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An Assessment of Sea Turtles at Palmerston Atoll, Southern Cook Islands

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An Assessment of Sea Turtles at Palmerston Atoll, Southern Cook Islands An Assessment of Sea Turtles at Palmerston Atoll, Southern Cook Islands Palmerston Atoll looking South. (Photo by Ewan Smith, Air Rarotonga). Principal Investigator: Dr Michael White Rufford Trust Expedition to Palmerston Atoll (2012) The 2012 Palmerston Expedition was funded by a Nature Conservation Grant from the Rufford Small Grants Foundation, London. [Rufford Small Grant #: Dr Michael White - 10964-1] www.ruffordsmallgrants.org Research was conducted under Cook Islands Research Permit #: Dr Michael White 07/09e. The Rufford Expedition to Palmerston was undertaken with the approval and support of the following organisations and individuals: Government of the Cook Islands: Office of the Prime Minister, Cook Islands National Research Council, Ministry of Marine Resources, National Environment Service, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration; Cook Islands National Biodiversity Assessment. Palmerston Atoll: The Mayor, Secretary, GR, and Island Council; Palmerston Lucky School; and the Palmerston Community. Equipment suppliers and supporters: Cook Islands Trading Corporation, Panasonic, Uniden, Taio Shipping Line, Air Rarotonga, Canberra University; Pacific Islands Conservation Initiative, Telecom Cook Islands, Secretariat of the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme, S/V Southern Cross, For further information please contact: Dr Michael White Marine Zoologist Box 3069, Avarua Rarotonga, Cook Islands E-mail: [email protected] 1 Rufford Trust Expedition to Palmerston Atoll (2012) List of contents Page # Administrative details 1 List of contents 2 Background to the expedition 3 Expedition preparation and deployment 4 Introduction 5 The Cook Islands 6 Sea turtles in the Cook Islands 6 Egg-laying period 6 Materials and Methods 7 The study site 7 Research Objectives 8 Educational Objectives 11 Social Objectives 11 Communication and Dissemination 12 Map of Palmerston Atoll 13 Results 14 Terrestrial surveys 14 Nest excavations and hatching success rates 29 Marine surveys 37 Social and educational aspects of the Rufford Expedition 56 Discussion 59 Acknowledgements 64 Bibliography 65 Appendix 1: Some equipment limitations 67 2 Rufford Trust Expedition to Palmerston Atoll (2012) BACKGROUND TO THE EXPEDITION Sea turtles are traditionally known from the Cook Islands; however, there are very few scientific records for these animals nationally. In the 1960’s and 1970’s Balazs (1995) and Pritchard (1995a) visited the Cook Islands as part of their Pacific-wide investigations of sea turtles: there has been very little research done in the archipelago since those times. Palmerston Atoll, Southern Cooks, was reported as being the most important sea turtle nesting site in the country; this was based on data from about 1970. The next turtle research nationally was a 25-day nesting survey at Palmerston Atoll in November 2000; when seven green turtle nests were found (Cetacean Research Centre 2000). The current situation is that even the most-recent publications concerning sea turtles in Oceania are quoting data for the Cook Islands from at least a decade ago, and probably considerably longer: as there had been no further surveys on Palmerston or the other atolls. White (2012) has just reported the findings from a year-long assessment of nesting activity, based primarily on track-counts, at Tongareva Atoll, Northern Cook Islands: 525 nests were found on one motu alone during 2011. The opportunity to conduct sea turtle research at Palmerston Atoll throughout April 2012 was made possible by a Nature Conservation Grant from the Rufford Trust Small Grants Foundation. The scientific aims of the Rufford Expedition were to assess the status, abundance and distribution of sea turtles at Palmerston Atoll; to investigate their use of habitats, and also to quantify any threats or impacts. Directly-encountered turtles would be measured, tagged and DNA-sampled: in order to improve the regional understanding of linkages between turtle stocks in Oceania; such data are rare. Our key findings will be contributed to the Cook Islands National Biodiversity Assessment and regional databases (www.sprep.org). Taio Shipping Line: Maungaroa II at Tongareva Atoll to collect the author. 