Sea Turtle Recovery Action Plan for St. Kitts and Nevis - WIDECAST

St. Kitts and Nevis Sea Turtles…
cates (salps, pyrosomas) (Brongersma, 1969; Den Hartog and Van Nierop, 1984; Davenport and
Balazs, 1991). Based on offshore studies of diving by adult females nesting on St. Croix, Eckert
et al. (1989) proposed that the observed inter-nesting dive behaviour reflected nocturnal feeding
on vertically migrating zooplankton, chiefly siphonophore and salp colonies. There are no
records of juveniles in St. Kitts or Nevis, although injured juveniles have been found recently in
Barbados (Horrocks, 1987) and Puerto Rico (Johnson, 1989). The paths taken by hatchlings
leaving their natal beaches are not known. There are no data on growth rate or age at sexual
maturity for wild leatherbacks.
Oil derived from leatherbacks killed in St. Kitts has traditionally been used for medicinal
purposes, including home cold remedies, and this continues to the present day (see also section
3.3). Leatherbacks have at times been killed in Nevis, but historically there has been virtually no
market for the meat or the oil.
2.4 Eretmochelys imbricata, Hawksbill Sea Turtle
The hawksbill is distinguished by a narrow, pointed beak with which it pries sponges and
other soft-bodied organisms from the reef. The carapace is often posteriorly serrated and the
four pairs of carapace scutes overlap, like shingles on a roof (Figure 3). There are two pair of
pre-frontal scales between the eyes. Adults rarely exceed 80 kg (175 lb) and a carapace length of
about 90 cm (straight-line, nuchal notch to posterior tip) (Pritchard et al., 1983; Witzell, 1983).
Bright mottled colouration (brown, orange, gold) is common. This rare turtle is challenging to
study. Hawksbills are migratory, high-density nesting is rare, and the relatively few tagging
programmes have not been in place long enough to generate a useful number of tag returns (that
is, a sufficiently large number of recaptures to illustrate post-nesting movement). Gravid
females often nest on isolated beaches (including those flanked by exposed coral and rock) that
are difficult for biologists to reach on a consistent basis.
Principal nesting beaches in the West Indies are not easily identified, but one of the best
known is Pasture Bay Beach (Jumby Bay Resort) on Long Island, Antigua. Data collected at this
site indicate that, over the course of the main nesting season (mid-June to mid-November),
turtles make an average of five nests separated by intervals of 13-18 days (cf. Corliss et al.,
1989). Average clutch size ranges from 120-160 eggs in the Western Atlantic (summarized by
Witzell, 1983). The female often lays her eggs deep in the shelter of beach vegetation, such as
the sea grape (Coccoloba uvifera). Little evidence of the visit exists aside from a faint
asymmetrical crawl (flippers alternating) about 0.7 m wide leading to and from the ocean.
Incubation periods average 60 to 75 days in the Western Atlantic (Witzell, 1983). As is true for
other sea turtles, females will predictably return to the same beach or area to renest on intervals
of 2-3 years, again based on data collected in Antigua (Jim Richardson, University of Georgia,
pers. comm., 1992). Sand temperature plays a large role in determining hatchling sex -- warmer
temperatures produce females, whereas cooler temperatures produce males.
Nesting may occur during all months of the year, especially May to October (Wilkins and
Meylan, 1984), in St. Kitts/Nevis. Meylan (1983) described nesting as "sporadic" on St. Kitts
and noted that "the most frequently mentioned nesting sites are on the tip of the southeastern
peninsula -- at Major's Bay, Banana Bay, Cockleshell Bay, Mosquito Bay, and Sand Bank Bay . .
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