Seychelles Turtles With MCSS

Hatching on Anse Corail, Monday 21st November 2011

2011-12-01T04:12:00.000-08:00

Join our two French students, Marieke Foissart, Charline Comparini from AgroCampus, Renne, as they describe their first turtle hatchlings…..

This morning we saw our first turtle nest hatching on Anse Corail. It was a really good experience to see all these small turtles running on sand and scrambling over all the obstacles.

Footprints are like giant craters to a hatchling...

It’s really impressive how very small things for us cause big troubles to them: foot prints, coconuts, rocks and rubbish are a real nightmare for them!

And small rocks are mountain ranges!

Once they hatched, they begin a really funny dash across the beach. Who’s going to be the first in water?! Nothing is settled yet… It depends on the goodwill of waves and currents.

Two of the hatchlings make it to the sea...

Unfortunately, only twenty one young turtles from this nest made it to the water; three were too weak and died and twenty one eggs hadn't hatched.

But still that's 21 new turtles at large!

Beach Profiling With the International School

2011-11-27T21:59:00.000-08:00

It is certainly an interesting time of year to be beach profiling at Beau Vallon! Now that the North West monsoon season has arrived the sea in Beau Vallon Bay has become pretty rough and the beach is beginning to change shape quite dramatically.

Georgia explaining how to set up the beach profile

Today Georgia French (Project Coordinator) and Uzice Samedi (Researcher) took a group of 20 students from the International School on a beach profiling trip to teach them the methods behind the technique. Beach profiling is used to measure the slopes of different sections of the beach. MCSS profiles several beaches every month so that we can see how the beaches are changes in shape over time.This is important for nesting turtles as the shape of the beach effects how easy it is for female turtles to crawl up it to lay their eggs. For example, erosion of the sand by the sea can cause erosion cliffs to form (demonstrated in section B to C in the diagram below) which can be impossible for turtles to climb.

Erosion can also wash away sections of the beach that turtles have already laid in, destroying their nests. However, beaches are not constantly eroding, there is also sand accretion where sand is deposited on the beach, making it bigger. It all depends on the monsoon season and if any coastal engineering has been undertaken on or near a beach. Coastal engineering can include building sea walls, jetties and groins. These structures change the way that the sea water moves around a shore line and so effects how sand is eroded or accreted.

To measure the beach profile, you need two ranging poles, an Abney Level, a measuring tape, data forms and pencils. Clipboards are very helpful when it is windy as it was today! Each section of the beach is measured and using the poles and Abney level, it is possible to measure the slope (in degrees and minutes) of each beach section. If a section of the beach is flat, the Abney level will read zero degrees, if it sloping down the Abney level will give a negative reading in degrees and minutes and so on.

Two students get to grips with the Abney level

The information gathered on the beach is then put into our beach profile software which produces graphs of the beach profile for us. MCSS will hopefully be starting a new project on coastal erosion in the coming year funded by Mangroves For the Future. This will enable us to get new hi-tech equipment and software that will give us a much better idea of sand movement patterns around Mahé which will allow us to give good advice to coastal managers and developers.

The team hard at work profiling Beau Vallon beach

Everybody did a great job at the measuring today and it was lovely to see everyone helping each other out. Special thanks has to go to those brave enough to hold the pole at the last point of the profile as this was in the sea!

Folied! An attempted poaching incident!

2011-11-11T20:02:00.000-08:00

MCSS carry out Turtle Monitoring patrols on selected beaches in the South of Mahé which involves walking the full length of the beach at the vegetation line to check for any turtles or turtle tracks. We carry out turtle monitoring patrols throughout the year and increase the patrols to three times a week during the peak nesting season (October to January) for Critically Endangered hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata).

The purpose of the turtle monitoring patrol is to collect data in order for us to increase our knowledge of turtle populations to help protect them further. An additional benefit of our turtle monitoring patrols is that our presence on beaches can deter poachers.

Yesterday, during the usual turtle monitoring patrol, Uzice and Cathrina came across something wrong on Anse Bazarca. There was a hawksbill turtle track going up the beach but not going down. Instead there was a pseudo turtle track, suggesting the cunning poachers knew that the beach would be later patrolled. Our experienced staff spotted the imitation track straight away, most likely made by the attempting poachers.

The real up track on the left and the phoney down-track on the right...

This led Uzice to check the vegetation thoroughly and fortunately, found the hawksbill turtle lying on its back. A turtle on its back is unable to right itself and is the traditional way of immobilising a turtle to collect later (to turn turtle?), presumably in this case, when less people are around.

The turned-turtle, on its back stranded until the poachers returned, or someone rescued her!

Thankfully, we were there to rescue the turtle and Uzice carefully returned the turtle the right way up so that she could make her way back to the sea. Cathrina and Uzice made sure they watched the turtle safely returned to the sea.

Hawksbill turtles are critically endangered and granted full protection under the Wild Animals (Turtles) Protection Act (1994). However, they are still being poached in the main for their meat. This is surprising as the hawksbill meat can be poisonous!

Right-way up and heading back to the beach, sea and safety!

The sad fact is that nesting turtles appear to be a target and usually poached prior to being able to lay. Hawksbill turtles can take from 25 to 30 years to mature and can lay between three and five egg clutches with an inter-breeding interval of a minimum of two years. Therefore, poaching nesting turtles are having greater impacts on the turtle population.

Safely on her way back to sea...

All at MCSS are extremely happy that we have prevented this attempted poaching from being successful and we have helped one more turtle back to sea.

The Friendly and Brave Yellow-Bellied Terrapin!!!!!

2011-10-10T04:37:00.000-07:00

During one of our surveys for our coastal development project funded by the Mangroves for the Future, assistant Researcher Cathrina Freminot made a rather un-expected discovery...

"For how long his been sitting here?

What is he doing here?

That’s the questions I am still asking myself….."

The 30 of September 2011 a lucky day for Cathrina (me) (Assistant Researcher), Rebecca (Work attachment Student) and Laura (Senior Researcher).

The little terrapin hiding in a corner in the shade, next to the bridge

As I was working along the footpath at Bayan Tree for the Turtle survey walk on the Beach, I spotted a brave Yellow- Bellied Terrapin next to the side of a bridge, in the shade, I shouted “oohhh it’s a terrapin” . Laura turned back with a big smile on her face, and Rebecca was so happy since it was her first terrapin.

Cathrina with the feisty little terrapin

Laura ran to the car to get all the equipment. We gathered together to get the measurement, paint a part of its carapace with nail varnish to give it a distinctive mark for any resighting, and we took some pictures to identify its gender. It was the smallest one that we’ve encountered so far. He had got loads of sand in his eyes, as his been fighting to find his way back to the wetland, so we gently washed him off..

Length: 14.5 cm

Width: 9.5 cm

Carapace Length: 15.6 cm

Colour: Gold

Gender: Male

After doing all the procedures I walked closer to the wetland and released him, he was so happy and swam very fast.

All measured and marked with his gold margin mark, he was ready to go!

Am so glad that we got the chance to help the terrapin out of harm.

"Wohoooooooo!!"

Big thanks to Rebecca Hoareau and Laura Jeffreys.

Relocating a Hawksbill nest with an invented Spade

2011-10-04T22:31:00.000-07:00

For the two months of work attachment here at MCSS, I’ve been doing turtle monitoring in the South of Mahe, which is done on Tuesdays and Fridays. But on Friday 30th of September, it was the luckiest and amazing day of my life since that I have never seen a turtle egg in my life. I was accompanied by the MCSS staff, Cathrina Freminot and Laura Jeffreys.

It was fun walking along the beaches looking for turtle tracks. But the hard work started as we came to the Anse Corail beach. There we realised that the turtle nest that was laid last week was being in danger of getting damaged by the sea, due to the fact that when its high tide the sand is being removed on the nest and the hawksbill eggs might get spoilt with the sea water, also if the eggs get a lot of seawater it deprives them of oxygen.

So Laura, Cathrina and I (Rebecca) decided to relocate the turtle’s nest to where it would be much safer and away from danger. Even though we’d made the right choice, it was quite difficult to look for a new place as the beach was full of coconut trees roots and this makes it hard to dig a new nest.

Rebecca surveys the marked eggs ready for moving to the new nest

Finally, we found a nice warm and shaded little place under a coconut tree for these little ones. Now the hard work begins, where we have to dig the hole for the new turtle nest. While digging I encountered an old turtle nest which was not that far from the new one, so we were able to count the shells that the hatchlings had come out of. There were 140 turtle egg shells.

While Cathrina and Laura were digging the new turtle nest to a depth of 67 cm, the same as the old one, I went looking for a spade at some houses near by because the area where the new nest was dug was hard with all the roots, but it was bad luck for me as no one was home.

Egg translocation under way

So, I’ve improvised a new spade by using the part of a coconut tree fond, so I could dig the nest and then scoop out the sand in the nest with a coconut husk.

Rebecca digging the nest with her improvised spade

Finally we relocated all the eggs in the new nest and covered them with sand. Actually there were 158 eggs, but only 154 were relocated due to the fact that 4 were already predated by crabs.

After all ,we were all proud of the hard team effort and went home with a big smile on our face.

HURRRAY!

ISS students to the rescue...

2011-09-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

Our work-attachment students from the International School Seychelles were a part of a green turtle nest relocation this last week, and spent some considerable time helping to move the eggs to a safe location…

It was the first of the six beaches where we had found a green turtle nest. Unfortunately, it was situated near the shore line at Anse Grand Police where it was in harms way. Knowing that the tide would come up, it was critical that we had dig up the nest and relocate it into a safer place. After an hour of digging in all of the wrong places, Uzice finally came across a broken green turtle egg shell which gave us a clue that we were close. Digging in that direction, we suddenly touched upon the green turtle nest.

The team carefully excavate the area looking for the nest

By highlighting a dot on the top of every single egg, we were able to know the right way up before being carefully removing each egg. Once all 76 eggs had been placed on a plastic carrier bag, they were transferred further up the beach, away from the upcoming tides. Carefully bringing the eggs to the new location which was naturally protected by a sand bank, we gently placed them down before starting to dig the new hole, which had to be dug exactly to 82 cm as the nest environment had to be kept accurate.

Once we had dug the hole to the right size and depth, we passed the slightly indented egg shells (the last out of the nest) and put them in first. Then we put the undented shells in being careful to put them the right way up.

The translocated eggs in their new nest

We covered the egg chamber with sand and lightly patted it down so as not to crush the eggs, and then we marked the nest with a marker and took an accurate GPS reading to ensure us that we could easily relocate the nest if needed.

The completed nest and triumphant team (less Laura who took the photos)!

A well earned ice-cream on the way back to base!

Its all in the tracks.....

2011-09-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

Our Maritime training Centre Students, Dainise Quatre and Rebecca Hoareau, are fitting right in with our monitoring programmes and picking up the basics quickly, here's their short intro to some of the activities they were involved in this last week....

On Tuesday 6th of September 2011 at around 7.30 am, we went for our first turtle monitoring walk in the south of Mahe. It was a very sunny day. As you may know, we had to monitor 14 beaches to see if there were any turtles, nest and tracks.

We were very excited because it was our first experience of turtle monitoring. We were accompanied by Uzice and Laura. At 8.13 we arrived on our first beach which was Anse Parnell, and then Uzice explained to us about the turtle code of conduct and how to fill the turtle monitoring form. The last beach was at Mme Trojans.

Uzice explains about turtle monitoring and the code of conduct

Unfortunately, we patroled all the 14 beaches without seeing any turtles, which we were looking forward to, especially the two types, hawksbill and green turtle also the turtles nest here, so we were hoping to see their behavior and tracks.

Uzice, Dainise and Rebecca striding out across one of the 14 beaches....

We discovered that there were a lot of dog tracks and some litter that has been washed on the beach by the waves. Even though we did not encounter any turtles on that day, we enjoyed and learned about a lot of beaches that we had never known existed here on Mahe.

No tracks but lots of litter..... where are all the right flip-flops?

Were hoping that during our two months of work experience here at MCSS, we will be able to encounter a turtle nesting.

We wish that the public would be more concerned about preserving these species, especially stop destroying their habitats and throwing litter around!

At least the beaches are cleaner after an MCSS turtle patrol!

A Turtle Named ‘Gold Finger’ .....

2011-09-09T23:47:00.000-07:00

MCSS Senior Researcher Laura Jeffreys describes the discovery of some of Seychelles rarest turtles....

For some while now MCSS have been implementing a project funded by Mangroves for the Future on protecting coastal bio-diversity. As a component of this, we have been searching the wetlands, streams and freshwater ponds around Beau Vallon, Mahé for native mud turtles.

One of the BeauVallon wetland areas, ideal mud turtle habitat...

The search commences every evening just before dusk when we ‘the MCSS team’ place a modified traditional Seychellois fish trap in a freshwater pond/wetland. To encourage the mud turtle into the trap, a tin of tuna in oil is placed inside. The oil helps the smell of the tuna to carry across the freshwater.

Gareth Jeffreys has the important and dangerous role of placing the fish trap. This involves securing the fish trap to ensure it is able to float in a set position whilst still providing air to the mud turtle should they enter the trap (as they require air to breathe). The dangerous element is that we like to place the fish trap out of sight to prevent it being visible to passers-by and on this occasion meant that Gareth had to balance precariously on an old rotten fallen log. Gareth successfully balanced himself and has yet to experience falling in!

As usual, we patiently wait overnight (as does the mud turtle should it have entered the fish trap). At 6am, we wake up eagerly with the hope of a mud turtle. Gareth, once again expertly balances on the log to retrieve the fish trap. Abi March and myself wait in anticipation for whichever comes first: either the first sighting of the mud turtle through the fish cage; or the confirmation call from Gareth. We both glowingly received Gareth’s verification that we had a small crab and a mud turtle. The MCSS Team were all particularly delighted as during our journey to the freshwater pond, Abi had predicted either three mud turtles or none!!! Obviously, we hadn’t liked the sound of these odds. Thankfully, Abi’s prediction was wrong.

An endemic yellow-bellied mud turtle from Beau Vallon

It was a yellow-bellied mud turtle also known has chestnust-bellied mud turtle (Pelusios castanoides ssp. Intergularis) which is categorised as ‘critically endangered’ on the IUCN Red List. We checked on the sex of the yellow-bellied mud turtle by checking the length of the tail and confirmed he was a male. His measurements were as follows: length of 20cm, width of 13.5cm and carapace length of 22.2cm. The carapace is the top of the shell which is an arc shape.

Gareth taking note of Gold Finger's vital statistics

In order for us to be able to tell that we have already taken this mud turtle’s measurements, we marked him with gold nail varnish before releasing him back in his pond to help us ID him in the future, hence the name Gold Finger!

Gareth releasing GoldFinger, without falling off the log!

Although protected by Seychelles Law, the population is deemed to be decreasing and threats to the species include habitat loss through drainage of wetlands, as well as reduced quality of habitats due to pollution and rubbish dumping. Unfortunately, the location of where we found Gold Finger appears to be a dumping ground for disused household goods like fans and even a washing machine.

