(RoSTI) ANNUAL REPORT 2003 - WIDECAST

RoSTI Annual Report 2003
Franklin, Byrne and Eckert (2004)
The geography of Dominica’s coastline results in a series of small- to medium-length pocket beaches;
there are relatively few expansive sandy beaches. This reality makes beach coverage problematic in
many ways, making it impossible or at least impractical to conduct systematic patrols island-wide.
Nonetheless, regular foot patrols (documenting nesting crawls, which are then obscured by patrollers to
prevent them being counted twice) would result in valuable sampling data and useful insight into the
distribution, abundance and behaviour of Dominica’s sea turtles.
To this end, regular patrol is planned for 2004 in collaboration with local residents, including Mrs. Linda
Harris (Mero Beach or Castaways Hotel), Mr. Harald Zan (East Carib Dive), Mr. Derek Perryman of Dive
Dominica (Castle Comfort Lodge beach), Forestry officers (Point Michael beach), and the Woodford Hill
police with Mr. Jerome Bruno, a member of the community, and fisheries co-operatives in Woodford Hill
Anse de Mai. It is noteworthy as well that 2003 showed the value of night-time beach patrol as an
effective deterrent against poaching, an advantage which will become relatively more important as more
and more nesting beaches are routinely monitored.
Forestry officers currently undertake habitat surveys on an island-wide basis approximately every three
months. It is our recommendation that RoSTI staff should participate in and support (e.g. data-sharing)
these surveys to the maximum extent possible. Also, one way of reducing monotony during increasing
“no-turtle nights” as the season progresses is to authorize RoSTI beach patrollers to survey other potential
nesting beaches on a rotation basis.
Nest Relocation- Of the three sea turtle species encountered at Rosalie Bay, the Leatherback nested most
consistently near the high-water mark. All Leatherback nests, both confirmed and “suspected”, were lost
to erosion on Rosalie Beach and at times eggs were seen laid amongst rocks on La Plaine. This despite
the fact every nest, with the exception of one Green turtle and one Hawksbill nest, were carefully
relocated by RoSTI staff to higher (safer) areas of the beach platform.
Not all egg relocation efforts were futile, however. RoSTI staff saw one successful relocated nest (that of
a Green turtle) produce 120 hatchlings from a total of 123 eggs laid, an excellent result! Green turtles are
typically mid-beach nesters, and also face the risk of losing substantial numbers of clutches in the Rosalie
Bay area. No Hawksbill nests were relocated, as it was thought at the time of egg-laying that all were
safe. Subsequently, however, all were destroyed by high wave action (particularly storms in August).
The narrowness of these beaches, coupled with the very real threat of storm surges and high seas, resulted
in many instances during this first year where virtually all the clutches incubating on the beach at that
time were destroyed. This included nests relocated to higher ground, which had an almost nil chance of
survival in their original location due to their proximity to the tide line.
It is a recommendation that based on beach profile data collected during 2003, and the collective
experience of RoSTI staff and beach patrollers, an alternative “safe zone” suitable for the relocation of
otherwise doomed nests be identified prior to the 2004 nesting season. The site should be relatively safe
from both ocean storm surge and inundation from local rivers.
It is further a recommendation that RoSTI staff, Interns, Forestry officers and/or other interesting persons
be dedicated in 2004 to the collection of beach profile data. Collected at regular intervals throughout the
year, such data will document changes in beach width and slope. This information will provide insight
into beach dynamics and will, over time, help to identify safe zones for otherwise doomed eggs.
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