective Matthew Godfrey

August 16, 1997. Three hundred and sixty-eight play or music. Neuroscientists say looking at the days and 7,000 miles after we lowered her into the colour blue doubles our creativity. They say that Pacific, Adelita’s signal finally went dark—her final simply walking outside helps break apart bad Turtles left out in the cold? location put her transmitter at the end of a fishing habits and that being seaside can boost happiness pier in Isohama, a village in northern Japan since and engender a sense of well-being. Practitioners For species of conservation concern, rehabilitation of sick or washed away by the 2011 tsunami. have found that water-related activities such as kayaking, surfing, wildlife viewing, relaxed gazing, injured animals is often done with little reflection of where it You can see a simple truth in the eyes of quarry and sound bathing, the practice of simply listening fits into the larger plan of conservation actions. people, river people and sea people. You can hear in nature can be applied therapeutically to mental it in their voices. You can feel it in the way they disorders, post-traumatic stress, autism and ad- he cold wind whipped across the may need. Over the course of a few weeks, we will dance with you. It has to do with the accumulated diction. At meetings like the one on Jennette’s Pier sound, creating little white-capped receive over 150 live hypothermic turtles from a losing, searching, following, and finding of life. It neuroscientists are formulating bold new hypoth- waves in an area that normally is so small part of the coast. is a state I call “Blue Mind.” eses about our “Blue Minds” suggesting transfor- calm that the locals often call the mative new ways for humans to relate to water, waters “slick”. I was waiting for a park Not all hypothermic turtles survive, but most do Tranger to arrive with some hypothermic (or cold- if they receive appropriate care soon after being new possibilities for educating our children, and offering some solace to an increasingly stressed stunned) sea turtles that had been found alive but found. Many turtles will return to full health in Each day tiny dots aligned on out society. Facing out on the Atlantic, I believe beach-stranded and lethargic. In warmer months, 2 weeks or less, while others may need longer, them. these sheltered waters are often thick with juvenile particularly if they had any complications related a map, surrounded by noth- sea turtles that come to forage on abundant prey. to the hypothermia, such as pneumonia or eye ing but blue. Soon, other We are learning that the songs that water sings However, when colder winter weather arrives, the damage from cold air or wind-blown sand. Often, make our memories light up like Barbara’s brain turtles sometimes cannot leave quickly enough the most difficult thing in managing hypothermic people took note. Then more. on John Denver. Nostalgia glows in the presence through the limited number of inlets, and being sea turtles is finding sufficient space for them Schoolkids, scientists and of water. By the ocean, along a river or even from reptiles, they may easily succumb to hypothermia during their rehabilitation. When several hundred the bottom of an inundated quarry, we get a better when the sound’s waters drop in temperatures. live hypothermic turtles appear in a small area turtle lovers the world over view of the whole world and of ourselves, and as The boat arrived with 35 turtles and I stacked within a few weeks of each other, it can be difficult a result, we feel small but connected. Because we them in their various containers in the back of to find adequate space for them to recover. Often, were watching Adelita’s prog- are small in the face of it and we are connected. my work truck, before driving them to a wildlife sea turtle rehabilitation facilities, many of them From a million miles away, the Earth is but a blue veterinarian for assessment and initial treatment volunteer-based, will go above and beyond what ress. Alone, but not alone, marble. From a billion miles, we are just a pale with fluids, antibiotics and anything else they seems feasible to make room for as many turtles Adelita stroked on through blue dot; a speck in the collective consciousness of the universe. It’s far easier to appreciate the little the deepest, wildest, most hu- blue marble we live on from the water’s edge. Its waves of light and sound can make us feel both manless expanse of our blue small and alone and yet exquisitely connected to planet. the universe and everything in it. Like every little thing we do matters more than we could ever imagine. Remarkably, the topic of the human brain’s emotional interaction with water is a new frontier Wallace J Nichols, PhD is a Research Associate at to science. Neuroscientists, including those that the California Academy of Sciences. wallacejnich- gathered on The Outer Banks, talk a lot about ols.org the physiological basis of flow, groove and even chills—those peak moments when we feel we are This essay was first published in the Catamaran one with the universe as a response to good work, Literary Reader. Matthew Godfrey Hypothermic juvenile sea turtles recovered from Core Sound, North Carolina, USA