I’m not sure if I have successfully described our delight but to provide you with some context may help. We were particularly ecstatic as the yellow-bellied mud turtle is native to Seychelles and is critically endangered: “...endemic to islands in the Seychelles. It is found on Mahé, Cerf, Praslin, La Digue, Fregate and Silhouette islands… In 2002, the total population was estimated at less than 100 adults, distributed throughout six isolated populations” (IUCN 2011).

As you may now appreciate, we were a very happy MCSS team knowing to have found one yellow-bellied mud turtle, Gold Finger, from an estimated population of less than 100!

Post Script: Another two yellow bellied mud turtles were captured from the same site two days after ‘Goldfinger’, one of which was over 1.5cms bigger than Goldfinger... so that's three out of the expected population of 100!

The two latest yellow-bellied mud turtles!

The Mystery of Betty May Be Revealed

2011-09-09T07:50:00.000-07:00

In December 2009, MCSS deployed two satellite tags on nesting turtles in the South of Mahé; the turtles were named Betty and Wilna after the two volunteers from WCS who assisted us in the tagging operation.

Betty heading back out to sea with her new satellite tag in December 2009

Wilna headed North East and found her foraging ground some 100km from Mahé, while after only two weeks Betty, went missing in action!

We were still in contact with Betty’s tag for several weeks, but the signal was too weak to get a good fix on her position and we suspected that Betty has been killed by poachers, with her carapace dumped in the bushes (hence the weak signal) somewhere in the South of Mahé.

On the 7th of September staff from the Department of the Environment found a badly damaged Mk 10 AF tag among the rocks at Anse Bazarca. They brought the tag to MCSS and we have been able to confirm the tag number as being Betty’s tag…

Betty's tag recovered in September 2011, a lot the worse for wear...

While one end of the tag has been badly damaged, probably by the blows of a machete, the circuit board and memory of the tag appear to be intact and so we may yet find out what Betty was doing in her last few weeks of life before succumbing to one of South Mahe’s turtle poachers….

The tag was badly damaged but the memory chips seem to be intact....

Watch this space for further updates!

NESTING TURTLE 2010-2011 SEASON

2011-08-03T22:53:00.000-07:00

Every year nesting turtles swim all the way from their feeding grounds back to the beach where around 35 years ago they were hatched. During that time a female turtle can carry approximately 1500 eggs of different sizes ready to be fertilized and later deposited in the sand for incubation.

In the Seychelles archipelago, the endangered green turtle nest all year round, whereas the critically endangered hawksbill turtle nest seasonally. The Nesting Turtle Season which started on the 16th July 2010 has come to an end on the 15th July 2011. The first turtle encounter for the 2010-2011 seasons was recorded on the 18th August 2010 by the former MCSS Researcher Devis Monthy. A green turtle track was recorded at Anse Petite Boileau, unfortunately there was no indication that the turtle has laid even though there was evidence of digging in the area.

During the same routine patrol a number of Hawksbill turtle tracks were also recorded on several beaches in the southern region of Anse Grande Police, Petite Police etc.

Altogether a grand total of 84 routine weekly patrols for turtle emergences were conducted during the season by MCSS and other stakeholders in the turtle monitoring programmes.

The last nesting turtle emergence was recorded in the early hours of the 13th July 2011 at Anse Takamaka with a low tide. The hawksbill turtle was unable to dig its body pit as the emergence was to close to an establishment.

The photo above shows the set of turtle tracks leading back to sea. Luckily the table wasn’t in the area when the emergence occurred.

Almost three weeks prior to that emergence, at Anse Riviere Gaspar two hawksbill turtle successfully laid their last clutch of eggs for the season before heading out at sea again to their feeding grounds.

Upward and downward tracks from the emergence

MCSS Researcher measuring the tracks

Earth Day Activities

2011-06-03T21:40:00.000-07:00

To commemorate the International Earth’s Day on the 22nd April, the Banyan Tree Resort situated at the Intendance beach in the South-Western coast of Mahe organized a tree planting activity and Exhibition with the participation of the Hotel Staff.

The activity kicked off in the morning with tree planting by the Resort Staff, Management and visitors staying at the Hotel. A total of approximately 100 different plant species mostly seedlings were planted throughout the Resort compound area. The aim of the activity was to rehabilitate some areas at the Resort with young plants.

Visitors to the exhibition

An Exhibition was also set up and displayed by the wetland area, to illustrate some activities conducted by the Marine Conservation Society of Seychelles (MCSS) as well as its aim and objectives. The Intendance beach is one of the southern beaches of the Island that are being monitored by the MCSS Staff during the annual turtle nesting season, (September-February). Every week MCSS personnel patrol the nesting beaches in the South of Mahe for presence of nesting turtle or turtle tracks (Hawksbill or Green). The presence of MCSS staff at those nesting area also deters any poaching activity. Nesting is a time when a turtle is most vulnerable to be poached. All the patrols, tracks, turtles and nests are recorded and entered into MCSS turtle database.

The Intendance area is also one of the four sites being used in a new study being implemented by MCSS and GIF to provide better environmental information to both local communities and technical experts to assist the planning process. This project is the first Large Project funded by the Mangroves for the Future in Seychelles and will be on-going for 24 months and we will keep you updated of activities.

The newly recruited MCSS project staff, Researcher Uzice Samedi and Asistant Researcher Ms Catherina Freminot, were also present to provide the Hotel Staff and guests with information regarding the conservation and protection of marine species. Brief information was also given of how one should behave when encountering a nesting turtle on the beach, be it day or night in order for it to successfully complete the nesting process. A small hand-bag with educational items about conservation was also given to all the participants for their efforts, courtesy of the Hotel Management.

The exhibition and souvenirs given to the participants

Erosion Cliff Nest rescue

2011-02-17T02:37:00.000-08:00

After receiving a call on the MCSS hotline from a diligent member of the public about some turtle eggs in peril on one of our South Mahe monitored beaches, myself and GVI volunteer Brian Kneafsy went to the rescue. It turns out that the nice, safe place where a turtle chose to lay her eggs was not so nice and safe anymore due to the appearance of a large erosion cliff caused by changing tides. The sand had been completely washed away, taking the majority of the eggs with it and leaving the remainder partly exposed to the elements.

The exposed nest clearly visible in the erosion cliff, photo Georgia French

Obviously this is not conducive to nesting success so the eggs had to be moved further back on the beach into a new egg chamber created by us. Because the eggs were obviously quite well developed, it was critical that they remained in the same position that they were found in to avoid killing the developing embryos. To make sure that they remained in the correct position, we marked the top of each one with a small dot so that we knew which way up to place them in their new home.

The recovered eggs with their orientation 'top' marks, photo Georgia French

Unfortunately, only 16 eggs were left from the entire clutch which would typically contain around 150. But still, every egg counts!

Each egg was carefully removed, marked and placed onto a cloth before transporting a few feet back from the edge of the cliff.

The new nest safely back from the high-water line, photo Georgia French

They were then delicately placed into the new chamber with all of the dots facing up before being covered with sand. Staff from a nearby establishment were told of the move and are now on the look-out for any hatchlings that may have survived.

The relocated eggs, safely in their new nest, photo Georgia French

Erosion cliffs cause big problems for nesting turtles as they can not only expose nests that have already been laid but can prevent females from making it up the beach to the nesting platform in the first place. Hopefully in this case we got there in time and 16 new turtles will be able to make it to the sea.

.... Georgia

The Day of the Turtle

2011-02-06T02:03:00.000-08:00

The fifth of January was the first turtle patrol of 2011 and was a fantastic way to start the year which I think will be very hard to beat indeed.

On the way to the first beach of the day, we first have to drive past several of our other ‘priority’ beaches which we are currently monitoring twice a week. As usual I looked out the window of the truck as we went past these beaches to check for any turtle activity. I was very alarmed to notice a fresh looking turtle track with two dogs at the top of it. After we hastily reversed the truck and ran to the beach, we found a disturbing and sadly, fairly regular occurrence. Dogs had been digging up the freshly laid nest of a hawksbill turtle.

Dog tracks following a fresh turtle track was not a good sign... photo Georgia French

As the nest had already been partially dug up (thankfully they had not reached the egg chamber) and was in an area that may be inundated by water during high tide, the decision was made to relocate the nest to higher ground. We counted a very impressive 182 eggs and judging by the track width, this was a pretty big female, in all likelihood over 50 years of age. It would have been a great pity indeed if the dogs had attacked and killed this incredible animal.

Caroline and Leon translocating the eggs to a safer location, photo Georgia French

After successfully relocating the nest, it was off to monitor the rest of the beaches. As soon as we set foot on our second beach of the day we saw a very long track meandering from a relatively low tide line to the beach crest vegetation. A single track – we had a turtle!

A single very long track was a good indication of a turtle still nesting in the vegetation, photo Georgia French

Upon careful closer inspection we determined that the female was still looking for the perfect spot to lay her eggs. As it turned out, it took two hours for this fussy female to choose a good place, dig her nest, lay and cover her eggs. It didn’t help that she managed to get very tangled in some vines when she attempted to return to the sea. After giving her a helping hand, it was a pleasure (and a bit of a relief!) to watch her return safely to the ocean. This female already had tags on both flippers so I could ID her from our tagged turtle data set. It turns out that she was last spotted laying eggs on a completely different beach, just over five years ago! Her carapace has also grown by 2.5cm in that time.

Elated after encountering this turtle we walked right to the other end of the beach where we found something very special indeed...our first hatchling! Most of the other hatchlings had already left the nest judging by the empty egg shells and tiny tracks.

One tired little hatchling was left all alone for the march down the beach, photo Georgia French

That left this little guy to make the trip down the beach by itself, to much enchanted oohing and aahing on our part. It’s very hard not to ‘help’ such a vulnerable looking animal by carrying safely down the beach to the sea but it is important to let them make this journey for themselves.

The hatchling makes it safely down the beach, photo Georgia French

The rest of the beaches yielded only a few tracks and we began to feel a little despondent when it started to rain heavily on our last beach of the day. I looked up, shielding my eyes from the rain and saw what I first took to be a large group of crabs. I wondered why they were all heading towards the sea.....hatchlings!

It was fantastic to see a big group all rushing towards the sea together, needless to say we completely forgot about the rain!

What a fantastic day!

A Turtle Bonanza!

2010-12-26T01:42:00.000-08:00

My name is Caroline Baille, I am 21 and I am from France. I am on a master degree of agronomy. I will specialize in marine sciences later on, that’s why, for my internship this year, I wanted to work on protecting marine life, especially on animals like sharks or turtles. I sent a request to MCSS who accepted me on the Turtle Monitoring Program.

I arrived in Seychelles the 3rd of November 2010 and I am here for 3 months. In only 2 weeks, I discovered many things about turtles and about their conservation in Seychelles.

Caroline measuring a nesting hawksbill turtle, photo Devis Monthy

During the day, walking on the beaches looking for turtles tracks is really amazing, especially when we have turtle encounters. After 10 days of turtle patrols, I finally met my first turtles! And it was a very special day because we encountered 5 turtles on the beaches! We observed them, took all the required measures (carapace length,…) or information (time, turtle specie, name of the beach,…) for the research program and finally tagged them before letting them go back to the sea. This is very surprising to see how these animals living in the sea are able to walk on the beach and dig such a deep egg chamber (50cm) with their fins only. This is one of the things that impresses me most about turtles.

The first of the five turtles, nesting on the inshore side of the road, photo Caroline Baille

Turtles are beautiful animals and I understood that their conservation is very important for the ecosystem and fishing activities: I really feel concerned about it and getting involved in this program as a volunteer is the best experience ever for me, I really enjoy it.

More about the five turtles from Project Coordinator Georgia:

We enountered five turtles, the first one was at the first beach we checked and was on the other side of the road to the beach and not easy to see! She had already dug two nests complete with nest chambers but abandoned them for unknown reasons so she must have been really tired.

While we waited with her, a team of landscape surveyors turned up with machetes and equipment which was worrying initially but they turned out to be really interested so we told them about the laws, basic turtle info and about how turtles are poisonous to eat and how they help the environment. They ended up helping to get her back to the sea after she got stuck in some vegetation which was really good of them.

Turtle number 1 heads for the sea after being freed for vegetation, photo Caroline Baille

The second turtle laid at the bottom of an erosion cliff within the tide line so we translocated the eggs, (151 eggs) to the top of the cliff.

The whole team helps dig-out and translocate the eggs from turtle 2; photo Devis Monthy

Turtle no. 3 was on some rocks and while we were making a plan of action she made a break for the sea and we lost her! On the next beach along however, we encountered a turtle just emerging from the sea so it could well have been our friend from the rocks (turtle 4). On the same beach there was also another turtle already nesting (turtle 5).

Devis tagged this one as well as turtle no. 2 and showed us how the equipment worked. I was supposed to tag turtle no. 4 once she finished laying but she already had tags. All turtles were hawksbills. No. 4 also got stuck under some roots and Devis and Mariska helped to free her. Turtle ID photos were taken for all but turtle 3 which made a very speedy escape indeed!

One very clumsy Hawksbill....

2010-12-24T00:21:00.000-08:00

Let me introduce myself. I’m Georgia French, Project Coordinator for MCSS. I have been working here for about three months now and been on many turtle patrols but this one proved to be particularly memorable.....

We were headed to Intendence beach for our usual turtle patrol when we got a call from a Banyan Tree Staff member saying that there had been four turtle emergences on the beach that morning and one turtle was still present. This was great news for us as we haven’t caught a turtle on the beach for a little while and we were beginning to miss them!

We arrived to find a large group of tourists that were being managed by Banyan Tree staff standing well back from the nesting turtle. The intervention by the staff was good to see as two of the other emergences that morning had resulted in the turtles being scared back into the sea by unwitting tourists before they could lay their eggs. Thank goodness the staff were present to correctly manage the enthusiastic group for this turtle!

When we checked her laying stage we found that she had not yet begun to dig an egg chamber so we waited about half an hour for her to investigate the area and pick a spot that she was happy with.

Nesting turtle getting tied up in vegetation trying to find the right spot to nest; photo Caroline Baille

Once she had carefully excavated the egg chamber with her back flippers (I love watching this process, you would never think they could use their back flippers so delicately) I lay down behind her so that I could count the number of eggs that she laid. I think that she may have already nested a few times this season as she only laid 93 eggs. While she was laying, her carapace was measured and she was checked for injuries. She seemed to have a very fresh scrape on the back left of her carapace but it wasn’t a serious injury. Once she had finished laying we left her alone to cover her nest and then disguise it by throwing sand around with her front flippers. Unfortunately she managed to get a front flipper AND her neck well and truly stuck under some roots so we had to assist her in leaving the nest site.

On her way back to the sea at last! Photo Caroline Baille

When we knew she was about to head back to sea, we called over a family that had been waiting very patiently to see her return to the ocean. Making sure that they followed the turtle watchers code of conduct and stayed a safe distance away, the family took lots of pictures and were really happy to have witnessed such a rare and beautiful sight.

The happy family takes some photos of the turtle as she heads down the beach; photo Caroline Baille

But, once again, our turtle turned out to be somewhat unlucky. On her way over the rocks at the tideline, she managed to fall straight into a turtle-shaped hole! She was stuck fast with only her rear end and back flippers poking out which looked somewhat amusing but was a situation that required rectifying fast!

