By EurekAlert
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
The journeys of two marine turtles around the world's oceans
will be available to view online this Christmas, thanks to a new
research project launched by the University of Exeter.
Noelle and Darwinia are two adult female leatherback turtles
that nest in Gabon, Western Central Africa. The research team has
fitted each turtle with a small satellite tracking device, which
enables the scientists to monitor their precise movements and
observe where and how deep they dive. The tracking began on 7
December 2009 and so far the turtles have travelled 800 miles
between them.
Their progress can now be viewed online: www.seaturtle.org/tracking
and people can also get the latest news on the turtles by
signing-up for daily email alerts. Noelle and Darwinia are members
of the world's largest nesting population of leatherback turtles,
but their environment is threatened. The waters around Gabon are
increasingly subject to industrial fishing and oil exploitation,
particularly from nations outside West Africa, including countries
in Europe.
Leatherbacks are of profound conservation concern around the
world after populations in the Indo-Pacific crashed by more than 90
percent in the 1980s and 1990s. The International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists leatherback turtles as
critically endangered globally, but detailed population assessments
in much of the Atlantic, especially Africa, are lacking.
A team from the University of Exeter, the Government of Gabon
and a network of NGO's in country, including the Wildlife
Conservation Society and Seaturtle.org, is now undertaking research
to learn where these creatures go. The researchers hope their
findings will enable government agencies to protect key areas from
the impacts of fishing, oil exploitation and pollution.
The project has been funded by Defra's Darwin Initiative, which
draws on the wealth of biodiversity expertise within the UK to help
protect and enhance biodiversity around the world.
Dr Matthew Witt of the University of Exeter is a member of the
project team. He said: "We are building a high precision model of
how these amazing creatures use the seas near Gabon to breed. Our
aim is that this will help inform management of fisheries and
mineral exploration as well as feeding into ambitious plans to
widen the network of marine protected areas in Gabon. It is only by
having detailed information on where these creatures go that we can
try to protect them."
"Sea turtles are the ancient mariners of the world" said Dr
Howard Rosenbaum, Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's
Ocean Giants Program. "Understanding broader migration patterns and
use of the nearshore habitat around their nesting beaches is a key
component to their conservation."
The team hopes that the turtles' journeys will capture the
public imagination over Christmas. Dr Witt continues: "It is
exciting to see where these creatures travel and to delve into
their lives in the vast South Atlantic Ocean. Over the Christmas
period we will follow their movements with great interest with the
hope that the information we gather can feed into truly useful
approaches to help promote the protection of the species"
SOURCE