30 current conservation 6.2 currentconservation.org 31 perspective 32 current conservation 6.2 current conservation are (apartfromensuring the animalsreceive ap- little timeforreflectionabout whattheendgoals crisis thatneedsimmediate response, andthereis large numbers, mostpeopleinvolvedviewitasa thermic turtlesappearonthecoast, especiallyin the largerpopulationsofseaturtles. When hypo- but Iwonderabouttheimpactsoftheseactionson vidual turtleswithhypothermiahavebeenhelped, turtles. Strictlyspeaking, Iagreethattheindi- itly statesthattheseactionsarehelpingsavesea the resultingcoverageoftenimplicitlyorexplic- hypothermia, thereisoftenmedia attentionand During thereleasesofturtlesrehabilitatedfrom the USforreleasefollowingrehabilitation. countries havebeenflowntotheCanaryIslandsor thermic turtlesfromtheUKandotherEuropean closer totheequator. Inrecentyears,somehypo- offshore, orbytruckairplanetocoastlines for release,eitherbyboattowarmerwatersfar option istotransporttheturtleswarmerwaters spring orsummertoreleasetheanimals, theonly hypothermia. Thus, apartfromwaitingforlate from thebeachwithoutrunningriskofmore several months,sotheturtlescannotbereleased Often, coastalwatertemperaturesremaincoldfor is whattodowiththeturtlesthathaverecovered. as possible. Followingthis,anothermajorproblem Matthew GodfreyMatthew Public releaseofrehabilitatedcold-stunnedloggerheadturtleinNorthCarolina,USA for loggerheadandKemp’s ridleyturtles,although table exceptionsaretherecent USRecoveryPlans responding tohypothermia isconsidered. Twono- action, although therearefewexampleswhere could (andshould)beappliedtoanyconservation threats? Thistypeofcost-benefitanalysis question on anthropogenicsourcesofmortalityorother mia? Orshouldmoreeffortandenergy befocused a naturalsourceofmortality, such ashypother- natural. Shouldtherebeaneffort totryreduce erington &Ehrhart1989), confirming thatitis places intheUSoverpastcentury(e.g. With- of cold-stunnedturtlesappearinginvarious middle latitudes. Therealsoarehistorical reports tudes, andregularlyoccureveryfewyearsevenat turtles regularlyappeareachyearathigherlati- vantage ofbetterforaginghabitat.Hypothermic more temperatezones,presumablytotakead- subtropical species, theycananddomigrateto many oftenconsiderseaturtlestobetropicalor Hypothermia inseaturtlesisnatural.Although discussion beginwiththeseconsiderations. I donothavetheanswer,butwouldencourage whether theseareimportantconservationactions. cold-stunned seaturtles, itisworthconsidering resources expendedinrespondingtoandtreating propriate care).However, giventhevastamountof

Matthew Godfrey sponses, andincludecost-benefitconsiderations. require alargerdiscussionaboutallthreatsandre- may indeedbethebestcourseofaction, butitwould to respondthreatsthatwecannotmitigate. This thereby increasingtheresiliencyofpopulation is goodbecauseitathreatthatcanbemitigated, some mayarguethattreatinghypothermicturtles or howmuchactionisneededinresponse.Ofcourse, no specificrecommendationsaremadeforwhether records ofreleasedindividual animalssubsequently larger wildturtlepopulations. Thereareanecdotal pothermic turtleshavecontributed significantlyto no long-termdatashowing thatrehabilitatedhy- the tagstopsworkingoris shed). However,thereare survive foratleastafewmonthsafterrelease(until turtles hasrevealedthattheindividualsappearto released. Someshort-termsatellite taggingofsome stunned seaturtlesthathavebeenrehabilitatedand We havelittleinformationaboutthestatusofcold- tions. goals end the what about tion turtles hypothermic When are (apart from ensuring the the ensuring from (apart are especially coast, the on appear animals receive appropriate appropriate receive animals people most numbers, large in care). However, given the vast vast the given However, care). that crisis a as it view involved amount of resources expended expended resources of amount and response, immediate needs in responded and treating cold- treating and responded in reflec for time little is there stunned sea turtles, it is worth worth is it turtles, sea stunned considering whether these are are these whether considering important conservation ac conservation important - - servation. [email protected] decades ofexperienceinsea turtlebiologyandcon- sea turtleconservation programmes. Hehas overtwo Wildife ResourcesCommission andmanagestheir Matthew GodfreyworksfortheNorthCarolina 1989:696-703. in theIndianRiverLagoonSystem,Florida. Copeia pothermic stunningandmortalityofmarineturtles Witherington, B. E., andL. M. Ehrhart. 