Stuck in a perfectly turtle sized hole! Photo Caroline Baille.

Myself and Devis Monthy used the protruding front of her carapace to pull her out of the hole and finally release her back to the sea. By this time there were a large number of spectators who all seemed very pleased to see this mishap prone turtle finish her trip.

Turtle Awareness Poster Challenge

2010-10-17T09:00:00.001-07:00

As a part of our on-going turtle conservation programme funded by the Mangroves For the Future initiative, we recently ran a survey about peoples perceptions and knowledge regarding Seychelles turtles. The results were very interesting and one output was a targeted awareness aimed at school children.

Devis Monthy in charge of our turtle monitoring was tasked with implementing the project assisted by Georgia French our MCSS Project Coordinator and as Abi March (one of our whale shark programme team leaders) is both a designer and school teacher, she was asked to lend a hand …Abi was more than happy to assist, provided she could piggy-back some whale shark awareness into the project!

Abi came up with the idea of a short turn-around ‘Poster Challenge’ for four schools…. Who could come up with the best awareness posters in just one week!

This was a pretty tight time-line for the kids as well as the MCSS team but this Saturday it all came together and the kids got to show off what they had achieved at an exhibition at the National Library put together by the team along with information about the MCSS turtle and whale shark programmes.

The Turtle awareness info and posters

The exhibition drew a good crowd of visitors from the schools, with their parents and teachers as well as some coverage from the National Press, and most importantly the posters were brilliant!!!

As part of the prize, the winning entry from each school was to be turned into a T shirt design and all compiled as a set of postcards… The winning entries and had already been turned into a first transfer print of the T shirts, to give the prize winners and orders for more are already flooding in!

The prize winning entries turned into T shirts

You can’t blame them when you see the designs!

First prize - Takamaka Primary School: Kimberley Marie

First prize - Beau Vallon Primary School: Aniella Cherry

Do visit our whale shark blog for more images of the shark oriented posters!

The full list of winners was:

1st Place

Sam Benoiton - International School Seychelles

Kimberley Marie - Takamaka Primary School

Dominic Rene - Anse Royale Secondary School

Aniella Cherry - Beau Vallon Primary School

2nd Place

Wayne Amelie - International School Seychelles

Karlos Bouzin - Takamaka Primary School

Estelle Lepathy - Anse Royale Secondary School

Audrey Matombe - Beau Vallon Primary School

Kimberley wearing her own designed T shirt... in fashionable baggy size with some prompting from Abi!

We will let you all know when the designs are available in their final form… could be a great Christmas present!

First turtle encounter and nest relocation.

2010-10-04T00:14:00.000-07:00

On the 24th of September the MCSS office received a phone call to inform us that there was a hawksbill turtle that came up at Anse Marie-Louise. Abi March and Devis Monthy, members of the MCSS crew set off to give a helping hand to the staff of the Anse Forbans Chalet.

They made a very good job of making sure that the turtle was not disturbed and returned back to sea in the best condition… Well the same condition that she was when she come ashore but just a bit lighter.

She tried to make a first nest but to no avail. Fortunately on the second try she was successful.

The MCSS crew arrived there a little too late because she had already gone back, but our trip was not in vain… Where she laid her eggs was not in the best location so it had to be relocated to somewhere closer to the chalets.

Abi and a hotel guest carefully start to excavate the nest to recover the eggs, photo Devis Monthy

She had laid in a quite busy activity area (the middle of the car park!) and without relocation we can safely say that it would not have survived to. A wooden log was placed in front of the nest before we arrived so that no one would park their car there or start a picnic!

Devis with the first load of eggs for relocating, photo Abi March

She had quite a load to release that’s for sure… 182 eggs had been laid. Unfortunately 4 eggs were damaged in our attempt to move the eggs but four is a small loss, compared to 182 if we hadn’t relocated them.

Abi replacing the eggs in the new nest, photo Devis Monthy

So we can say that the relocation was a success, now we have to wait about two months for us to see the fruit of our labor (the turtle and the relocation crew).

Our greatest thanks Brigitte the owner of Anse Forbans chalet, Mrs.Mathiot, and the guest at the chalet. For without their help, their appreciation for this species, we would not have been informed of the turtle emergence and it could have been one more lost nest.

To you all keep, up the good job…

The monitoring continues...

2010-09-16T23:52:00.000-07:00

Being the new guy on the block my work as the researcher for MCSS has just started. I was fortunate enough to be starting at the same time volunteers, interns and students were coming in for the whale shark program.

Shane Lucas, a student at the International school Seychelles came to MCSS for his work attachment. He is actually assigned to me, for helping me with the turtle monitoring. It’s been almost a month t hat he is here with me but unfortunately he hasn’t been fortunate enough to encounter a sea turtle on our monitoring beaches.

Well, we at MCSS hope that changes before he leaves us…..

On the more positive side of things, well we were able to see some tracks. By some tracks I mean 6 tracks. That doesn’t sound like much but it’s always a result!

As luck would have it, the first track was that of a green turtle which we encountered on our first monitoring session together.

Fresh tracks during the patrol, photo Shane Lucas.

One of the interns, Mariska Van Geldorp, is also helping us on the track counts that we do, once a week for the moment. That will intensify as the month progresses.

Devis, his brother Mickey and volunteer Mariska on beach patrol, photo Shane Lucas

Unfortunately one of the nests on the monitored beach has a dog problem. That being said, the dog in question has been up to quite a bit of mischief on his own. It has destroyed one nest already. The plan is to try and capture this dog in a manner that doesn’t involve killing it and bring it to a shelter.

So as you can assume not much is happening for the moment concerning the turtles.

As I’m still fresh on the job I haven’t been able to meet or introduce myself to everybody that is involve in the turtle monitoring in the area………. Do not worry or feel left out I will get a chance to meet you and formally introduce myself to you all. Furthermore I wish to thank everybody that has been and still involve in the protection and conservation of these majestic animals.

Wilna's having a rough few days...

2010-08-06T22:07:00.000-07:00

With the South East wind really kicking in this last week has been a rough one for Wilna the hawksbill turtle, tagged by MCSS with a satellite tag in December 2009. She had just nested on the South of Mahé when she was fitted with the tag which was a notable experience for the team as this was to be their first nigh-time tagging session (hawksbill turtles generally nest during day-light hours in Seychelles).

The MCSS team fitting Wilna’s tag in the dark, photo Betty Cecile.

Despite the challenge of working in the dark the team successfully deployed the tag which tracked her progress away from her nesting beaches as she headed North East to her foraging ground some 100km from Mahé.

Ever since December, Wilna’s tag has been transmitting daily updates about her position and diving habits until this week when her tag fell silent for two days. After the first day we thought that maybe there was a glitch with the data upload but by the second day we were worried that something had happened to Wilna as the tag’s battery should last for many more months and on checking with the satellite receiver system no messages had been received…

However, on the third day we had a confirmatory signal from the satellite system that Wilna’s tag is still functioning and she is still on her foraging grounds!

Wilna's position on the NE of the Seychelles Plateau

As these tags are very small and hawksbill turtles are fairly small animals, the tag is always very close to the water even when the turtle is resting on the surface. We suspect that with the rough sea conditions over the last few days the tag has simply not been able to transmit as even when the turtle is breathing it was likely to be too rough, keeping the tag semi-submerge all the time.

The satellite tag is very small and easily submerged in rough conditions, photo Elke Talma

So all is well… we just hope that Wilna isn’t getting too sea-sick…

Do turtles get sea-sick?

New Guy On The Block

2010-07-28T06:51:00.001-07:00

As Elke settles in to her new life on the island of Desroches so MCSS prepares to welcome her replacement as far as the turtle monitoring side of things at least… although small in stature she was a big act to follow and her replacement, Devis Monthy, may be just the guy to do that!

Devis with one of Aldabra's older residents!

Devis hails from our prime turtle area on the South of Mahe, from Anse Gaulette, Baie Lazare and so is more than familiar with the area. He is also more than familiar with turtles having worked on Aldabra first as a volunteer in 2005 and then as a boatman and ranger from 2006 – 2008 where he tagged a great many green turtles as a part of his routine monitoring duties. He is also experienced in the many routine monitoring duties on the atoll including terrestrial monitoring, which will doubtless be of use for the beach vegetation monitoring.

Devis rounding up a whole bucket full of straggling turtle hatchlings for re-direction towards the sea

Devis most recently assisted on the aerial survey of cetaceans and marine megafauna in the Western Indian Ocean, a marine mammal project implemented by the University of La Rochelle in France.

Devis starts at the beginning of August and may have already met some of the monitoring team during a familiarisation visit with Elke at the end of last month, so do keep an eye open for him and say ‘Hi’ if you see him on the beaches in the coming weeks… it will take a while for him to get to know everyone!

Elke’s last blog

2010-07-14T21:05:00.001-07:00

After more than 7 years of working with MCSS, 6 of which were dedicated to turtles, it is time to move on...to chase other turtles on Desroches!!!

This being my last MCSS blog, I am at a loss about what to say.

When David first suggested blogging, I was not impressed; in fact I thought it was the stupidest idea ever! I was already editing and publishing 3 newsletters for MCSS and now he wanted me to write a @*#$%£^ diary!

My first blog hinted at my feelings, but gradually I got into the swing of things and now I live for my blogs. In fact, I have discovered that not only do I like to hear myself talk; I also like to read what I write….repeatedly!!!

The MCSS Turtle blog was launched in September 2008, a month after the MCSS Whale Shark blog. After a few weeks David set up a counter for hits to our sites and being a little competitive by nature, I now had a reason to blog... I was going to out-blog the whale sharks!!!

Unfortunately, I failed!!!

The Turtle site lags behind by about 700 hits, however, my turtle loving pals and I have managed to write a total of 120 blogs compared to a measly 91 on the Whale Shark blog, proving that turtles still RULE!!!

I would like to thank everyone who has consistently read my blogs, especially those who volunteered to submit their own turtle blogs to the site... with any luck we have managed to convince a few people that turtles are important and should be protected.

Turtles of Mahé can breathe a sigh of relief as Elke leaves to “torture” turtles on Desroches, photo Ismael Mahmutoglu

Happy turtle “hunting” to you all.

MCSS wish Elke all the best with her move onto Seychelles outer islands... we have tried to warn the turtles what's about to happen!! The MCSS Turtle monitoring blog will continue with Elke's replacement and we hope Elke can send the odd message in a bottle for us to post...

Life-cycle of a Turtle

2010-07-01T06:06:00.000-07:00

The SWOT website has been updated and includes an interactive diagram about the life cycle of sea turtles.

You can explore this interactive diagram and learn all about the life of a turtle by visiting here

SWOT issue V

2010-07-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

The fifth issue of the SWOT Report was launched at the 30th Annual Sea Turtle Symposium in Goa, India. This volume puts the spotlight on Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) and olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) turtles, with a 9-page special feature about these mysterious animals, including a comprehensive map of their global biogeography and an article focused on the “riddle of the ridley.”

As always, SWOT Report, Vol. V also features a variety of interesting stories from throughout the sea turtle research and conservation community.

To download your copy of the report visit the SWOT website.

Global Warming and Turtles

2010-06-22T21:47:00.000-07:00

The effects of global warming/climate change will most likely have enormous impacts on turtles and other wildlife, mainly because the rate at which the climate is changing far exceeds the abilities of animals to adapt naturally to such dramatic environmental changes. In fact, scientists predict that many species will go extinct as a result of climate change.

With regards to turtles, a number of key climate change impacts have been identified:

Loss of nesting beaches: Sea level rise from the melting of polar ice is already contributing to the loss of beach and turtle nesting habitat. Weather extremes, also linked to climate change, mean more frequent and severe storms which alter nesting beaches, cause beach erosion, and inundate or flood turtle nests.

Seasonal beach erosion becoming more pronounced each year, photo Elke Talma

Reduced hatchling survival rates: Hotter sand from increasing temperatures results in decreased hatching rates or complete nest failure.

Month old turtle embryo dies in nests, photo Elke Talma

Imbalance in sex ratios: Increased sand temperatures will affect hatchlings by altering natural sex ratios, with hotter temperatures producing more female hatchlings.

Turtles gather at breeding sites and fight for mates, photo unknown

Change in their geographic distribution: Turtles use ocean currents to travel and find prey. Warming ocean temperatures influence migratory species by altering currents and impacting the distribution and abundance of prey species. This can result in southerly species being found in more northerly regions, well outside of their normal range.

Young leatherback hatchling at the mercy of the current, photo unknown

Loss of foraging grounds: Warmer water temperatures affect coral reefs through coral bleaching which are vital to the survival of species like the hawksbill.

Hawksbill turtle feeding on sponges, photo Pierre Andre Adam

While nothing can be done to stop changes in current flow, we can do our utmost to mitigate impacts to our coastline by making sure there is adequate beach vegetation to minimise sand erosion thus protecting the nesting platform and maximise shade cover to provide cool areas under vegetation to maximise or maintain egg survival rates as temperatures rise. This can be further enhanced through controlled coastal development. On a personal level, everyone should try to reduce their carbon footprint.

One big happy family!

2010-06-21T01:56:00.000-07:00

I have been working on my family tree and it turns out I am related to Gilberte Gendron and Marcel Mathiot .

Gilberte is my 6th cousin and with the rampant inbreeding in Seychelles (particularly on La Digue) in the 1800’s, it turns out that I am not only related to her through her mother (my 5th cousin, once removed) but also her father (my 6th cousin) - although they themselves are only indirectly related by an ancestral marriage…much to Gilberte’s relief!

As for Marcel, well he is my 3rd Cousin 3 times removed, which means I am now also indirectly related to Patricia and through them, to their 4 year old grand-daughter, Lucy...a budding turtle fanatic!

This means there are now at least 7 turtle fanatics (including by parents) in the family!

On the down side, many of our common ancestors come from La Digue, so I am a little concerned about the turtle killers (legal or otherwise) lurking in our midst!

MCSS and Chalets d' Anse Forbans – partners in turtle conservation

2010-05-23T05:46:00.000-07:00

In March, long after the weekly monitoring had been discontinued by MCSS at the “end” of the 2009-10 Hawksbill Nesting Season, a turtle decided to emerge on Anse Marie Louise in front of Chalet No. 2. The sighting was reported to Brigitte Howarth, manager of Chalets d' Anse Forbans, who was on hand to ensure that the turtle was not disturbed by the many clients who were eager to photograph their first encounter with a nesting turtle.

As Elke was on the other side of the island, the turtle could not be marker tagged but as she has a distinctive scar, she is easily recognisable. In fact, according to Brigitte’s grandmother, the turtle had been seen nesting on the same beach some 6-7 years ago. Just to be on the safe side though, clients were instructed to take numerous profile shots which will be processed and added to the turtle photo-ID database.

Hawksbill turtle with distinctive scar bite mark nesting on Anse Marie Louise, Photo Chalet D’Anse Forbans.

The following day, Elke was on site to mark the nest and thus the long wait for the hatchlings to emergence began.

New nest markers designed by Elke in 2010 for sensitive nests, Photo Chalet D’Anse Forbans.

