Indian Ocean - South-East Asian Marine Turtle Memorandum of Understanding

Fiji: Marama ni Yadua swims on

The 88 cm female hawksbill turtle satellite tagged on Denimanu in Yadua continues to transmit her location after a period of 170 days.

From the latest map illustrating her movements, Marama ni Yadua appears to be a resident of Vatuka reef.
This reef has been under protection over the past six years and is a site which was proposed to be protected for a further 10 years at a recent workshop at Naduri, Macuata.

Her movements indicate a high possibility of it being a home for turtles in the area and authorities are excited at this information.

Marama ni Yadua was satellite tagged on the January 13, 2008 by the National Trust of Fiji in collaboration with WWF, NOAA, SPREP and the community of Denimanu, after having nested on the protected island of Yadua Taba.
Trust officer, Jone Niukula, reported, "The latest map showing her movements will excite the community as they had thought it to be an unforgettable experience and it will be good to know that she continues to swim on around surrounding waters."

It is highly probable that having laid her eggs in January, Marama ni Yadua is now feeding off of the coral reefs within the Great Sea Reef or Cakaulevu an area thought to be the 3rd longest barrier reef in the world.

WWF Marine Program Officer, Sainivalati Navuku says, "This information will greatly assist us in determining areas that can be suggested to the relevant authorities for protection due to its function as a key nesting and feeding area for hawksbill turtles."

Turtles in Fiji are protected through the moratorium now enforced by the Department of Fisheries.


Indian Ocean - South-East Asian Marine Turtle Memorandum of Understanding

A sanctuary for the Hawksbill - Fiji Times Online

Sunday, September 21, 2008
FELIX CHAUDHARY

+ Enlarge this image

Feeding time for turtles at Treasure Island
 

IN the shadows behind the multi-million dollar beach, something priceless is taking place. It involves a special ritual where young visitors to Treasure Island Resort are given a chance to interact with nature.

Steps away from the fringes of the shoreline, this innovative program provides invaluable education to youngsters about the marine life that surrounds the resort especially the uphill battle that resort staff face in protecting the endangered hawksbill turtles.

A battle to protect turtle nests from poachers, neighbouring locals and predators that include domestic animals.
The nests have become a major draw card for the popular holiday venue resulting in eco-tourists and regular returnees visiting the island each year to marvel at the growing number of turtle hatchlings that are bred and released under the resort's conservation program.

"Last week we had 93 hatchlings. We kept 26 for breeding and because of a lack of space we had to release the rest," said Katrina Sefeti, the resident conservation guru.
The Hawksbill turtle is listed as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union and the capture and trade of this marine reptile is banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
This, however, has not stopped overseas poachers who cruise Fiji's tropical waters. Nor has it deterred locals who regard turtle eggs and meat as a delicacy.

The breeding population of Hawksbill turtles in Fiji is approximately 150 and the estimated adult population is between two to three thousand.

The island's approach to the turtles desperate plea for survival is unique in many ways.

"This year we decided to incorporate the turtle conservation program into the 'Kids Club'. It's our way of ensuring that the present and future generation understand the importance of safe-guarding these beautiful creatures before we lose them completely," Ms Sefeti stated.

Turtles have been in existence for hundreds of millions of years and while the conservation effort is focused on saving a dying breed of marine reptile, there is another, often overlooked factor to consider.

As the global turtle population decreases, coral reefs and sea grass beds become unbalanced and in effect marine ecosystems are affected.

It is now a proven fact that coastal communities that sought to create sustainable livelihoods through eco-tourism have collapsed as the turtle numbers in the area decreased.

"It will be a sad day for Fiji and the world if we don't increase our efforts to help the turtle population grow to sustainable numbers. Until this is achieved, I believe that the slaughter of turtles for any purpose should be criminalised," Ms Sefeti added.

The Treasure Island turtle sanctuary has been in operation for seven years now and is never short of visitors, from curious toddlers to nervous retirees, who quietly admire the amphibious reptiles as they glide through the water with grace and exuberance.

"Look but don't touch. That's our motto, we deter everyone from handling them because of the possibility of transferring disease and being out of the water stresses them out," Katrina emphasised.

In recent times the sanctuary has come under scrutiny from critics concerned about the 'inadequate' size of the enclosure.

