TURTLES MAY BE ON THE RISE AROUND WALES
NEW scientific research suggests that sea turtle numbers in Welsh waters may be increasing after more than half a century of decline. For more than 60 years sea turtles have been one the most endangered species in the world.
The reptiles have been on the planet since the dinosaurs and can live as long as a human but their numbers have plummeted.
However, research by Dr Gail Schofield, a post-doctoral research fellow at Deakin University in Australia, and her colleagues Professor Graeme Hays and Associate Professor Antonio Mazaris has found some promising news.
They studied 4,417 annual estimates of sea turtle nesting based on specific time periods that ranged in length from six to 47 years.
Using estimates from 2010 or later they found the majority of populations had increased in number, finding 95 significant increases com- pared to 35 significant decreases.
According to Dr Schofield, the reason for the possible recovery is down to huge efforts in the areas where turtles lay their eggs.
“At present the recoveries detected are based on huge efforts on nesting beaches,” she said.
“These are local actions and just do not encompass the full habitat needs of sea turtles.
“Similar concerns exist for pandas and other wildlife that are showing recovery but these recoveries are all due to focused local efforts, with long-term wider regional and global impacts not being accounted for.”
Two species covered by the research can be found off the Welsh coast – leatherbacks and loggerheads.
These incredible animals travel across the entire Atlantic to eat off the coast of Wales.
“Juvenile loggerheads are sometimes stranded on beaches, which is how Plymouth Aquarium ended up with their loggerhead turtle many years ago that is still on display,” said Dr Schofield.
“Loggerheads have an amazing life history strategy in the Atlantic.
“Females nest on the eastern seaboard – Florida primarily, up to North Carolina – and lay their eggs and about 60 days later babies hatch and swim out to sea.
“These hatchlings then drift and possibly swim against sea currents – this is a major debate – and forage on invertebrates in the water column, following the Atlantic Gyre.
“They eventually forage in oceanic and coastal areas from the UK down to the Mediterranean.
“Once they mature at anywhere from 20 to 50 years they continue following the Atlantic Gyre back to the eastern US nest.”
There has been a lot of research into the habits of leatherbacks. They can often be found in the water between Wales and Ireland.
Dr Schofield said: “Leatherbacks have been documented all along the western coastline of the UK – some alive and healthy and foraging, others stranded dead or alive.
“They breed in the tropics – Africa and central America/Caribbean – but they forage on jellyfish and salps species, which means that they make major migrations, similar to whales and dolphins, to the boundary of polar regions where forage resources are extremely rich.”
But despite the upturn turtles are seaboard where they not free of risk yet. The research suggests people be “cautiously optimistic” but the gains made could easily be undone.
Dr Schofield said: “Our paper represents cautionary optimism, in which we commend the efforts of groups and organisations globally in their effort to protect sea turtles for the last 70 years, providing evidence that these efforts are being effective towards promoting recovery.
“However, we also stress the importance of making unpublished data accessible to allow objective assessments to identify the species and regions of the world in strong need of human intervention to aid recovery.”