As the due date approached, there was concern for the turtle eggs as recent heavy rainfall and extreme high tides could significantly increase mortality rates within the nest. If the egg chamber remained waterlogged because of poorly drained soil, the embryos would suffocate or drown and the added moisture could encourage bacteria or fungal growth. This being the last nest of a rather poor nesting season, it was decided that the nest would be dug up and if necessary, the eggs incubated artificially to maximise the survival rate.

On the 5th May, Elke was on site to excavate the eggs which were due to hatch between the 4th and 19th May. Much to everyone’s surprise and delight the hatchling were resting some 10cm below the sand surface and, after being woken up by Elke, needed little encouragement to make the final trek to the sea.

Brigitte had rounded up her clients for the released and an impromptu turtle awareness talk given by Elke. By the time hatchling No. 159 made it to the sea, there were at least 20 very happy people on the beach, including a local building contractor who had come to see Brigitte for some work and had never seen a turtle in his life!

If the species is to survive, people need to be able to appreciate the wonder of nature, Photo Chalet D’Anse Forbans.

With 5 dead embryos in the nest, Elke was even able to get a DNA sample for Ifremer.

MCSS has been working closely with Chalets d' Anse Forbans in the South of Mahé since 2004 and over the years has received logistical and financial assistance for the MCSS Turtle Monitoring and Conservation Programme. While there may not be many nesting turtles on this beach, there are enough to keep the clients of Chalets coming back every year so they can finally see for themselves the one that got away. On-going rehabilitation work at the Chalets is also helping to provide suitable nesting sites for turtles on a beach that is severely affected by erosion.

Ms Daphné Jumeau of Chalets d' Anse Forbans (right) presenting MCSS with a cheque to help towards their ongoing work in the conservation of turtles in the Seychelles, Photo Chalet D’Anse Forbans.

NOTE: MCSS does not make it standard practice to dig up turtle nests, however, in special cases hatchling provide the perfect backdrop to turtle awareness talks for both residents and visitors, re-enforcing the need to protect these amazing animals.

Turtles dig the dark

2010-05-15T02:31:00.000-07:00

Nesting turtles emerge from the sea each season to lay their eggs on a suitable beach. After laying, they use light reflected off of the water to find their way back to the ocean. Sixty days later, when the hatchlings emerge from the nest, they too use the reflected light to find their way to the ocean for the first time.

As we develop coastal communities, building beach houses, shopping centres and high rise hotels and apartment buildings, we are splashing more light onto these nesting beaches. Unfortunately the lights are coming from the wrong direction and can cause turtles to become disorientated. Often they will end up on a road, in a pool, an easy snack for land-based predators such as dogs, or simply get lost and bake in the morning sun.

For this reason, many coastal communities have "lights out" regulations during turtle nesting season. These regulations often require home and business owners to take modest steps to install turtle-friendly lights, draw curtains, or turn lights out after dark.

MCSS developed lighting guidelines for Seychelles with funding from the British High Commission, but unfortunately these are not always being implemented by tourism establishments or residents.

For a copy of the MCSS Turtle Friendly Developers Guide, please contact us.

Special issue of the Indian Ocean Turtle Newsletter out now

2010-05-09T22:09:00.000-07:00

The Indian Ocean Turtle Newsletter (IOTN) provides a forum for the exchange of information on sea turtle biology and conservation, management and education and awareness activities in the Indian subcontinent, Indian Ocean region, and south/southeast Asia. The newsletter also intends to cover related aspects such as coastal zone management, fisheries and marine biology.

IOTN is distributed free of cost to a network of government and non-government organisations and individuals in the region. All articles are also freely available in PDF and HTML formats on the website. Readers can submit names and addresses of individuals, NGOs, research institutions, schools and colleges, etc for inclusion in the mailing list.

To date, 11 issues have been produced with the latest issue being dedicated to turtle projects in the Western Indian Ocean and features 10 articles, 2 project profiles and 1 announcement.

In support of the regional turtle conservation effort, MCSS contributed to an article on the newly developed photo-ID technique developed by Kelonia Marine Turtle Observatory and one project profile to raise awareness about the MCSS monitoring effort in Seychelles.

To download a digital copy, please visit: http://www.seaturtle.org/iotn/index.html

Tourism Police help reduce failed nesting emergences.

2010-03-13T05:04:00.000-08:00

Every season, a number of nesting turtles will inadvertently be scared off the beach by over enthusiastic tourists, eager to immortalise the experience with the perfect shot for their photo album... and to make their friends back home green with envy!

In 2004, MCSS created the “Turtle Watcher’s Code of Conduct” with funding from the British High Commission and while these have been widely distributed to tourism establishments located on nesting beaches around Seychelles, many tourist, and locals for that matter, still do not know how to behave around a nesting turtle.

The MCSS TWCC for nesting turtles, courtesy MCSS.

With the recent establishment of the Tourism Police Unit within the local Police Force, these Officers provide a unique opportunity to maximise nesting success while raising awareness about turtle conservation.

MCSS began working with the Tourism Police in the South of Mahé during the 2008-09 Nesting Season, with Christopher Adrianne reporting nesting emergences on a number of beaches and even assisting with a poaching incident. In 2009-10, Andy Agricole and Michael Jacques joined the un-official Turtle Team within the Tourism Police. Other Officers, particularly on Anse Intendance, were also on turtle watch but never seemed to see a nesting turtle.

Andy Agricole making sure a nesting turtle is not disturbed by tourist on Anse Takamaka, photo Elke Talma.

Through their tireless effort in patrolling their designated beaches and their enthusiasm for turtle conservation, a number of turtle’s nested successfully this season and hopefully many tourist returned home with a turtle tale to pass on to their friends.

After months of watching over nesting turtles, Christopher Adrienne finally sees his first hatchling, photo Elke Talma.

Family outing in Costa Rica

2010-03-13T04:52:00.000-08:00

Turtles occur throughout the world’s oceans and while all are considered endangered, some even critically endangered, they are all of cultural and economic importance to coastal populations.

In Costa Rica for example, the “arribadas” of the Olive Ridley’s (i.e. massive nesting aggregations with thousands of females nesting in large simultaneous waves over small stretches of beach), bring families and the local community out for a day on the beach.

Costa Rican family enjoying the arrival of the Olive Ridley Turtle.

In typical Latin style, duties are delegated for the day’s activities. Women are charged with collecting the eggs, while surrounded by turtles desperately trying to lay their eggs in a limited window of time. The eggs are about the size of a lime, leathery in texture and amazingly tough, allowing them to be gathered straight from the eggs chamber and transported long distances without breaking.

Women dig for eggs

Arribadas are unique to turtles of the Lepidochelys family (i.e. Olive and Kemp Ridley turtles), and seem to be triggered by lunar phases. Generally, they occur around the start of the last quarter moon, but may also take place at any time including the full moon. Two arribadas (first and last quarter) may even occur in the same month and researchers have noted that the size and duration of the arribadas varies between the dry and wet seasons. Those occurring in the dry season of January to April tend to be smaller (approximately 5,000 turtles) and of shorter duration (less than 4 days). In the wet season of May to December, up to 300,000 turtles may lay over a period of 8 to 10 days. Depending on the location, there can be as little as 5 to as many as 15 arribadas in a year.

Once the women have filled gunny bags full of the precious eggs, the men take the bags off to market, where they are sold rather cheaply (less than US$0.01 per egg), for their aphrodisiac qualities .... they are also believed to cure erectile dysfunction!

Men carry the heavy load off to market.

Costa Rica is considered one of the best places in the world to witness an arribada, and while one would image this could cause a conflict between eco-tourism and the local culture, measures have been put in place to control the harvesting and also minimize poaching.

Since 1986 turtle eggs have been legally gathered by an organization know as the Association of Integral Development of Ostional (AIDO). The main goal of the exploitation and marketing of turtle eggs by AIDO is to achieve social growth of the community through controlled removal of eggs without compromising the reproduction and conservation of the species.

Controlled harvesting reduces poaching and helps preserve the species in Costa Rica.

As eggs deposited by early arrivees were being crushed by the next waves of turtles coming to lay eggs, it made sense to allow locals in this area to remove the first wave of eggs. Scientist also found that eggs laid during the dry season were unlikely to ever hatch due to the heat of the sand, which dehydrated the eggs.

Town’s folk collect and sell the eggs and use the money to help preserve the eggs in the subsequent waves of egg laying. The money was also used to build facilities in town, like schools and a clinic. Some of the money also ends up in the pockets of towns people, providing income where few jobs exist. The collected eggs are sold in bars and stores to meet the demand for turtle eggs and helps discourage poaching of eggs more likely to hatch. By providing a sufficient source of turtle eggs, the price of eggs stays low on the black market, discouraging incentive to poach them.

Chalet D’Anse Forbans continues to support the MCSS turtle programme.

2010-02-28T20:42:00.000-08:00

Chalet D’Anse Forbans, a family-run self-catering facility in the South of Mahé, has been supporting the MCSS turtle programme since 2004, through annual donations and staff participation in the ongoing monitoring on Anse Marie Louise.

Young Connor, one of the proprietor's children, respectfully following the MCSS turtle watchers code of conduct, Photo Elke Talma.

Together with their international partners, Trauminsel Reisen, the Seychellois proprietors of the Chalets have renewed their commitment to Turtle conservation in Seychelles as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of Trauminsel Reisen.

Between February 2010 to February 2011, Chalets d’Anse Forbans will donate €25 to MCSSS for each Trauminsel Reisen client staying 6 or more nights at the Chalets

Eligible Trauminsel Reisen clients will receive an MCSS “honorary turtle conservationist” certificate and will be added to the MCSS turtle blog mailing list.

Aerial view of Chalet d’Anse Forbans, photo Elke Talma.

For more information, please visit: Chalet D’Anse Forbans or Trauminsel Reisen.

Climate Change Watchmen

2010-02-22T01:22:00.000-08:00

Contributed by Nature Seychelles

It's been a very exciting time for the Turtle monitoring team on Cousin Island and there is something of a celebratory mood at present. You see, nearly two months of waiting are over and slowly hundreds of nests will begin to release their prize: brand new baby hawksbill turtles.

“Alongside the hatchlings, we will also receive data from 30 nests through a pilot program looking at how cool or hot the nests are” says Jovanni Simeon, the Chief Warden of Cousin. The data will be retrieved from instruments called data loggers that were buried in the nest during laying.

"To date, we have maintained a long term rigorous monitoring programme for the Hawksbill on Cousin Island, which has helped in the conservation of this endangered species. Adding a new dimension with the temperature data loggers is expected to elevate this monitoring to new standards now being adopted elsewhere in the world. We have become climate change watchmen". Says Nirmal Shah, Nature Seychelles CEO.

Cousin Island is the most important nesting site in the western Indian Ocean for the critically endangered hawksbill turtle. They nest here, as in the rest of the Seychelles Islands, between August and February and intensive monitoring takes place during this period to collect as much information as possible to inform the conservation management of this species.

The turtle monitoring program on Cousin is based on regular beach patrols carried out around the island to intercept and collect data on as many turtles as possible. Tags applied to the turtles’ front flippers are used to identify individuals and to provide an estimate of the size of the nesting population. Other information such as the size of the turtle and tracks are also noted and the location of any nests are marked and recorded.

But now with the dangers of Global Warming all the conservation efforts may come to nought if we do not know what is going on and act in time. Why is this? Temperatures inside the turtle nests determine the sex ratio of hatchlings. Warmer temperatures produce more females and cooler temperatures give more males. With rising global temperatures, it is essential to understand the potential impacts of climate change on this thermally sensitive species. It is the temperature within the middle third of the approximately 60-day incubation period that determines the sex of the hatchlings.

Temperatures inside the nests determine the sex ratio of turtle hatchlings.

This is why during this season, data loggers were added to 30 nests to collect information on nest temperature. Nests are closely monitored around the time of hatching. The data logger is removed so data can be downloaded and used in estimating an approximate sex ratio of the hatchlings.

"As soon as we observe hatching, we prepare to download the data as well as take measurements from a sampling of the hatchlings. The total number of hatchlings is also recorded." Says Eric Blais Conservation Officer, who is working alongside volunteer, Mary Ledlie, who has given her time to this important project. Photos are taken to add to the information database on these animals.

Hawksbill hatchling being measured before release, photo Nature Seychelles

The new addition of climate change monitoring to the long term turtle management program on Cousin is expected to yield important results. Results that will help us to understand the impacts of climate change on wildlife and how we can react in appropriate ways to save our precious natural heritage.

Dirk meets a rock climbing turtle

2010-02-20T04:26:00.000-08:00

Following the release of the five young turtles from Germany Mr Dirk Hausen of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, stayed on for a short holiday in Seychelles and on his last day joined Elke on a turtle patrol.

Before they set off, Elke made it very clear that there would be a lot of walking on hot, humid beaches and that they would not see any turtles as the tides were wrong. Despite the warning, Dirk insisted on coming along, as he wanted to see more of the island.
By the time they got to the 5th beach, one of Elke predictions was called into question ... there was a turtle on the beach! In fact, Elke and Dirk were so busy talking that they nearly trampled the poor animal.

After selecting a safe and comfortable viewing area, it was soon clear that the turtle needed assistance. She was on her second egg chamber and digging up roots. Sneaking up behind her, commando style, Elke and Dirk took turns to help rip the roots out of her way (Elke’s trusty knife for such occasions was in the office with the satellite tagging gear, in the hope that she would eventually lay her eggs.

Dirk sneaking up on the turtle to assist with digging, photo Elke Talma

After an hour of trying to dig an egg chamber, the turtle decided to move on...picking a spot less than a meter away with just as many roots! After digging a total of 4 egg chambers, the turtle finally decide she had enough and headed back to sea without laying.

Dirk cringed as he listened to the grinding of her shell, as she navigated over the rocks. Elke, who by now hot, injured and covered from head to toe in sand, after her “good deed” for the day, felt no sympathy whatsoever!!!

Dirk trying to get a facial shot for photo-ID, photo Elke Talma

NOTE: The same turtle was seen by a group of inebriated tourists later that day. She emerged on a neighbouring beach and for reasons yet to be properly explained, her eggs were relocated to a 3rd beach. This means that Elke will not be getting any DNA from this turtle!

MCSS and World Wetland Week

2010-02-13T03:23:00.000-08:00

Things were hectic last week with Seychelles hosting the first ever World Wetland Week, an initiative by the RAMSAR Convention on Wetlands, the World Tourism Organisation and the Government of Seychelles. The theme for this year’s celebrations is “Wetlands connect life and culture”.

Despite being on the local Wetland Scientific Committee, somebody forgot to invite Elke to many of the activities but Elke was able to turn up anyway - like a bad penny!

One of the activities, where Elke ended up being directly involved was a site visit to Intendance Wetland at Banyan Tree Resort for the signing of an agreement between the RAMSAR Convention on Wetlands and the United Nations World Tourism Organisation to help countries that use their water ecosystems wisely.

Anada Tiéga (left) of the RAMSAR Convention on Wetlands of International Importance and Sustainable Development Director of the Tourism Organisation, Luigi Cabrini (right), photo Elke Talma.