But Sefeti, the environmentalist, is quick to point out that the least people could recognise and appreciate is the fact that they're being pro-active.

"Granted that the facility is not of international standards, at least we're doing something about a growing global problem, however small and inadequate it may be," she pointedly said.

"This sanctuary gives hundreds of Hawksbills a fighting chance they otherwise would never have."

Hawksbill hatchlings make easy prey as they begin their slow and cumbersome journey from their nests to the sea. Many become food for swooping sea birds and large crabs on land and an easy catch for big fish when they enter the water. The Treasure Island sanctuary could be likened to an incubator.

The turtles are kept in the pond for 18 months until they have a reached a significant enough size to fend for themselves. They are then tagged by the Fisheries Department and released.

"We are planning to make the pool bigger and deeper as soon as possible," Katrina said.

Having a deeper pond will give the turtles more room to move around and will also allow the staff to introduce 'live feeds'.

"This is done by releasing live fish into the pond as food. This will help the turtles learn important survival skills like hunting and catching their prey which they will need when they're released."

The hatchlings are collected from nests that are monitored by staff.

Female turtles journey to shore during the night, deposit their eggs before taking off back to sea before dawn breaks.
One of nature's miracles is that female turtles always journey back to their original birthplace to lay their eggs.

A sanctuary for the Hawksbill - Fiji Times Online

Tagging turtles for a wedding - Fiji Times Online

Monday, March 03, 2008
KESAIA TABUNAKAWAI, Fiji Times

On the dusky evening of Thursday December 27, to the whooshing sounds of many pairs of legs wading through knee high waters, two tagged 75kg green turtles were released into the incoming tide of the mangrove lined bay of Ligaulevu Village on Mali. 

With cries of 'go turtle go','la'o vonu la'o' and 'moce' we watched the pair flap their flippers free as the hands pulling them along let go. My gaze followed their underwater path through the ripples on the water surface, and once, their pointed heads bobbed out of the water, for a moment, to take in air before going forward.

The tag and release of turtles was a wedding day wish for Leone Vokai of Ligaulevu Village on Mali and Sally Bailey of Saint Brides Major of Wales. This was a show of the continuing passion the couple have to the protection of biodiversity, and turtles in particular. In my mind, it is a mark of young people taking action in what they believe in.
"Young Fijians are travelling and learning new things, gaining more appreciation of the beautiful environment of our country. Some like Leone are taking action personally and encouraging his community to do the same," observed a cousin of Leone's.

To an uncle, a sister's son's wish, especially for his wedding is a mission to be accomplished. Forty-two-year-old Ifereimi Daumaka, Leone's uncle, went turtle fishing for a day and caught the turtles on the wide reef flats of Cakaulevu, opposite Mali Island.

It is suspected that this time is the first time in the history of Mali Island, that turtles caught did not end up in the pot.

"The turtles were caught the old fashioned way," remarked a proud Ifereimi.
"The fishermen cruise the reef tops looking. Once spotted, the boat follows the turtle until it is alongside it, then the fishermen dive in to catch the turtle," Ifereimi added. As I watched the wedding preparation unfold, it became obvious to me that this was also a celebration of the connectivity between the people of Mali and their biological resource. The wedding garments came from the bark of the masi tree, of which a plantation grew nearby; the salusalus, from the inner bark of the vau tree, and the many aromatic flowers, fruits and leaves that abound on the island; the mirror like sheen on the bare shoulders of members of the wedding party was scented coconut oil; the layers of finely woven mats in the wedding house and in the church were from kuta (a wetland grass) and voivoi (pandanus leaves), large plantations of which surround the village. The black design on the mats were of pandanus leaves soaked and cooked in black mud with branches of a local swamp plant.

The wedding feast, a variety of fish and shellfish (some of which came all the way from Wales, pickled) was a display of the bounty of the sea around Mali. I did wonder how many of the big fishes on the table grew in the safety of the marine protected areas within the Mali qoliqoli. It is over three years since the elders of the iqoliqoli declared nine sections of the iqoliqoli as marine protected areas, where no fishing is allowed. I am certain that the rules of use of the iqoliqoli set in place in 2004 had something to do with the sizes and volume of sea food enjoyed during the wedding celebration.

The people of the district or tikina Mali along with people of tikina Dreketi, Macuata and Sasa share a common traditional fishing ground. This stretches from Nakalou Village by the mouth of the Dreketi River to Korotubu Village near Labasa and over the waters to Kia and Mali islands.

