Turtle
nesting survey at Palmerston
In response to concerns of Palmerston Islanders, CCRC
launched a community-based turtle conservation project at
Palmerston Atoll at the beginning
of the nesting season. The project is providing the people
of Palmerston with the skills and information necessary to
conserve the Palmerston turtle population
and to manage it as a potential ecotourism attraction and
a sustainable supplementary source of food.
Measuring,
tagging, and labelling turtles.
CCRC
Researchers, with the enthusiastic help of 12
Palmerston research assistants, conducted a consecutive 25-night
survey of the nesting beaches of Cook's Islet, Palmerston Atoll
in November, 2000. The survey involved genetic sampling, flipper
tagging, counting, measuring and health screening of nesting green
turtles. Weekly surveys of all nesting beaches on the atoll commenced
in early November and were continued through the end of the nesting
season.
Tagging
and biopsying nesting turtles.
Project
Objectives
to conserve the Palmerston turtle population by:
- determining
the status of Palmerston turtles by obtaining an annual index
of their nesting abundance
- training
the Palmerston Islanders to monitor the rookery through annual
surveys
- informing
the Palmerston community of survey results
- proposing
a turtle management plan, including harvesting guidelines, to
the Palmerston government
- determining
the migratory routes of the Palmerston turtles
- identifying
the turtle population genetically
Scenes
from the nocturnal survey (all photos were taken after the turtles
nested).
©
Center for Cetacean Research and Conservation, 2004
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