Elke found out about the event the day before and spent most of the next day photographing, measuring and marking terrapins for a symbolic release to commemorate the signing of this important document. The terrapins, currently living in an old water storage tank at Banyan Tree Resort, had been rescued from the road leading to the Resort, and were being held captive, primarily as a tourism attraction but also for their own safety. Some had been in captivity for over a year, and while MCSS is not directly involved in the Banyan Tree Wetland Rehabilitation Programme, Elke has been an unpaid part-time advisor to the programme, particularly with regards to the terrapins, ever since J.Lo made her acquaintance.

One of 7 terrapins from “Terrapin Rescue Centre” being released into the Intendance Wetland, photo Wilna Accouche.

In lieu of a planned site visit by the delegates, the terrapin pen had been dubbed a “Terrapin Rescue Centre” by yours truly, and boasted a pretty new sign, hot of the presses!

With 13 terrapins remaining in the Rescue Centre, delegates were able to see how well Banyan Tree staff were caring for the animals while in captivity.

Delegates visiting the Banyan Tree Terrapin Rescue Centre, photo Elke Talma

Despite being a gate crasher, Elke somehow ended up playing tour guide while delegates asked questions about the Banyan Tree Wetland Rehabilitation Programme before moving on to Intendance beach. Elke was once again on hand to describe the MCSS-BTS Turtle Programme.

Delegates learning about nesting turtles at Anse Intendance, photo Wilna Accouche.

Help us find Betty!

2010-02-08T23:38:00.000-08:00

In December 2009, MCSS deployed two satellite tags on nesting turtles in the South of Mahé. Wilna headed North East and seems to have reached her foraging ground some 100km from Mahé.

Betty, on the other hand is missing in action! While we are still in contact with Betty’s tag, the signal is too weak to get a good fix on her position.

We suspect that Betty has been killed by poachers, with her carapace dumped in the bushes (hence the weak signal) somewhere in the South of Mahé.

Weak signals from Betty’s tag are originating from the Police Bay area.

If you find Betty’s remains, please let us know! ...if we can retrieve the tag, her death will not be in vain!

MKF-10 Satellite tag with 62GB storage capability, photo Elke Talma

PLEASE REPORT
dead or rescued turtles to MENRT Greenline 72 21 11
or MCSS hotline 71 35 00 (info@mcss.sc)

No more emails from Carol!

2010-02-08T23:34:00.000-08:00

Carol the Hawksbill turtle from Seychelles sent her last email to MCSS on 27th November 2009. After more than 700 days of data transmission to the Argos Satellite System, the battery on the revolutionary Mk10-AF fast-loc tag from Wildlife Computers has finally died.

Carol was one of the first turtles to be fitted with this type of tag, which records not only the standard data such as depth, temperature and light levels but also takes snapshots of GPS locations, allowing researchers to more accurately track movement patterns.

Currently Carol is the longest recorded satellite tracked animal, in terms of duration, in Seychelles - the longest whale shark attachment so far has been 123 days for a PAT tagged shark - and is possibly a world record for a GPS-satellite tagged turtle.

Carol should hopefully be returning to Seychelles during the 2010-11 nesting season. If she is captured while nesting, MCSS should be able to download 64MB worth of data, reporting on her every move, minute by minute, over the 704 days she kept in touch.

Turtles as climate change story-tellers

2010-02-04T20:05:00.000-08:00

Contributed by Nature Seychelles

In Lewis Carroll's famous fantasy tale, "Alice in Wonderland" the sorrowful Mock Turtle, while telling Alice his history, makes this well-known statement, "We called him Tortoise because he taught us". He was speaking about the Master at his school in the sea who was an old Turtle. Among the lessons that Mock Turtle received were "mystery, ancient and modern, with Seaography."

Alice listens to the Mock Turtle's sad tale, illustration by Ryan Durney.

Now, as in Lewis Carroll's tale, the old masters of the sea have a few things to teach us. And although Alice had a difficult time understanding the characters of Wonderland, we are able to make sense of what the turtles are telling us.

Scientists have long recognized sea turtles' sensitivity to weather changes at nesting sites. On beaches where turtles nest, rising sea levels and violent weather can affect nesting areas and impede success.

Significantly, however, is that a sea turtle's gender is determined by nest temperature during development. Turtles therefore are seen as good environmental indicators that can reveal the effects of climate change on the natural world. For this reason many turtle management programs are incorporating temperature measurements into their monitoring. This is the case with Nature Seychelles' monitoring program on Cousin Island, thought to be the longest running program of its kind for hawksbill turtles.

"During this nesting season for hawksbill turtles, we have added the use of data loggers in nests to take nest temperatures," Says David Derand Nature Seychelles' Science Coordinator. "This is an innovative monitoring exercise we are carrying out with technical assistance from Kelonia, Reunion's marine turtle observatory. We believe it will enrich the information we are currently collecting for hawksbill turtles on Cousin and help us improve the chances of this still endangered species. It will also give us information about climatic changes." The data loggers inserted into a nest during laying of eggs are retrieved at the end of the incubation period.

Tail end of a data logger and nesting turtle, photo Liz Mwambui

In humans and in most familiar animals, the gender of an offspring is determined by the genetic contribution of the father. Offspring receiving an X chromosome from the father develop into females, while those receiving a Y chromosome develop into males.

However, in Turtles gender is based on nest temperature. This is commonly referred to as temperature sex determination (TSD). Turtles have a pivotal temperature at which the ratio of males and females is equal. Temperatures above this number result in more female hatchlings and below it, in more males. Therefore, small rises in beach temperatures can result in all-female populations and lower temperatures, all male. A bias towards either gender obviously becomes a problem for breeding of the turtles.

Recently marine scientists have begun to predict that global climate change and rise in temperatures will result in the male numbers in turtles being severely impacted. Furthermore, if temperatures are extremely high, the implications may be more serious, leading to high mortality of hatchlings in affected nests, says the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). High egg loss could lead to a decrease in population size, increasing the vulnerability of these species to extinction.

Implementation of temperature monitoring projects helps to assess what the local impacts of global climate change will be on beaches and sea turtles populations. Monitoring information from Cousin will add to management needed to try to mitigate climate changes.

Conservation of turtle rookeries on Mahé through increased public awareness and community involvement.

2010-02-01T05:21:00.000-08:00

MCSS has received funding from Mangroves for the Future for a new project which looks at the “Conservation of turtle rookeries on the developed island of Mahé through increased public awareness and community involvement”. The primary objectives of this project are to: identify, monitor and rehabilitate priority turtle nesting beaches through collaborative programmes with local communities and stakeholders while raising public awareness in both residents and tourists about turtle conservation in Seychelles.

Elke (yellow shoes) speaking to officers from the Tourism Police about turtles, photo Veronique Bonnelame.

Since 2003, MCSS has been implementing several complementary and mutually supportive turtle projects that address the strategic, tactical and local scenarios in an attempt to address turtle conservation in an integrated manner. This project builds on the foundations and outputs of these on-going activities.

For turtle conservation to be effective in the long term to the broadest benefit of the Seychelles population through economic, educational, scientific and aesthetic benefits, it is necessary to maintain turtle rookeries on the developed islands of Seychelles.

Educating the youth is one way to help conserve turtles, photo Michele Martin.

In other parts of the world, effective and lucrative ecotourism activities have been established around turtle rookeries. In Seychelles, the benefits of turtle based eco-tourism have so far proven illusive as the resource is not sufficiently accessible and/or reliable to allow for the development of targeted activities. Healthy nesting populations on selected beaches coupled with reasonable feeding populations around the main developed islands offer scope for targeted marketing of turtle-related activities to the broader tourist population in a way that can have direct benefits to local communities.

For such a project to have any chance of success it must have good support from the populace in general and this in terms of goodwill, volunteerism and the donation of funds and facilities.

A belated Christmas gift for Robin from MCSS

2010-01-29T22:07:00.000-08:00

Shortly after Christmas, Elke received a call from an exited Robin about finding a hatchling on Petite Anse, West Mahé. Robin Bhugaloo is the “Turtle Manager” at the Four Seasons Resort, but as there has been no nesting activity on the beach this season due, most likely, to the increased human presence from the Resort, he has had very little to report... a hatchling, therefore, was a major find!

Robin Bhugaloo proudly showing off his find, photo Elke Talma.

Unfortunately, the hatchling which had emerged from a neighbouring beach and was washed ashore by strong currents was very weak and died shortly after. Its death, however, was not in vain as Elke was on hand to collect a DNA sample for IFREMER.

Elke collecting DNA from the dead hatchling, photo Elke Talma.

Two days later, during regular beach patrols in the area, Elke dug up a recently hatched nest with 10 stragglers. As Robin was a short drive away, the hatchlings were Robin’s reward for diligently patrolling Petite Anse since October 2009 to no avail. By the time Elke arrived at the Resort, word of the imminent release had spread like wildfire and a large group of tourist and staff had gathered to wish the hatchlings a final “bon voyage”.

Clients and staff from four Season resort, treated to an impromptu lecture on turtle conservation by Elke, photo Robin Bhugaloo.

MCSS assisting with regional turtle DNA study

2010-01-29T03:17:00.000-08:00

Researchers from IFRMER and Kelonia using variations in the mitochondrial DNA patterns in green turtles from the Southwest Indian Ocean have revealed two distinct genetic populations within the region – namely the Indo-Pacific turtles and the Atlantic turtles.

Previously, it was believed that the Cape of Good Hope, at the tip of Africa, acted as a natural barrier between the Indian and Atlantic Ocean populations.

A little nip and tuck, photo Catarina Schlott

Since the beginning of the 2009-10 nesting season, Elke has been collecting turtle DNA samples on behalf of IFRMER. To date 14 Hawksbill, 1 Green and 1 Olive Ridley tissue samples have been sent to Reunion for analysis.

Over the course of the nesting season an additional 35 Hawksbill samples have been collected from both nesting turtles and dead hatchlings and embryos dug up from nests. Samples have also been taken from 2 dead adult turtles found by MCSS during the season.

DNA can help us better understand the population distribution, photo Elke Talma

MCSS helps celebrate 15 years of the Seychelles Wildlife Clubs

2010-01-28T06:01:00.000-08:00

A festival was organised in November 2009 to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Seychelles Wildlife Club, and Elke volunteered to talk to club members about turtles.

Armed with a turtle poster from Kelonia, Tiny the inflatable turtle, lots of informative turtle leaflets, some drawing material and the “pièce de résistance”, Isabelle the terrapin who had been rescued from Anse Forbans, Elke was ready to take on the challenge of keeping a group of over 15 kids entertained for over 2 hours!

“Turtle Time” started with a question and answer session entitled “Who’s who in turtle land”, using the turtle poster donated to MCSS by Kelonia. It was clear that, despite never having seen a live turtle, the kids knew their stuff, leaving Elke to ask more challenging questions.

When it came to turtle protection laws, Elke was pleased when her avid crowd of turtle fans suggested that poachers should be locked up for 15 years for killing turtles, as opposed to the 2 years currently imposed under the Seychelles law.

Elke and her avid group of turtle fans, photo Michelle Martin

The next session entitled “Shush! Do not disturb”, was to teach the kids the MCSS Turtle Watcher’s Code of Conduct and Tiny the inflatable turtle was key to this role playing exercise. By the end of the morning the kids, knew the Green Line number (72 21 11) off by heart, and promised to stay with a nesting turtle until she made if safely to the sea ... if they ever saw one, that is!

“Shush! Do not disturb”, photo Michelle Martin.

To round off the morning activities, Elke shifted to the main attraction ... a live terrapin rescued during a recent turtle patrol and, at the time in quarantine, before her release in the Banyan Tree Resort’s Wetland. The session entitled “Meet Isabelle, the terrapin” gave the kids the opportunity to, not only learn more about terrapins but also to see how conservationist can help protect endangered animals through their work.

Under Elke’s close supervision, Isabelle was photographed, weighed and measured by the kids, much to her annoyance, giving the kids a taste for what they could be doing, should they eventually decide to work in environmental conservation.

Isabelle making her movie debut, photo Elke Talma

The morning’s turtle activities concluded with a session in which the kids could paint or, for the more talented artists, draw some turtles to show their parents what they had been up to that morning.

Turtle masterpieces by budding artists, photo Elke Talma.

Christmas and New Year break

2010-01-28T05:59:00.000-08:00

For the those of you who may regularly log onto the MCSS turtle blog, you may have noticed a decided lack off activity on the site during January. While Elke continued to write blogs, David was in Djibouti chasing whale sharks . With limited internet access, he was unable to post any of Elke’s blogs for the period he was away.

Our apologies....

Our Best Wishes!!!

2009-12-23T19:04:00.000-08:00

Wilna and Betty join Carol in making turtle history

2009-12-20T20:00:00.000-08:00

In December 2007, MCSS deployed two fast-loc satellite relayed tags with funding from Barclays Banks, Seychelles. Two years later, David dropped off another two tags for Elke to play with! ...these were funded by the 2009 whale shark encounter trips.

Elke organised a 'camping trip' last week to the South of Mahé to find some turtles to put the tags on. The Banyan Tree Resort generously agreed to provide food and accommodation as Xanadu Private Resort, our previous accommodation on the beach, was having water issues.

MCSS sought assistance from previous partners, namely the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MENR) and the Wildlife Clubs of Seychelles (WCS), for additional man-power …or rather woman-power as it turned out to be!

Luxury Banyan Tree Resort accommodation…unfortunately not quite what we got!

MENR unfortunately did not have any staff available for the planned period but the WCS came to the rescue with group leaders, Wilna Figaro and Betty Cecile, volunteering to leave their families for a week to join Elke on the beach…they had no idea what they were in for!

From left to right: Wilna, Elke and Betty, photo David Rowat

The first day was a logistical nightmare! David, having just returned from the UAE had forgotten to defrost the tags and was still rubbing sleep out of his eyes when Elke, Wilna and Betty rocked up at his house at 7am while at Banyan Tree Resort, no one had left instructions with Security about our arrival. By mid-day, all was on track again with Elke’s stress levels had reduced significantly!

Assuming her position from 2 years ago, on a large rock under a small coconut tree, Elke had a panoramic view of the beach to begin the long wait. Three turtles were spotted that day, a very good sign!

Panoramic view of the MCSS satellite tagging beach, photo Elke Talma

The first two turtles returned to sea without nesting after struggling on the rocks which form a barrier at low tide; the third made it to the nesting platform and began to lay shortly after 17:30pm. With sunset at 18:30, it was decided to let her be, as we did not want to be fooling around with epoxy glue and an unhappy turtle in the dark. DeeDee (SCA0860) finally made it to the sea at 18:23 giving the team just enough time to make it to dinner in the staff canteen.

DeeDee the turtle, heading off into the Sunset, photo Elke Talma.

After 10 hours on the beach on Tuesday, there was nothing to report on the beach or from the surrounding waters. David Deny, our man-Friday from 2007 and caretaker at the Xanadu Private Resort, predicted that we would not see a turtle until Friday! In desperation, Elke expanded the search area to a second beach and at 16:50 got a call from an exited Wilna, that a turtle was emerging at Xanadu.