1989. Hy- animals. EnvironmentalEthics7:231-239. Loftin, R.W. 1985. Themedicaltreatmentofwild Suggested reading: greater impactsonwildpopulations. of thattootherthreatspotentiallycouldhave responding tothemandifnecessary,divertsome consider howmuchtimeandenergyshouldbespent they simplybeleftinthecoldbutratherweneedto to cold-stunnedturtles.Iamnotrecommendingthat there, wecanprioritiseactions,includingresponses different factorsinfluencingturtlepopulation.From so thateveryonehasabetterunderstandingofthe to populationsandimpactsofresponsesiswarranted, it. Ifso,thenawiderpublicdiscussionaboutthreats and ageneraldesiretohave something“done”about in partbypublicperceptionofsickorinjuredanimals actions inresponsetohypothermicturtlesaredriven (see Loftin 1985).Itislikelythatmanyofthecurrent individual turtlesvs. thewildpopulationasawhole should bemadetodistinguishbetweenbenefits presenting informationtothepublic, moreeffort benefit wildpopulationsofseaturtles, andwhen fully complete). Butnoneoftheseactionsdirectly comes (althoughthelatterremaindifficulttosuccess- for foragingecology, andassessingpost-releaseout- including healthandphysiologicalstudies, sampling Cold-stunned turtlesofferresearchopportunities, understanding ofseaturtlebiologyandconservation. to increasepublicawarenessandfacilitateincreased tend toattractmediaattention, itisanopportunity types ofvalue. Forexample,becausetheseevents Responding tohypothermicturtlesdoeshaveother ranted. and callsintoquestionwhetheraresponseiswar- which reinforcesthathypothermiaisanaturalevent succumbing tohypothermiaagainatlaterdates, currentconservation.org 33 books from the attic Matthew Godfrey Ongoing critiques of conservation

Despite its age, this book on sea turtle tial value of mark-recapture and telemetry data riveting today as it was the first time I read it. This conservation remains relevant today from sea turtles, Mrosovsky clearly articulates chapter addresses the sustainable harvest of sea the importance of setting up testable research turtle eggs. Unlike the other issues discussed in the In 1983, the British Herpetological Society published questions before embarking on a tagging project. book, such as tagging and tag loss, and hatchling and printed 1000 copies of a small blue paperback Chapters 10 and 11 deal with the issue of whether sex ratios, which have generated a fair amount of book. The author, Nicholas Mrosovsky, said he sea turtle species deserve to be considered highly research and publications by different research- wrote this book to analyse various procedures and in danger of going extinct. This remains an im- ers since the publication of this book, there has problems associated with sea turtle research and portant question in the sea turtle community (and been limited research in the area of consumptive conservation, and thus facilitate more discussion beyond)—recently an entire issue of the journal use of sea turtles, and policy seems unchanged and eventual improvement in techniques and mea- Endangered Species Research was devoted to the since 1983. For example, the IUCN Marine Turtle sures. Prior to this, he already had a reputation as relevance of placing species, including sea turtles, Specialist Group has avoided addressing the topic an excellent researcher, publishing seminal work on on the IUCN Red List, the global authority of in two important documents: its Global Strategy thermal biology, seafinding behaviour and hatchling species in danger of going extinct. One of Mros- for marine turtles and its manual of research and sex ratios of sea turtles. He was also the founding ovsky’s main points is that a defendable scientific management techniques. Yet, consumptive use of editor of the Marine Turtle Newsletter, which was approach towards assessing risk would greatly sea turtles continues in various places around the a vehicle to facilitate dialogue and exchange of all improve the way species are categorized as being world and has been a major source of debate at