On neighbouring Kia Island, a female turtle came ashore in 2006 to nest on the beach in front of the school in Ligau, after a long time with no nesting turtles recorded for this beach. In 2007 a second female came onto a beach on the other side of the island.

In June 2007, Ligau villagers committed Ligau beach as a monitoring site. Additionally, Mokanivonu, a sunken patch reef near Nakalou Village is a resting and sleeping area for turtles, according to the villagers.

I saw what I think was disbelief on the faces of some of the villagers when they realised the landed turtles under the mango trees were to be let go back into the sea.

This is understandable, with the time it took to catch and the cost of the fuel used in catching the turtles.
This act and the questions arising in the minds of the Mali islanders, provided the opportunity to talk about the fragility of the lifecycle of the turtle.

A number of Ligaulevu villagers are now wiser to the choice made by the couple to tag and release the turtles.
The number on the tag is given to the Ministry of Fisheries where a database of all turtles tagged in Fiji is kept.
Our Ministry of Fisheries work with SPREP ( South Pacific Environment Program) on tagging turtles. Fishermen catching tagged turtles are asked to inform the Ministry of the tag number and where the turtle was seen or caught. Today, very little is known about the movement of 'Fiji turtles' in Fiji waters. 

Collecting information on the sightings of turtles will tell us how far turtles travel around Fiji and even in and around the Pacific. We know from satellite tagging and titanium flipper tagging, that turtles from Samoa, the Cook Islands and even Hawaii travel to Fiji to feed in extensive seagrass fields within inshore waters. The seagrass beds in the fishing areas along the Macuata coast in particular is a popular feeding ground for green and hawksbill turtles.
The endangered Pacific Leatherback turtle, known to nest only in the 'Coral Triangle' countries of PNG, Solomon Islands and in West Papua, was reported to nest on Vatulele, a couple of years ago. In the past 2 years, there have been sightings of this giant of a turtle in Kubulau.

These magnificent turtles are moving into Fiji may be because they have strayed from their normal route.
I would like to think they are moving to Fiji waters because the conditions here are getting more conducive to their cycle of life.

The 'Coral Triangle' is the world's epicenter of marine life abundance and diversity.

The richness of coral, fish and other species is so high that the region is sometimes referred to as the "Amazon of the Seas".

This triangular shaped region covers all or part of the seas of six countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste.

Fiji is part of 'WWFs Coral Triangle Initiative' which also includes the neighboring countries of Australia and Fiji, which contains rich coral biodiversity as well, but with somewhat lower numbers known to science.

Sally is a Marine Program manager with the WWF office in the United Kingdom and Leone is a diver. With both their lives rotating around the ocean they believe in protecting the marine life.

Kesaia Tabunakawai, WWF Fiji country manager was a guest at the wedding

Tagging turtles for a wedding - Fiji Times Online

Experts Find Turtles Are Drawn to Light Sticks

May 09, 2007 — By Associated Press

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Endangered loggerhead turtles snared by longline fishermen may be inadvertently lured to the hooks because of an attraction to light sticks designed to attract tuna and swordfish, researchers said.

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found in lab experiments that young loggerhead turtles will swim toward lights similar to those used by fishermen to attract big fish.

"Juvenile turtles are indiscriminate eaters and bite nearly everything small that they encounter," said Ken Lohmann, a UNC biology professor whose expertise is turtle navigation.

Lohmann recommended that longline fishermen direct the lights, designed to mimic the nighttime luminescence of squid, toward the bottom of the ocean. Turtles spend most of their time near the surface.

"The fish are found at much greater depths," Lohmann said. "If the lights are shaded so that the lights are directed downward, the turtles may not see them."

He also suggested that fishermen switch to colors of light that turtles can't detect.

Lohmann conducted the study with John Wang, a graduate who is now a research associate at the University of Hawaii and National Marine Fisheries.

Inadvertent turtle catches have long been a concern, said David Bernhart, chief of protected resources for National Marine Fisheries in the Southeast region.

U.S. longline fishermen working in the Atlantic have had to use circle hooks since 2004 to limit inadvertent catches, a change Bernhart said reduced the number of turtles captured by 50 percent.

------

Information from: The News & Observer, http://www.newsobserver.com