Dr. David Rowat was called from a cocktail with the British High Commission and despite the lateness, it was decided that we would tag her anyway under the glow of a battery powered tube light - an experience never to be repeated!!!!

Just enough light to get by, but never to be repeated, photo Betty Cecile

At 20:10 the 90.5cm hawksbill turtle (SCA0862), now named Wilna after her finder, was released complete with her satellite tag firmly fixed after just 1hr and 30 minutes of being restrained by Elke and all. It was low tide by then, and the tired, scared and confused turtle wedged herself under a rock in a shallow rock-pool on the exposed reef some 10 metres from the sea.

Elke and David, rushed to her rescue, concerned for the turtle's safety but also for the Euro 5,000 tag! Finally, Wilna the turtle and her new accessory made it out to sea and an exhausted turtle tagging team realised that they had missed dinner in the Banyan Tree canteen!

Getting to bed at nearly midnight, Elke took an executive decision to sleep in the following day. After a leisurely breakfast, the team of ladies arrived on the beach at 07:45 only to find a turtle entering the nesting platform. Oh joy!! Elke was still recovering from her injuries after trying to restrain Wilna the turtle the previous night!

However, in daylight things were a lot less stressful making it easier to deal with this turtle (SCA0864), now known as Betty ... it also helped that she was significantly smaller!

By the time Dr. David arrived on site, Betty the turtle had just started laying and David Deny was on hand to assist with logistics. Michelle Martin, also from the WCS, and her kids had been invited and were there to provide moral support for what was an anticipated long wait that day.

The two David's capturing Betty the turtle in the 'box' as she emerged from the nesting platform, photo Elke Talma.

Betty the turtle was also restrained for 1hr and 30 minutes while the tag was attached and with lots of additional hands, Elke could take a breather - funny how it took 6 people to hold the smaller turtle though!

The WCS ladies (from left to right Michelle, Wilna and Betty) and Betty the turtle, photo Elke Talma

After being released, Betty the turtle safely made it out to open water with a bit of guidance and maneuvering to get around the raised reef by Dr. David assisted by Noah, Michelle's son.

Dr. David pointing the way around the reef while Noah Jean-Louis assists in getting Betty the turtle back to sea, photo Betty Cecile

The new satellite tags are already transmitting and both turtles are alive and well; we will keep you posted on the progress of Wilna and Betty, the hawksbill turtles from Seychelles.

Famous Five back in Seychelles

2009-12-19T06:24:00.000-08:00

In March 2009, the German customs officers confiscated a number of turtle eggs from a woman who had returned to Germany after a holiday in Seychelles. The eggs were sent to Frankfurt Zoo and placed in an incubator where five of them hatched shortly after and the hatchlings were then carefully reared by the staff. The smuggler was fined Euro 5000 ($7300) by German officials it was reported, and we have to applaud the actions of the German customs authorities in helping stamp out this illegal activity.

Today, nine months later, sponsored by airline Condor, the young turtles arrived in Seychelles accompanied by Mr Dirk Hausen of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation and Mr Michael Schüler of Hessicher Rundfunk TV. They were greeted by Ronley Fanchette of the Ministry of Environment, Dr. David Rowat and Elke Talma of MCSS, Alain St. Ange of the Seychelles Tourism Board, Dr Jimmy Melanie from the Seychelles Veterinary Clinic and a film crew from the Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation.

The turtles in their transit box, photo Elke Talma

After an 8 hour flight, with no food nor drink since 5pm Seychelles time the day before, the turtles passed their veterinary inspection. While the original plan was to released them immediately, Elke and David managed to convince the authorities that it would probably be best to allow the turtles to acclimatise to our warmer climate…also at an average length of 20cm it seemed murderous to drop them onto a reef to be fed on by large fish and any resident sharks! Usually turtles of this size would be safely hiding in seaweed mats floating in mid-ocean, far away from toothy predators...

Unfortunately, Seychelles is not equipped to deal with rescued marine animals but luckily there is a Black Pearl Farm on Praslin Island with salt water ponds large enough that would be a suitable temporary home for the repatriated turtles. A few quick phone calls and the owners of the farm confirmed they were happy to accept these new residents on a temporary basis.

But how to get them there, especially with such a large welcoming committee! Captain Donn Du Preez of the Seychelles Defence Force and his Twin Otter, Casper, came to the turtle’s rescue once again. Within 2 hours, Captain Du Preez and his trainee pilot, Private Arshile Uzice, were ready for the island hop, graciously giving up their day off from hunting Somali Pirates.

The turtle box being loaded into Casper, photo Elke Talma

After being measured and photo-ID’ed by Elke, the Famous Five were released into their temporary home. It was heart warming to see them swim off to the other end, and shortly after begin feeding on the algae and invertebrates growing in the pond.

Dirk saying his last goodbye to one of the young turtles, photo Elke Talma

The turtle’s will be under the care of Victorin Laboudallon of the Ministry of Environment on Praslin for the next two weeks before being released into their natural habitat. During his interview with Michael, Victorin thanked the German people for returning our natural heritage and offered to name them after five German cities.

Young turtles inspecting their new home, photo Elke Talma

After a quick Google search, Elke has already picked out some names:
1. Berlin (a.k.a Bernie)
2. Munich (a.k.a Moo)
3. Hamburg (a.k.a Hammie)
4. Cologne (a.k.a Col)
5. Frankfurt (a.k.a Frankie)

Using images to help conserve endangered marine animals

2009-12-19T04:57:00.000-08:00

Newspaper article from Seychelles Nation (30.11.2009)

Identifying individual animals over a period of time can provide information on population size, and individual survival amongst other things and as such is a key tool for conservation. But how do you identify animals that basically look alike?

The Marine Conservation Society, Seychelles (MCSS) in collaboration with Ministry of Environment and the Kelonia Marine Turtle Observatory in Reunion, recently held two workshops funded by Mangroves for the Future for scientists and the public, explaining how photo-identification can be used on turtles and whale sharks.

Whale sharks are regularly visitors to Seychelles waters and in 1997 MCSS set up a long term monitoring programme to help learn more about these elusive creatures. Initially, sharks were identified with marker tags giving each tagged animal a unique and easily recognisable number. Later, however, a photo-identification technique developed for ragged-tooth sharks in South Africa that used the pattern of spots on the sides of the sharks was shown to be effective in identifying individual whale sharks also.

The area found to be most suitable, is the area behind the last gill slit on each side (see photo). Photographs of this area, which include the top and bottom of the last gill slit and the edge of the pectoral fin, provide ‘landmark’ points that allow the image to be digitally ‘fingerprinted’. These fingerprints can then be used to rapidly identify the individual sharks using a special computer program (I3S).

The MCSS has built up a database containing over 13,000 images of whale sharks taken around Seychelles and from these they have identified 447 individual sharks over the last 10 years. Of these, 99 sharks have been resighted in multiple years, the longest span being for 4 sharks identified in 2001 and resighted this year. These images and their fingerprints are shared freely with other researchers in the Indian Ocean and also on the global whale shark database and are helping to unravel the mysteries surrounding the lives of this the world’s largest living shark.

The spot patterns on whale shark can be used to identify individual animals in a population, the box shows the critical area needed to get a usable fingerprint. Photo Luke Riley.

In turtle conservation throughout the world, most individual identification is by the use of marker tags and in these species, the easily accessible part of the population is nesting females who come ashore to lay their eggs and can thus be tagged on the beach.

In some places, such as the Aldabra Atoll World Heritage site in Seychelles, juveniles can also be caught on the reef flats for tagging and weighing. Mature adult males, however, are pretty much inaccessible not only because they occur in deeper waters, but also swim much faster and weigh significantly more, making it hard to catch them for weighing, measuring and tagging.

Given these limitations, a number of organisations around the world have looked at ways of using photographs, rather than marker tags, to identify individual turtles. Claire Jean, Project Officer at the Kelonia Marine Turtle Observatory, in association with the Information Technologies department at the University of Reunion, have recently devised a method which uses the number, location and shape of scales from the left and right side of the turtle's head to identify individuals in a population.

Results from Green turtles photographed by divers around Reunion, Mayotte and Glorieuse islands have shown that individual animals can be reliable identified in their foraging grounds using this method.
To date, 60 Green turtles have been identified by researchers at Kelonia, with at least 14 individuals being re-sighted a few months later. Photographs of turtles in Seychelles, submitted by MCSS, have added an additional 36 Hawksbill turtles to this Indian Ocean database.

One of the many Hawksbill turtles photographed in Seychelles waters, the box shows the critical area needed to get a usable fingerprint. Photo David Rowat.

HELP US KEEP TRACK OF OUR ENDANGERED SPECIES:
If you would like to assist with these programmes, please feel free to send us your photographs of whale sharks and turtles. Simply include: your name, the date and location of the photograph and the animal’s behaviour at the time (i.e. feeding, resting, swimming etc.) and we will include it in the rapidly growing database.

MCSS,
PO Box 1299,
Victoria
email: info@mcss.sc
website: www.mcss.sc

Breaking records with GVI

2009-12-14T22:04:00.000-08:00

Since her turtle talk with volunteers of Global Vision Internal (GVI), Elke has been taking GVI volunteers on beach patrols as part of the awareness raising campaign under the MCSS project on “Conservation of turtle rookeries on the developed island of Mahé through increased public awareness and community involvement.” funded by Mangroves for the Future.

To date, 18 volunteers have joined in beach patrols with a number a turtle records being broken.

Brendan Galloway proved that he was NOT an American Superpower after all, when a Hawksbill turtle showed him just how strong Seychellois girls could be! His buddy Vincent Vandergheynst filmed the whole thing! It took over 3 minutes for Brendan to restrain the turtle and in the end Elke only deployed one tag and had to forgo measuring, as she was feeling sorry for the poor turtle.

Proof that turtles are stronger than Americans, photo Vincent Vandergheynst.

Edvan Loh and Yvonne Phillips met the stupidest turtle of the season, who nested on Anse Forbans. She laid her 158 eggs in the open, mid-beach and near a busy road. Being clearly visible from the road, she drew quite a crowd which Elke kept at bay, armed with her recently laminated Turtle Watchers Code of Conduct.

Turtle tortures conservationist by nesting mid beach on a hot, humid day, photo Elke Talma.

Kevin Jackson and Jill Howell had the highest number of turtle tracks recorded to date during the 2009-10 Season, with 20 tracks in total being recorded on a single day.

And last but not least, after 5 years of monitoring Elke finally managed to get a shot of two turtles emerging at the same time! Curtis and Richard Horne were there to enjoy the experience and while they watched one turtle, Elke dealt with the other before coming over to tag their turtle.

In five years of monitoring, this is the 3rd time that Elke has seen two turtles on the same beach at the same time, photo Elke Talma.

Maritime School joins in turtle conservation effort

2009-12-05T20:17:00.000-08:00

Year 1 students from the Advanced Fisheries class at the Maritime Training Centre joined Elke on the beach for a half day Clean-up activity. The field trip was organised by their Marine Organism lecturer, Vanessa Zialor, who being a local plankton taxonomy expert, has been assisting MCSS for a number of years with their whale shark monitoring programme.

Shareefa Cadeau instructing her class mates about the Turtle Watchers Code of Conduct from the MCSS “mobile class room”, photo Elke Talma.

After a short briefing about turtles, the team of 13 students, 2 Environment officials, Vanessa and Elke began collecting rubbish while hoping desperately to see a nesting turtle - none showed up! They were, however, unexpectedly rewarded with some Hawksbill hatchlings, found while collecting rubbish in the bushes. The nest had hatched a few days ago, with hatchlings emerging from the sand the night before.

For reasons yet to be determined, most of the hatchlings headed inland, despite no obvious signs of light pollution on the deserted beach, with many being killed by a picky predator with a taste for turtle brains!

Grey matter, a tasty snack for some! photo Elke Talma.

Fifty seven dead hatchlings were collected from the bush and of the 28 live hatchlings found, only 22 made it safely to the sea, with the other 6 dying from their head injuries.

Rubbish collecting abandoned while MTC students enjoyed their first hatchling encounter, photo Vanessa Zialor.

A total of 100kg of rubbish was collected from the beach, making the beach just that little bit safer for hatchlings and their nesting mothers.

From left to right, Samia Meme, Shareefa Cadeau, Yannick Chang-Tive, Maritza Jeannie and Trevor Vidot proudly show off their bounty, photo Elke Talma.

After a hard morning on the beach, many complaining about the heat and lack of shade, the students settled on a neighbouring beach for a well deserved lunch in the shade.

Students taking a well deserved break, photo Elke Talma.

A parting gift for Claire, MCSS style!

2009-12-01T21:54:00.000-08:00

Turtle hatchlings, a welcome surprise after a long walk, photo Elke Talma

MCSS would like to extend a well deserved “thank you” to Claire Jean of Kelonia for joining us in Seychelles and presenting her project on photo-Identification of turtles in two local workshops entitled “Using images to help conserve endangered marine animals”.

During her time in Seychelles, Claire spent a few days with Nature Seychelles, under the Seychelles/Reunion regional corporation agreement, showing the rangers of the Cousin Nature Reserve how to deploy nest temperature logger. While on Cousin, she saw more than 5 nesting turtles!

With the limited nesting population on the developed island of Mahe, due to over-exploitation, poaching and loss of nesting habitats, MCSS could not compete…or could we?

Not to be outdone, Elke invited Claire and some of her friends on a turtle patrol in the South of Mahe and managed to surprise them with some Hawksbill hatchlings - 198 in total and a first for Claire!

Claire with her first hawksbill hatchlings, photo Elke Talma

Turtle in a hurry

2009-11-17T06:41:00.000-08:00

As a child I remember reading stories about wise old turtles, but wisdom is not an attribute that the turtle always displays! When nesting, a turtle is usually constantly on the lookout for danger and can be very picky about where she will lay her eggs. This was not the case last week for a turtle nesting at Petite Marie Louise.

Now this was not an inexperienced young Turtle, as she had some scratches and damage to her shell suggesting that she had been around a bit. She must have nested many times before, but on that day, she had barely reached the high water mark when she made her first attempt. The sand was of course too damp, and so the nest kept collapsing. She moved on, making two more attempts to nest, with the last attempt being made in the sandy soil, amongst the roots of nearby coconut trees.

Hawksbill turtle nesting amongst the coconut trees, photo Marcel Mathiot.

All the time, she appeared to be in great haste working hard to dig out her nest. The roots of the coconut tree impeded her progress somewhat, until in pity, Marcel reached under her from behind and, out of sight, helped by surreptitiously removing a few of the roots. Obviously she was not wise enough to know that less haste means more speed!

She dug a rather shallow egg chamber and then did not straddle it properly, dropping her eggs, not in the chamber, but on the nest wall where they piled up. Once again, Marcel reached under her and rolled the eggs to where they should have been. She seemed totally oblivious to Marcel’s presence but that was because he kept absolutely quiet and completely out of her line of vision. It also helped that turtles tend to go into a sort of trance and will remain so until they have finished laying.

Eggs piling up along the side, photo Marcel Mathiot.

