Marine turtle harvest in a mixed small-scale fishery: Evidence for revised management measures

Stringell, Thomas B.; Calosso, Marta C.; Claydon, John A. B.; Clerveaux, W.; Godley, Brendan J.; Lockhart, K.; Phillips, Quinton; Ranger, Susan; Richardson, Peter B.; Sanghera, Amdeep; Broderick, Annette C.

doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2013.05.004

Cited by 19 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…In some cases, as in the example of turtles in Brazil, effective conservation of endangered marine species can be achieved without the need for MPAs but through some other level of protection. For example, restrictions on the exploitation (e.g., harvesting) of sea turtles, which applies at many national levels, can be a key conservation measure even in areas where other types of fishing and marine harvesting are allowed (Stringell et al 2013).…”

Section: Conservation Biologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of Long‐Distance Migration Patterns of an Endangered Species to Inform Conservation Planning for the World's Largest Marine Protected Area

Hays

Mortimer

Ierodiaconou

et al. 2014

Conservation Biology

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Large marine protected areas (MPAs), each hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, have been set up by governments around the world over the last decade as part of efforts to reduce ocean biodiversity declines, yet their efficacy is hotly debated. The Chagos Archipelago MPA (640,000 km(2) ) (Indian Ocean) lies at the heart of this debate. We conducted the first satellite tracking of a migratory species, the green turtle (Chelonia mydas), within the MPA and assessed the species' use of protected versus unprotected areas. We developed an approach to estimate length of residence within the MPA that may have utility across migratory taxa including tuna and sharks. We recorded the longest ever published migration for an adult cheloniid turtle (3979 km). Seven of 8 tracked individuals migrated to distant foraging grounds, often ≥1000 km outside the MPA. One turtle traveled to foraging grounds within the MPA. Thus, networks of small MPAs, developed synergistically with larger MPAs, may increase the amount of time migrating species spend within protected areas. The MPA will protect turtles during the breeding season and will protect some turtles on their foraging grounds within the MPA and others during the first part of their long-distance postbreeding oceanic migrations. International cooperation will be needed to develop the network of small MPAs needed to supplement the Chagos Archipelago MPA.

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Section: Conservation Biologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of Long‐Distance Migration Patterns of an Endangered Species to Inform Conservation Planning for the World's Largest Marine Protected Area

Hays

Mortimer

Ierodiaconou

et al. 2014

Conservation Biology

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“…However, Buchan [73] clearly indicated that turtle harvest continued into at least 1998 in his compilation of total landings of marine products and the FAO listed 2007 loggerhead catches in the Bahamas equivalent to about 1-ton live-weight [70]. Turtles are still harvested in the Turks and Caicos Islands, adjacent to the southeastern Bahamas [74].…”

Section: Conservation Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bahamas connection: residence areas selected by breeding female loggerheads tagged in Dry Tortugas National Park, USA

Hart

Sartain

Fujisaki

2015

Animal Biotelemetry

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Background: Delineation of home ranges, residence and foraging areas, and migration corridors is important for understanding the habitat needs for a given species. Recently, many population segments of Northwest Atlantic loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) were designated as endangered or threatened; the smallest subpopulation is in the Dry Tortugas. Foraging and residence areas for this subpopulation have not been defined outside the Gulf of Mexico. Here, for Dry Tortugas loggerheads that traveled to the Bahamas, we use a combination of switching state-space modeling (SSM) and home-range estimators to determine migration period, spatially delineate and describe residence areas, and examine inter-annual home-range repeatability.

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“…We observed the turtle fishery at eight key fish-landing docks throughout the TCI (see Stringell et al, 2013 for details). All landings were recorded at South Caicos on 544 days of the 2year study, 77 days at Grand Turk and 68 days at Providenciales.…”

Section: Turtle Fisherymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the historically and currently exploited Caribbean population of green turtles, where multiple nations take turtles for domestic consumption (Humber et al, 2014), the dynamics of FP prevalence are unknown. The Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) has one of the largest legal marine turtle fisheries in the Caribbean region (Stringell et al, 2013). This setting provided an ideal opportunity to quantify and assess the impact of harvest on marine turtle populations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fisher choice may increase prevalence of green turtle fibropapillomatosis disease

Stringell

Clerveaux²,

Godley

et al. 2015

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Disease in wildlife populations is often controlled through culling. But when healthy individuals are removed and diseased individuals are left in the population, it is anticipated that prevalence of disease increases. Although this scenario is presumably common in exploited populations where infected individuals are less marketable, it is not widely reported in the literature. We describe this scenario in a marine turtle fishery in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), where green turtles are harvested for local consumption. During a 2-year period, we recorded the occurrence of fibropapillomatosis (FP) disease in green turtles (Chelonia mydas) captured during in-water surveys and compared it with that of turtles landed in the fishery. 13.4% (n = 32) of turtles captured during in-water surveys showed externally visible signs of FP. FP occurred at specific geographic locations where fishing also occurred. Despite the disease being prevalent in the size classes selected by fishers, FP was not present in any animals landed by the fishery (n = 162). The majority (61%) of fishers interviewed expressed that they had caught turtles with FP. Yet, 82% of those that had caught turtles with the disease chose to return their catch to the sea, thereby selectively harvesting healthy turtles and leaving those with the disease in the population. Our study illustrates that fisher choice may increase the prevalence of FP disease and highlights the importance of this widely neglected driver in the disease dynamics of exploited wildlife populations.

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Marine turtle harvest in a mixed small-scale fishery: Evidence for revised management measures

Cited by 19 publications

References 36 publications

Use of Long‐Distance Migration Patterns of an Endangered Species to Inform Conservation Planning for the World's Largest Marine Protected Area

Use of Long‐Distance Migration Patterns of an Endangered Species to Inform Conservation Planning for the World's Largest Marine Protected Area

Bahamas connection: residence areas selected by breeding female loggerheads tagged in Dry Tortugas National Park, USA

Fisher choice may increase prevalence of green turtle fibropapillomatosis disease

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