Leave No Trace ordinances for coastal species management: influences on sea turtle nesting success

Abstract

Coastal environments provide critical ecosystem services but experience a number of threats including marine debris and abandoned beach equipment. To address this threat, municipalities have begun enacting policy measures such as Leave No Trace ordinances. The impact of these ordinances on coastal species management has not yet been established. To evaluate the effectiveness of Leave No Trace ordinances in coastal species management, sea turtle crawl distribution, nesting success, and the frequency of obstructed crawls pre-and post-ordinance at a loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta nesting beach in Alabama, USA, were compared between 3 treatment groups: (1) Gulf Shores and Orange Beach with new Leave No Trace ordinances enacted in 2016, (2) Fort Morgan with no ordinance, and (3) the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and Gulf State Park with Leave No Trace ordinances but no resident human population. The ordinance had no significant effect on crawl distribution or nesting success across the study site post-ordinance. However, the frequency of obstructed crawls in populated areas declined by 18.1% with the ordinance. The presence of a resident population was a more significant driver of obstructed crawls than the ordinance, as the Bon Secour NWR and Gulf State Park had fewer obstructed crawls than either populated treatment. With time and increased compliance, Leave No Trace ordinances may have the potential to improve coastal species management and increase coastal ecosystem services through reduced marine debris entanglement and ingestion, reduced physical damage to the environment, and increased tourism revenue and environmental education.

Forty years of monitoring increasing sea turtle relative abundance in the Gulf of Mexico

“…Nesting success has significantly declined over the course of the study, likely due to increased coastal housing density and construction near the beach 49 , 98 . Increases in coastal development result in more obstructions on the beach deterring nesters 71 , 99 , more lighting issues that discourage nesters 45 , 100 , and more nourishment or beach armoring that can prevent nesters from approaching the beach 43 , 65 , 101 . Two of the beaches with the lowest nesting success and nesting density (Lido Key, and Longboat Key) are also the beaches that have been (re)nourished the most in the county.…”

Advancing Sea Turtle Monitoring at Nesting and Near Shore Habitats with UAVs, Data Loggers, and State of the Art Technologies

“…Aerial marine surveys contribute to pinpointing risk areas for collisions by identifying high-density zones of recreational boats and individuals. The information gathered serves as a foundation for implementing measures, such as establishing visitor limits on nesting beaches, formulating policies regarding coastal development and beach structure placement, and introducing spatiotemporal restrictions and regulations for boats within breeding and foraging grounds [42][43][44].…”

Ecological Vulnerability of Adult Female Marine Turtles as Indicators of Opportunities for Regional Socioecosystem Management in the Southern Gulf of Mexico

“…Under this need to balance marine conservation, restoration, and resource exploitation, territorial ordinances and administration are key tools for accomplishing consensus-driven management scenarios [41,42].…”

“…The simultaneous action of multiple stressors on populations and ecosystems depletes marine turtle resistance and resilience while increasing their ecological vulnerability [18,19]. On the other hand, humans have implemented administrative strategies to provide legal protection to biodiversity, mainly through natural protected areas [41] and territorial ordinances aiming to decrease and, at best, eliminate the source of negative impacts on biodiversity and habitats [42].…”