Having laid her eggs, she spent considerable time covering them and flattening the sand down with her flippers, turning around and around not quite on the spot until satisfied that there was no indication of where the nest actually was. She spent a long time doing this, during which, a young man and his dog came onto the beach. He quickly put on flippers and entered the water, probably to look for octopus.

The dog, however, remained on the beach and although aware of the turtle, was apprehensive of Marcel and so kept its distance. After the turtle had returned safely to sea, Marcel, concerned that the eggs were rather shallowly buried, added more sand and tidied up the nesting site, then he too had to leave.

I wonder why this turtle was in such haste. Maybe she had been thwarted in her previous attempts to lay her eggs and just couldn’t wait any longer.

… News from Pat and Marcel.

Update on turtle activities at Petite Marie Louise

2009-11-15T03:00:00.000-08:00

Marcel was quite pleased with his clean up of the beach at Petite Marie Louise, especially as this was followed with a successful turtle nesting. He has been patrolling Petite Marie Louise almost daily, so imagine his concern, when he was told that a turtle had been rescued from a pit above the high water mark there.

He remembered that a while ago someone had actually searched for treasure at Petite Marie Louise, leaving several large holes behind. These holes are well above the high water mark, too far you would think, for a turtle to reach. You’d be wrong!

Turtle struggling to find suitable nesting site in the dense coconut debris, photo Elke Talma

An enterprising turtle did find the hole, but sliding into the hole was obviously easier than climbing out. She probably spent the night there, for when found, she was dirty and exhausted according to the local fisherman who found her. It took some effort to pull her out of the hole and drag her back onto the beach, but she did get safely back to sea. Marcel spent the rest of that afternoon making the pit safe by erecting a barrier to prevent another turtle mishap.

Hole from ex-treasure hunting venture proved to be a trap for unsuspecting turtles, photo Marcel Mathiot

A few days later, he noticed that someone had obviously enjoyed the cleaner beach, in spite of the rain, as they had cut some palm fronds with which to build a shelter. These they left behind, stacked in a neat pile but creating a barrier once again which blocked off access to the turtle nesting places. Marcel removed the barrier!

This beautiful little beach gets a lot of attention for such an isolated spot. Sometimes it is not the right kind of attention. During a routine patrol once more the unexpected happened. While searching the beach for turtle tracks and finding none, conversation and all attention turned towards the pit at the top of the beach. The tale of the unfortunate turtle trapped in the pit was recounted and so the pit was inspected. At first glance there was nothing unusual to be seen and then sharp eyes and keen noses detected more than the presence of palm fronds.

Lying in the pit there were in fact, in excess of a dozen empty jerry cans. Their contents, diesel oil, had been poured away, possibly over the side of a passing fishing boat, and above the pit partly, hidden behind a young palm tree we found a small cache of Turtle and Dolphin meat, salted and ready to be collected by the prospective person or persons. Just as we were feeling good about this turtle season too!

Hawksbill turtle safely making her way into the sea, photo Marcel Mathiot

Sad as this was, there is still much to feel good about, for throughout the local community, there has been a lot more positive interest in the conservation of the turtle. We might be moving forward a tad slowly, but we are going forward and we will succeed.

… News from Pat and Marcel.

Public presentation on photo-ID methods

2009-11-10T20:08:00.000-08:00

The Marine Conservation Society Seychelles (MCSS), in collaboration with the Kelonia Marine Turtle Observatory in Reunion, Ministry of Environment and Alliance Francaise, are organising a public presentation on “Using images to help conserve endangered marine life”.

This presentation, which is being held at 17:00 on the 12th November at Alliance Francais, is being organised as one of the public awareness components from the project on “Conservation of turtle rookeries on the developed island of Mahé through increased public awareness and community involvement”, which is being funded by Mangroves for the Future.

........You are all welcome to join us!

Scientific presentation for marine scientists on photo-ID methods

2009-11-10T20:04:00.000-08:00

The Marine Conservation Society Seychelles (MCSS), in collaboration with the Kelonia Marine Turtle Observatory in Reunion and Ministry of Environment, are organising a scientific presentation on “Using images to help conserve endangered marine life”.

This workshop, which is being held at 14:00 on the 12th November in the training room at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is being organised as one of the public awareness components from the project on “Conservation of turtle rookeries on the developed island of Mahé through increased public awareness and community involvement”, which is being funded by Mangroves For the Future.

Space is limited, so if you wish to attend, please contact Elke 261511/713500 or send us an email.

Yup, they were sleeping too!

2009-10-23T04:30:00.000-07:00

In the most recent of the ongoing turtle Awareness Training that MCSS has been carrying with funding from the Mangrove for the Future, Elke visited the Global Vision International project at Bay Ternay to speak to their volunteers about turtles on the 15th October.

With about 30 people in attendance, the one hour session lasted nearly 2 hours as Elke answered a number of difficult questions from some keen turtle enthusiasts.

During the talk, we had the obligatory person fighting to stay awake but as this was Elke’s 12th session this year, she decided to just go with the flow....

The GVI team – turtle aware, photo Mario Mulders

Turtle volunteer gets to play with sharks

2009-10-20T10:54:00.000-07:00

Hi again!

Just before I finished my internship in the Turtle Monitoring Programme with Elke, I had the chance to join David and his team of volunteers on one of the whale shark trips. What an exciting experience!

In a van with snorkel, fins and towel we went to Anse La Mouche in the south of Mahé to take off with the boat from there. Rough and windy sea gave us hard conditions to go out, but thanks to the microlight locating individual whale sharks, sightings were guaranteed.

Intern Dominique gets ID photos of this shark, photo Luke Riley

Although those giant animals seem to move very slowly, that was mostly not the case, also due to being very shy they started diving as soon as they were fed up with the many people around them. Despite being seasick for a while, I enjoyed the trip very much.

OK this little guy is coming right for me!! Photo Luke Riley

Compared to the work on turtles, I must admit, turtles are easier to handle, since they move a lot slower and are easier to observe.

I liked the voluntary work very much and want to thank every one for the great support and the welcoming atmosphere!

… news from Caterina.

German Navy saves the day

2009-10-18T21:16:00.000-07:00

With the Somali pirates wrecking havoc in the Indian Ocean, Seychelles has been seeing a lot of Navy vessels in the harbour as part of the NATO forces to address this matter.

During a recent visit, the German Navy were doing manoeuvres around Mahé in their Lynx Helicopter and inadvertently saved some turtles.

To hear the locals tell it, the suspected poachers who have been hanging around the south of the island since the beginning of October, turned tail and ran after the Germans circled them repeatedly that morning.

The Germans are watching you, photo Donn du Preez

At least for that day, their illegal operation was closed down.

Vielen Dank meine Herren, I declare you all Honorary Turtle Conservation Officers!!

Two for the price of one

2009-10-18T21:09:00.000-07:00

On the 21st September, Elke was on Praslin to provide training for staff at Constance Lemuria Resort on Turtles. The plan was for one general session on Turtle Awareness and another Refresher Training in Monitoring Methods for the Lemuria Turtle Team, but due to popular demand on the day, a second session on Turtle Awareness was organised for the management staff.

The General Manager, Jacques Charles was in attendance with most of his management team, making this the highest profile talk Elke has ever done. A little nervous at first, Elke soon got into the swing of things once she realised that one member of the audience was dozing away - business as usual it would seem! Over 20 staff from the Resort attended the training sessions.

Elke also took time to visit the beach with Robert Matombe (Turtle Manager) and Maxime Rachel (coordinator of Environmental Committee), to discuss options for beach rehabilitation on Anse Grand Kerlan.

Petite Anse Kerlan - an unlikely nesting beach, but that didn’t stop one turtle from nesting three times last season, photo Elke Talma

Desperate housewife supports turtle conservation

2009-10-15T21:24:00.000-07:00

Roberta Wild, Elke’s childhood friend and mom of 3, has agreed to assist MCSS with turtle monitoring on North East Point beach. Layla, her youngest, is now old enough to go to school and Roberta is keen to get out of the house after 5 years of child minding confinement.

Roberta practicing measuring a turtle's carapace, photo Elke Talma

On the 3rd of October, Roberta and Elke met up on the beach for a “gentle” 25 minute stroll along the beach followed by a 30 minute talk about monitoring techniques before heading back to the car (another 25 minute stroll) … unfortunately there was nothing to report so Roberta has been given strict instructions to call Elke if she sees anything suspicious during her weekly patrols.

Roberta has been roped in under a new MCSS turtle project being funded by Mangrove for the Future which aims to help conserve turtle rookeries on Mahe through public awareness and participation Marcel and Patricia are also helping out by monitoring Anse Petite Marie Louise, Adam will add Anse Capuchin to his monitoring schedule, Jude and Randolf Bijoux will be monitoring Anse Bougainville, Vanessa Zialor will cover Anse Royale and Elke will squeeze in Anse Government on her way to Petite Anse. All these beaches were previously done by Gilberte Gendron, who heartless abandoned us after receiving a scholarship form the French Embassy to sit for a degree in Marine and Environmental Science...

Four Season Resort supports Turtle Conservation project on Petite Anse

2009-10-15T21:17:00.000-07:00

As previously mentioned, the management of Four Seasons Resort expressed an interest in helping MCSS in the turtle conservation effort and this collaboration was launched with a Turtle Awareness Session on the 28th September.

A second session was organised, the following day with a total of 14 staff in attendance. A brief session finished off this training exercise with Robin Bhugaloo being elected Turtle Officer, with the assistance of Niranjan Wimalasooriyan from Four Seasons and Karen Owens from Dive Resort Seychelles.

Group photo of the enlightened Four Seasons staff, photo Elke Talma.

During the 2008-09 season, a total of 6 nest were reported by the Tourism Police and Resort staff. With the increased human activity on the beach and the sea, following the opening of the Resort, it remains to be seen if we can maintain these numbers in the coming seasons.

Turtle rudely interrupts Elke’s well prepared turtle talk

2009-10-14T20:36:00.000-07:00

During the annual refresher training on the 24th September for the Turtle Team at Banyan Tree Resort, a turtle ruined Elke’s well prepared theory session, by emerging 30 minutes into the 1 hour long PowerPoint presentation.

This provided a great opportunity to shift to an impromptu practical session to explain:
• How to restrain a turtle on her way back to sea
• How to measure a turtle’s carapace correctly
• How to flipper tag a nesting turtle
• How to take pictures for photo ID

While Anders Dimblad held onto the turtle, Elke, surrounded by the Banyan Tree Turtle Team and a group of eager tourist, proceeded with the training. However, to minimise the stress to the animal following a failed emergence, it was decided that only one tag would be deployed at this time.

Turtle emerging on Intendance beach, photo Marcel Mathiot

At the end of the session with the turtle, the Banyan Tree Turtle Team had increased in size from 4 members to 8: Adam Abdulla, although absent, retained his title as Turtle Team Leader, Paul Isaac and Cedrick Thomas were promoted to the Turtle Monitoring & Tagging Team, Danny Bibi and Anders Dimblad, the Hotel Manager at Banyan Tree, were re-instated to the Turtle Monitoring & Tagging Team while Christopher Belle, Bernhard Kolsch and Marcel Oostenbrink formed part of the Turtle Monitoring Team (i.e. not authorised to tag turtles).

Marcel and Patricia Mathiot were also in attendance as Anders had given the go-ahead for them to join the Banyan Tree Turtle Monitoring Training/Refresher Session. Additional sessions in Turtle Awareness were also organised throughout September with over 40 Banyan Tree Resort staff attending.

Williana the Hawksbill turtle (SCA0838)

2009-10-11T04:33:00.001-07:00

A turtle decided to nest on Anse Boileau on the 7th October. She was spotted by locals, who reported the sighting to the Police. They called the Green Line, who in turn contacted Elke, who was just finishing off the last beach patrol of the day.

Arriving on site some 10 minutes after receiving the call, Elke confirmed that the turtle was not being disturbed by the 10-15 people watching her under police supervision. Indeed, the turtle was happily laying a batch of eggs by the road side as buses roared past.

Williana was completely unfazed by the buses rushing past her, photo Elke Talma

While giving an impromptu turtle talk in Creole (..and really bad French for 2 tourist in the crowd), Elke roped Wilbert Elizabeth, a local, into being an MCSS photographer for the afternoon. While Elke measured and tagged, Wilfred happily clicked away on Elke’s camera, documenting his first encounter with a nesting turtle. Elke then took over for some photo-ID shots for Claire, from Kelonia.

Elke placing tag SCA0838 on Williana’s left flipper while the turtle laid her eggs , photo Wilbert Elizabeth

Once the turtle had entered the water, everyone gathered discussed whether the eggs should be moved. The location was good in terms of shade cover and distance from the high tide line, but the worry was that the nest would be dug up locals or dogs. Eventually it was agreed that the Wildlife Club of Anse Boileau would monitor the nest.

Elke returned the following day with a turtle nest marker and some laminated Turtle Watchers Code of Conduct sheets which were nailed onto nearby trees. She then surprised Wilfred by naming the turtle, Williana after his new born daughter.

Less than a minute after placing the signs, local residents were stopping to read them, photo Elke Talma

Turtle talk revamped!

2009-10-08T07:04:00.001-07:00

Every year, in preparation for the nestings season, Elke spends most of September carrying out training with hotel staff from the various Resorts’ that MCSS works with. The training has two parts: one general presentation for all interested staff to raise awareness about turtles and another targeted at the turtle officers, refreshing their knowledge on monitoring methods used in Seychelles.

Elke hoping to inspire staff from Banyan Tree to help with the turtle conservation effort, Photo Caterina Schlott.

Every year, without fail somebody will fall asleep during the training session, which means that each year, Elke spends at least a week beforehand trying to spice up the hour long powerpoint presentation. This year, having attended the Turtle workshop during the WIOMSA symposium, Elke was well prepared to wow her audience.

A short video from Hatchling Productions in Australia was incorporated into the Turtle Awareness Talks, which meant that a number of slides had to be ruthlessly removed. Elke also introduced Tiny the Turtle to aid in explaining the MCSS Turtle Watchers Code of Conduct through role playing.

Tiny the turtle was a big hit, photo Elke Talma

As for the Turtle Monitoring Training, well, Elke got hold of a carapace from Ministry of Environment to help show how a nesting turtle should be approached and measured (again role playing!) – it was disconcerting to find that, as witnessed in Reunion, people were not consistent in their method of measuring, despite the annual refresher training.

Carapace sponsored by MENRT helps reinforce the correct measuring protocol used by the MCSS Turtle Team, photo Elke Talma

As for wowing her audience, at least one person fell asleep during each of the 11 presentations this September......

Another Turtle Season is upon us.

2009-10-06T20:20:00.001-07:00

Patricia and Marcel, MCSS Volunteer Turtle Conservation Officers for South East Mahe.

We Volunteer Conservation Officers did our Turtle Training this past week. Now, that does not mean literally Training Turtles, but rather training the volunteers who will for another season walk the beaches in search of nesting turtles, stay with the turtle until she safely returns to the sea, and then make sure to get the gathered information onto the dreaded data sheets.