in- points of view on sea turtle conservation. This book, threatened with extinction. Chapter 8, on farming ternational meetings on animal trade (e.g. CITES). however, established him as someone who wanted to of sea turtles, remains topical, particularly with Like many of the subjects of this book, sustainable ask difficult questions and create a forum for debate. the recent debate over husbandry conditions at the use of sea turtles is contentious, but Mrosovsky Even the photos on the book’s cover appear designed turtle farm in the Cayman Islands. Again, one of argues that the debate would be much improved if to stimulate discussion: on the left is someone kiss- Mrosovsky’s main points is that analysis based on scientific data were brought to bear. However, in ing a live green turtle; on the right is a small child biological data would greatly enhance discussion this case, the lack of widespread debate or discus- holding a flipper from a butchered leatherback. The and provide room for setting up testable hypoth- sion impedes progress on this issue. book’s publication stimulated several long reviews eses and benchmarks. Conserving Sea Turtles in various journals; some were supportive, others This was the first small book of three that Nicho- N. Mrosovsky less so. Currently, although this book is still occa- Of course, given its age, there are some subjects las Mrosovsky has written and they all feature sionally cited in published papers, it appears to be that are no longer “burning issues.” For instance, constructive commentaries and critiques of vari- ISBN-13: 978-0950737119 somewhat forgotten, and was not mentioned in Peter few today would argue that the black turtle, Che- ous issues in sea turtle conservation. This first British Herpetological Society, London, C.H. Pritchard’s historical review of sea turtle mono- lonia agassizi, warrants official recognition as the book in particular personifies the author’s reputa- 176pp, 1st edition (February 1, 1983) graphs in his introduction in the recently published eighth species of sea turtle. Similarly, the chapter tion in the past few decades, in that he has rarely book, Sea Turtles of the Eastern Pacific (J.A. Semi- on head-starting (captive rearing for the first few shied away from asking challenging questions http://www.seaturtle.org/docu- noff and B.P. Wallace, eds., University of Arizona years of life before release back into the wild) of concerning thorny issues, either at meetings or ments/Conserving_Sea_Turtles.pdf Press, Tuscon). This being the 30th anniversary of its Kemp’s ridleys is mostly moot, as the program during online discussions or even during field-site publication, it is prudent to reflect on the relevance ended in 1993. Yet at the time, these issues en- visits. While some may not agree with his ideas, of this book to current sea turtle conservation. gendered debate within the sea turtle community. few could say that they have not been influenced Rather than take sides, Mrosovsky suggested that by him or his writings. This book in particular My first reading of this book was in 1993, and I was the best approach would be to study each prob- remains highly informative and potentially influ- greatly influenced by many of its arguments and po- lem empirically, and develop testable hypotheses ential—potentially because it is long out of print, sitions. Reading it now, I find that many of the issues that would serve to resolve the debate. This is so new readers will have to rely on colleagues who remain highly relevant today. For instance, Chapter exactly what happened in the early 1990s when may be willing to loan out this book. It is highly 3, entitled “The Tagging Reflex,” reveals that many new molecular biology techniques were applied to worth making the effort to find a copy and regard- researchers and conservationists were applying flip- green turtles and showed that there was no eighth less of whether you agree with its contents, this per tags to sea turtles without considering why they species of sea turtle. Still, these chapters are of book will be sure to make you think. were doing it or how to interpret the tag return data. interest, as they provide the historical context of The same thing is happening today, although it now sea turtle conservation. Matthew Godfrey works for the North Carolina includes satellite tags, critter-cams and other types Wildife Resources Commission. mgodfrey@sea- of telemetric gadgets. Although there is great poten- Upon my latest reading, I found Chapter 14 as turtle.org

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