Monitoring and Conservation of Important Sea Turtle Feeding Grounds in the Patok Area of Albania 2008‐2010 PROJECT REPORT M. White1,4, I. Haxhiu2, E. Kararaj3, M. Mitro3, L. Petri3, E.Saçdanaku3, B.Trezhnjevna3, L. Boura4, K. Grimanis4, P. Robinson4 & L. Venizelos4. Cook Islands Turtle Project, Rarotonga1; Herpetofauna Albanian Society2; Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tirana3; MEDASSET‐ The Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles4. Correspondence to: Dr Michael White, Cook Islands Turtle Project, PO Box 1019 Titikaveka, Rarotonga, Cook Islands . E‐mail: [email protected] Project Leader and co‐Funder Project Partners Funders THE PANTON TRUST THE J.F COSTOPOULOS FOUNDATION THE SPEAR CHARITABLE TRUST Monitoring and Conservation of Important Sea Turtle Feeding Grounds in the Patok Area of Albania, 2008‐10 PROJECT REPORT Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................ 4 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 6 1.1. Sea Turtles ............................................................................................................................................ 6 1.2. Sea turtle research in Albania............................................................................................................... 6 2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ......................................................................................................................... 7 3. SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES AND OUTCOMES ......................................................................................... 8 4. PROJECT PARTNERS .............................................................................................................................. 9 4.1. Endorsements ..................................................................................................................................... 10 4.2. Funders ............................................................................................................................................... 10 5. PROJECT TEAM ................................................................................................................................... 11 6. PROJECT EFFORT ................................................................................................................................. 11 7. STUDY AREA ........................................................................................................................................ 12 8. SEA TURTLE POPULATION MONITORING AND DATA COLLECTION .................................................... 14 8.1. Turtles as fisheries bycatch: ‘stavnikes’ .............................................................................................. 14 8.2. Data Collection Periods ...................................................................................................................... 17 8.3. Data collected ..................................................................................................................................... 17 8.4. The studied population ...................................................................................................................... 17 8.5. Size‐classes of turtles .......................................................................................................................... 17 8.6. Chelonia mydas .................................................................................................................................. 18 8.7. Flipper‐tagging .................................................................................................................................... 18 8.8. Presence of males ............................................................................................................................... 19 8.9. Recaptures .......................................................................................................................................... 19 8.10. Remigrants ......................................................................................................................................... 19 8.11. Incremental growth of remigrants ..................................................................................................... 19 8.12. Health status....................................................................................................................................... 19 8.13. Photo‐recognition ............................................................................................................................... 20 8.14. Potential nesting beach surveys ......................................................................................................... 20 8.15. Deviation from research methodology .............................................................................................. 21 8.15.1. Application of tags and tag losses ...................................................................................................... 21 8.15.2. Data collection methodology ............................................................................................................. 21 8.16. Miscellaneous events ......................................................................................................................... 21 9. Environmental Ecology ....................................................................................................................... 22 9.1. Abiotic factors .................................................................................................................................... 22 9.2. Other species present in Drini Bay ..................................................................................................... 22 9.3. Availability of food resources ............................................................................................................. 22 9.4. Monitoring fish catch ......................................................................................................................... 23 10. SATELLITE TRACKING .......................................................................................................................... 24 10.1. Rationale ............................................................................................................................................. 24 10.2. Attachment of transmitters ................................................................................................................ 24 2 Monitoring and Conservation of Important Sea Turtle Feeding Grounds in the Patok Area of Albania, 2008‐10 PROJECT REPORT 10.3. Biographical details of telemetered turtles ....................................................................................... 24 10.3.1. “Shpresa” ........................................................................................................................................... 24 10.3.2. “Patoku” ............................................................................................................................................. 25 10.3.3. “Guximtari” ........................................................................................................................................ 25 10.4. Route maps to date ............................................................................................................................ 26 10.5. Data Summary .................................................................................................................................... 27 11. DNA PROFILING .................................................................................................................................. 28 12. DYNAMITE FISHING ............................................................................................................................ 28 13. NEARSHORE TRAWLING ..................................................................................................................... 29 14. ANTHROPOGENIC POLLUTION ........................................................................................................... 30 15. CAPACITY BUILDING, EDUCATION AND AWARENESS RAISING .......................................................... 32 15.1. Training Students as Project Researchers .......................................................................................... 32 15.2. University Student field‐trips ............................................................................................................. 34 15.3. Local fishermen .................................................................................................................................. 34 15.4. Awareness‐raising activities ............................................................................................................... 34 15.5. Building capacity within Albanian organisations ............................................................................... 35 16. DISSEMINATION OF RESULTS ............................................................................................................. 35 17. POLICY AND MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ALBANIAN AUTHORITIES .......................... 37 18. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................................................