The season has had a slow start, but we have noted the emergence of turtles at both Anse Marie Louise and Petite Marie Louise. It is Petite Marie Louise that has caused us some concern. During the recent past, human activity such as the collection of coconuts has created a physical barrier of coconut husks and fronds to build up near the high water mark. This means that the turtles cannot dig their nests in the bushes and usually end up doing a U-turn back to sea. So while we were there on our routine patrol, we spent some time clearing and cleaning the beach crest of assorted rubbish, some left by the tides and some by the coconut pickers.

Anse Petite Marie Louise, photo Marcel Mathiot.

The weather could have been kinder, the wind was keen and the rain came in fits and starts. We hoped to see a turtle, but by 9am the only emergence was a small group of people from behind the beachside vegetation. They were a mixed group of locals and tourists who were also hoping to see a turtle. After a brief chat, they continued their trek to Anse Capuchin.

We stopped for a breakfast of Marmalade Sandwiches and fresh Coconut water straight from the tree. At this time, I noticed a solitary seeker of octopus pass by. Identified by the long metal rod he carried, which is used to hook the octopus out from the nooks and crannies in the rocks, and his fins and bag, which were slung over his shoulder, he gave me a cheery wave. The sea was quite choppy and I wondered if he would be able to go into the water at all, but he did. Marcel told me not to worry as he was an expert at catching octopus and would be all right. A short while later several other solitary seekers of octopus passed by, but no cheery waves this time, and one wonders if they were really what they seemed to be.

Soon, we had to leave and during this patrol there was no sign of any turtles. In spite of that, and the wind and rain, we enjoyed our time at Petite Marie Louise. Here’s hoping for better luck next time. Certainly Mesdames Turtle will have an easier time nesting from now on.

News from Pat and Marcel

Clean up the World 2009

2009-09-22T23:58:00.000-07:00

To commemorate clean up the world, MCSS organised an impromptu clean-up during regular beach patrols. Elke and Catarina were joined by Barbara Wolf, a tourist who had joined the MCSS turtle team for the day.

Catarina and Barbara collecting rubbish, photo Elke Talma

By 12:00 on Friday the 18th, they had collected over 51kg of rubbish from 3 turtle nesting beaches. This included plastic bottles and bags, polystyrene, flip flops, glass containers, discarded ropes and fishing line, fishing buoys, light bulbs etc...

The clean up crew would have collected much more but they ran out of bin bags – 12 in total!

Post card from Carol in Madagascar....

2009-09-15T05:48:00.000-07:00

MCSS welcomes turtle volunteer, Catarina Schlott

2009-09-14T23:39:00.001-07:00

Hello there!

I am Caterina, a biology student from Dresden, Germany a volunteer on the Turtle Monitoring Project for the period of September/October 2009. As part of my studies I am doing an internship in a field of study that I can pick as well as the place where to do it – so I chose to come to the beautiful Seychelles and start some extraordinary work which I could have never experienced at home!

A unique chance in a unique environment about amazing animals with the great supervisor (Elke) is the objective. Elke always has answers to my questions and has a superb knowledge about the marine turtles as well as land and fresh water turtles. She is familiar with the beaches, turtle nesting sites and is furthermore concerned about the awareness that people should have towards turtles and does everything to support it.

Catarina’s first (very wet!) day at work with MCSS, photo Elke Talma.

Our focus is the monitoring of nesting marine turtles as hawksbill and green turtles. My first monitoring trip was very wet as it rained a lot, but gave a first insight in monitoring in general, how a nest looks like and where the turtle ladies prefer to go. The second (and most recent one) was very spectacular due to meeting a turtle that just come out to do her duty. What a great experience!

Catarina’s first encounter (and second work day) with a nesting Hawksbill, photo Elke Talma.

I am very excited for the upcoming weeks and happy to enrich my knowledge through the project!

She’s back!!!

2009-09-14T23:35:00.000-07:00

Doesn’t she look great? photo Elke Talma

My baby is back from the mechanic looking prettier than ever!

Unfortunately her new look has come at price – my baby now has attitude!

First the radio no longer works, so the mechanic needs to order a new aerial from the suppliers in Japan, then …

… on Saturday she refused to start until I bought her a new battery,

… on Sunday, the seat belt jammed so Donn had to take her apart and give her a good talking to,

…and today a knobby-thing fell off and while I know where its supposed to go, I have no idea what its for or how to get it back on!

Who knew trucks went through puberty!

SWOT latest turtle report

2009-09-12T22:01:00.000-07:00

SWOT Report issue 1 to 4

The fourth issue of the SWOT Report has recently been published. It features the first-ever map of global flat-back turtle nesting data, genetic stocks, and in-water distribution. Other highlights include articles about why leatherback populations vary globally, how retail sales help communities and sea turtles in Brazil.

SWOT Report is a unique publication that brings sea turtles into the hearts and minds of people around the world. Published annually since 2006, the rich educational content that fills each volume is generated by SWOT’s extensive network of partners, the SWOT Team, and is designed to harness the group’s collective power by highlighting their success stories, innovations, and new findings.

SWOT Report is distributed back to the SWOT Team members who helped create it, free of charge, for use in their own local outreach campaigns in communities where sea turtles nest, forage, and migrate. To download your copy of the report visit the SWOT website.

First turtles of the season arriving

2009-09-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

On the 5th of August, Marcel reported the first nesting turtle sighting on Anse Marie Louise. Two days later, MCSS Research Officer, Elke Talma, found evidence of a successful nesting emergence on one of the South Mahe beaches.

The first turtle nest of the season, photo Elke Talma

These are the first turtles of the 2009-10 Hawksbill Nestings Season which “officially” began on the 16th July 2009. Generally, one or two turtle will be nesting at this time of the year and as the season progresses, the number will increase, with peak nesting occurring between October and February each year.

Looking back at data from previous nesting seasons, these recent emergences are not the earliest recorded for first emergences. In 2008-09, MCSS recorded a turtle nesting on the 5th July 2008, a full week before the official Nesting Season began. Conversely, the latest emergence was recorded during the 2004-05 Season, when the first nesting turtle was reported on the 27th September.

Turtling in style with Thrifty Car Hire

2009-09-02T23:10:00.000-07:00

Temporary turtle-mobile sponsored by Thirty Car Hire

Having just returned from the WIOMSA conference Reunion, Elke was desperate to check for turtles on the main nesting beaches, having missed last Friday’s scheduled patrol. The MCSS truck, however, was still with the mechanic for a long overdue paint job and was still out of commission, so Elke had to call on Mickey Camille, General Manager of Thrifty Car Hire, to assist with transportation.

Thrifty Car Hire has been supporting the MCSS Turtle Programme for a number of years and was one of the sponsors who made it possible for Elke to participate in the Sixth WIOMSA Scientific Symposium in Reunion.

Thanks Mickey... unfortunately no new turtle nests to report!

The Sixth WIOMSA Scientific Symposium was a roaring success!

2009-09-02T22:59:00.000-07:00

Local sponsorship from Four Seasons Resort, Thrifty Car Hire, Helicopter Seychelles, Dive Resort Seychelles, Underwater Centre Seychelles and Cousine Island made it possible for Elke to attend the Sixth WIOMSA Scientific Symposium. The symposium brought together experts from 26 countries who specialise in marine research and conservation. A total of 160 power point presentations were on offer and over 200 poster were on display for the 450 delegates to peruse.

The organising committee did a fantastic job, with a wide range of subject being explored through the presentations and posters. There was also a wide variety of free books and DVD’s and the abundance of food made Elke wish she had packed trousers with an elastic waistband!

Food, food and more food, photo Elke Talma

Special session were planned for the afternoon of the 27th and included a session on Turtles. Originally, this was advertised as a training session on “Standardised beach monitoring protocols for sea turtles using international best practice”, however due to the high attendance (over 30 participants) and wide variation in backgrounds (ranging from participants with over 40 years field experience to those who just love turtles and were keen to learn more), the organisers changed the programme into a roundtable discussion.

Through these discussion, participants were introduced to the various Turtle programmes in the region ranging from monitoring turtle fisheries in Madagascar, counting turtle nests in South Africa to tracking turtles with satellite tags in Seychelles.

Through these sessions, it became clear that while we all have a passion for turtles, the effort put into our respective monitoring programmes, while commendable, would do little to protect these animals if we did not work together to create a standard monitoring protocol for basic data collection to allow for regional comparisons to be made.

A quick test on basic carapace length measurement reveals large variation in methods used within the region, photo Elke Talma.

Local sponsors help MCCS Research Officer to attend Regional Turtle Training Workshop

2009-08-22T06:12:00.000-07:00

There are at least 73 identified sea turtle nesting sites spanning 11 nations, and five species across the Western Indian Ocean. Many of these sites have some level of monitoring, ranging from expensive seasonal aerial surveys to infrequent nest protection and beach patrols. Most often these programmes are achieved through great effort and cost by the conservation authorities but also great sacrifice by local communities. However, when the data analysis is done or the management decisions are to be made from trend inferences, it often proof to be less useful that expected due to unsystematic, non-standardised data collection techniques, especially between rookeries.

Recognising the migratory nature of sea turtles and the importance of comparing trends between rookeries, species, seasons and nations, a training session on “Standardised beach monitoring protocols for sea turtles using international best practice” has been scheduled during the the Sixth WIOMSA Scientific Symposium. The objective will be to tailor techniques to the region to optimise time and resources for monitoring, while still collecting useful, comparable data. The workshop will be conducted by regional sea turtle experts on systematic data collection and management, with a demonstration of a database system such as TREDS.

MCSS Research Officer. Elke Talma, has been invited to attend the workshop as MCSS manages a number of turtle rookeries on the developed islands of Seychelles. While MCSS is already implementing standard monitoring techniques for Seychelles developed by Dr. Jeanne Mortimer in the 1990’s, this workshop provides an opportunity to meet with experts in the region to see how monitoring methods may (or may not) have changed and discuss difficulties experienced in long-term monitoring.

MCSS has received donations from a number of local sponsor, many of whom already support the MCSS Turtle Monitoring Programme, to facilitate this trip. These include: Four Seasons Resort, Thrifty Car Hire, Helicopter Seychelles, Dive Resort Seychelles, Underwater Centre Seychelles and Cousine Island.

Turtle Poachers Arrested... but bailed.....

2009-07-24T22:43:00.000-07:00

From newspaper article in Seychelles Nation (22/07/09)

Two men have been arrested but released on bail after they were caught red-handed at Bel Ombre with turtle meat, spear guns and illegally-killed fish.

Both men are from Green Estate, Anse Aux Pins, and are aged 30 and 42. Department of Environment officers said yesterday they have been trying for more than 10 years to prosecute one of the men for poaching turtle meat.

Officials examine the confiscated speargun, equipment and catch at Police HQ, photo courtesy Nation

The officials confirmed they received a tip-off on the department’s GreenLine at around 5.45pm last Friday and responded with the help of Beau Vallon police.

During the arrests the police seized 7.95 kilos of turtle meat, 12.85 kilos of fish that had been illegally killed by spear guns, and equipment consisting of spear-gun, mask, snorkels, fins, rope and knives. Under Seychelles law it is illegal to kill a turtle, or to possess, sell, buy or eat its meat.

Freelance conservation consultant Dr Jeanne Mortimer told the newspaper that there is a popular misconception that it is legal to eat turtle meat.

“It is illegal to possess turtle meat in any form,” she said. “If someone is eating it, then that person is also guilty of possession, so he or she can definitely be arrested and charged”. So for people who think it is OK as long as they are only eating turtle meat, they are informed that this is not the case and they will be committing a crime punishable by law.

“Offences involving sea turtles can carry a fine of R500,000 or two years’ imprisonment.” The public are reminded that it is also illegal to kill fish and other marine life using spear guns.

Meanwhile, the police investigation into the case continues.

NOTE – Based on MCSS observations, one of the suspects has been operating in the South of Mahe since 2004. Indeed the same individual was responsible for killing Carol’s “satellite tag-twin”, the second turtle tagged with a satellite tag by MCSS in December 2007.

Welcome back Anders!

2009-07-23T05:52:00.000-07:00

Anders Dimblad, the new Hotel Manager at Banyan Tree Resort Seychelles, photo Banyan Tree Resort

Banyan Tree Resort Seychelles has a new Hotel Manager and he happens to be an ex-member of the MCSS Turtle Monitoring Team at the Resort!

Anders Dimblad was working as Rooms Division Manager at Banyan Tree Seychelles in 2004 when he and a number of other resort staff underwent training in turtle monitoring techniques used in Seychelles under the MCSS/BHC project. He went on to tag 7 nesting Hawksbill turtles during the 2004-05 Hawksbill Nesting Season, but unfortunately left the programme in June 2005 when he was relocated to Angsana Ihuru in the Maldives as Executive Assistant Manager.

Anders (far left) tagging his first turtle, photo Elke Talma.

In the past 4 years, Anders has travelled the world, Banyan Tree style, and is now back in Seychelles as the Hotel Manager.

If Elke has her way, he will also be back on the beach tagging turtles, making him the only Hotel Manager in the world of a Five Star Resort trained to tag turtles.

Ka-BOOOM - Watch your step!

2009-07-13T05:28:00.000-07:00

For 2 years now, MCSS has been monitoring for nesting turtles at Anse Grand Police and to Elke's shock and horror it was recently revealed that the site was a mine field of unexploded ammunition!

For over 30 years, Police Bay was closed off to visitors as it hosted the Grand Police High Security Prison (closed in September 2006) and a shooting range (closed in early 2009) for the Seychelles People’s Defence Force (SPDF).

As a known nesting site with an estimated population of 11 to 20 female Hawksbill turtles (Mortimer, 1984), numerous attempts were made by staff from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MENR) and MCSS to gain access to the beach. Finally, in September 2007, MCSS was allowed right of entry and thus added Anse Grand Police to its’ South Mahé Turtle Monitoring Programme. Elke was really pleased and declared herself “Turtle Queen” of South Mahe!

Anse Grand Police, with its SPDF Shooting Range located in the clearing behind the dune and the abandoned High Security Prison in the background, photo Guy Blain.

During the 2007-08 Nesting Season, it became clear that Anse Grand Police hosted a significant number of nesting turtles compared to its neighbouring beaches. When plans to build a Five Star Resort at the site were proposed, Elke was not at all happy about the prospect of tourist lounging on her nesting beach and messing with her turtles. The prolific poaching during 2008-09 Nesting Season (see previous blogs), however, has caused her to have a change of heart as the Hotel will surely discourage poachers from killing turtles on the beach and in the waters just offshore.

Anyway, back to the story!

As part of the new development’s planning process, the Arab consortium who owns the property organised for a bomb disposal team from U.A.E. to go over the shooting range - just in case - to search for possible unexploded munitions. They found more than they bargained for!

Metal detectors used to find the unexploded munitions, photo Elke Talma.

Quad bike, used on the nesting beach (much to Elke’s annoyance) to carry the heavy equipment and survey the dune areas at the South end of the beach, photo Elke Talma.

Their search area extended well beyond the shooting range and onto the turtle nesting platform and after 2 weeks, the team from U.A.E in collaboration with the Seychelles Army have declared the site safe – except for a small part in the wetlands which they were not equipped to deal on this trip!

Elke is keeping well clear of the wetlands until they return with the frog-men and submersible metal detectors!

A small sample of the bounty, photo Elke Talma.