3 Rufford Trust Expedition to Palmerston Atoll (2012) EXPEDITION PREPARATION AND DEPLOYMENT Firstly, I would like to thank Josh Cole (Director), Jane Raymond (Administrator) and the Trustees of the Rufford Small Grants Foundation for funding this important expedition to Palmerston Atoll. This is the first sea turtle research on the atoll in 12 years, and it would not have taken place without your support. Our main findings should allow population trends to be determined in subsequent years. Meitaki Ma’ata, Michael. *** The expedition was planned and implemented by Dr Michael White and Jessica Cramp. The provision of equipment supplies from overseas and additional sponsorship for the project was achieved through the dedicated efforts of Jessica Cramp. Duration: The research team sailed from Rarotonga onboard S/V Southern Cross (Sail Rarotonga) on 31st March 2012, arriving at Palmerston 3 days later. Several Palmerston Islanders joined the team on arrival. All planned fieldwork was completed on 28th April; and the off-island team returned to Rarotonga on 1st May 2012. Survey Team: Dr Michael White Jessica Cramp Phil Bradshaw Nerissa Bradshaw Jason Green Kelly Robinson Tina Weier Munokoa Goldeen Nikau David Marsters Marion Marsters Simon Marsters Alfred Marsters [Edward Marsters, John Marsters and little John Marsters joined us for one day] Photographs in this document are used with permission from: Dr Michael White, Jason Green, Phil Bradshaw and Tina Weier. Copyright remains with the photographers. Think before you print. P An electronic document. 4 Rufford Trust Expedition to Palmerston Atoll (2012) An assessment of the current distribution, abundance, and population status of marine turtles at Palmerston Atoll, Southern Cook Islands Introduction (from White 2012) Sea turtles are an ancient group of marine reptiles that have been on Planet Earth for at least 110 million years (Hirayama 1998; & see FitzSimmons et al. 1995). Sea turtles are long-lived animals, with delayed maturity, that may be migratory during all life-stages. Apart from adult females, which emerge onto beaches for egg-laying, and the subsequent hatchlings that crawl from nests to the sea, the entire life cycle of sea turtles can be completed in the marine environment. The Pacific Region covers about one-third of the planet’s surface and six of the seven extant sea turtle species are known from the region: [spp. Chelonia mydas; Eretmochelys imbricata; Lepidochelys olivacea; Caretta caretta; Natator depressus; Dermochelys coriacea. The seventh species Lepidochelys kempii has not been reported from the region]. Many of the Pacific Island Nations are poorly studied, mostly because of limited resources, including scientific expertise and, above all, a lack of transportation between the islands. Sea turtles are known traditionally throughout the Pacific Islands. Overview of the Cook Islands Archipelago. (Image from GoogleEarth.com.) 5 Rufford Trust Expedition to Palmerston Atoll (2012) The Cook Islands The Cook Islands consist of 15 islands or atolls, with a land area of about 241 km2 spread over some two million km2 of ocean (09°S to 23°S; 156°W to 167°W); there are very few scientific or contemporary data concerning sea turtles in the archipelago, and transport to many of the outer islands is infrequent and expensive (White 2012). Sea turtles in the Cook Islands The present state of knowledge for sea turtles in the Cook Islands was reviewed by White (2011, 2012). Four species of marine turtle: green Chelonia mydas (Linnaeus 1758); hawksbill Eretmochelys imbricata (Linnaeus 1766); leatherback Dermochelys coriacea (Vandelli 1761); and loggerhead Caretta caretta (Linnaeus 1758) have now been confirmed as using Cook Islands territorial waters; the first two species throughout the year (White 2011, 2011b, 2011c, 2012). D. coriacea is at present only known from the offshore industrialised fisheries (Pamela Maru pers. com. 2010); and C. caretta has been reported from Palmerston Atoll, although it is not known to nest (Bill Marsters pers. com. 2010); this species has also been caught in offshore fisheries (P. Maru pers. com. 2012). Egg-laying by Chelonia mydas can now be confirmed for the following islands: Aitutaki, Manihiki, Mauke, Nassau, Palmerston, Pukapuka, Rakahanga, Suwarrow and Tongareva (White 2012). Eretmochelys imbricata has not yet been observed nesting, and most of the individuals that have been encountered in the archipelago so far appear to be juveniles (White 2011, 2011c, 2012). This is also the marine turtle species that has suffered the greatest exploitation by humans for almost four millennia (Parsons 1972). Hawksbill turtles have been heavily exploited in the Pacific Islands Region, for meat, eggs and tortoiseshell (see Groombridge & Luxmore 1989); and it is likely that nesting populations are declining, depleted or only remnants (NMFS & USFWS 1998). This species is rapidly approaching extinction in the region (NMFS & USFWS 1998), with many, if not most, nesting populations having declined by more than 80% throughout its global range in the last 105 years: i.e. three generations of hawksbills (Meylan & Donnelly 1999). The lack of long-term census data for hawksbills means that there are no trends for the status and stability of populations in the South Pacific Region. Egg-laying
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