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

CEP Technical Report No. 17
4.111 Survey foraging areas
"Turtles are seen almost everywhere by divers and seine fishermen" (Wilkins and Barrett,
1987), but surveys designed to define specific foraging grounds (=feeding areas) have not been
undertaken. Based on opportunistic sightings and other informal reports, the sites most visited
by turtles include in St. Kitts: Dieppe Bay to Sandy Point, Old Road to Basseterre, the entire
Southeast Peninsula (foraging grounds adjoining nesting beaches seem to be the most popular),
and Conaree north to Cayon; in Nevis: Black Bay, Indian Castle, and Charlestown to Newcastle.
During beach surveys conducted in preparation for Second Western Atlantic Turtle Symposium
(WATS II), juvenile green and hawksbill turtles were observed in foraging areas off Sandy Point,
St. Kitts (Wilkins and Barrett, 1987). The fishermen who operate around the reefs and shoals of
the Landing Bay (Nevis) area "always see a number of small turtles, estimated weight 10-15 lbs"
(Wilkins and Barrett, 1987). Green turtles have been frequently sighted feeding along the
southern coast of Nevis and hawksbills are reported in west coast waters adjacent Cades Bay
(Young et al., 1988 in CCA, 1991).
The channel between the two islands (referred to as The Narrows) is good habitat for
turtles and the adjoining sea grass meadows and coral reefs surrounding the Southeast Peninsula
provide some of the most important feeding habitat for green turtles and hawksbills in the
country (Meylan, 1983; Wilkins and Barrett, 1998; Wilcox, 1989; Campbell Evelyn, pers.
comm., 1989). Available data suggest that the south (Caribbean) coast of the Peninsula is most
important for foraging; however, it is quite possible that coral reefs along the Atlantic coast also
serve as important feeding and refuge habitats, especially for the hawksbill turtle. The most
important feeding areas for green turtles in Peninsula waters appear to be Major's Bay and the
Caribbean shore between Nag's Head and Whitehouse Bay (Eckert, 1989). Leatherback turtles
may feed on jellyfish and related animals in deep offshore waters while in the Caribbean (Eckert
et al., 1989), but no information about potential feeding areas around St. Kitts/Nevis is available.
It is a recommendation of this Recovery Action Plan that field surveys be designed and
implemented to define the extent to which sea grass and coral reef communities are utilised as
foraging grounds by resident and itinerant populations of sea turtles. With these data, relatively
important foraging grounds can be identified and specific conservation measures developed. In
the absence of such survey data, foraging grounds must be considered coincident with sea grass
and coral reef communities, implying that protective measures (see section 4.122) should be
developed to apply to all zones of healthy of sea grass and coral. Protecting sea grass and coral
in general has the added benefit of safeguarding the nation's fisheries and tourism industries.
4.112 Survey nesting habitat
As part of a survey of marine turtles in the Leeward Islands, Meylan (1983) reported that
"the best nesting habitat for turtles [in St. Kitts] is on the Atlantic coast, where an extensive
beach stretches more or less continuously from the Cayon River to North Frigate Bay. There are
also several small beaches around the tip of the southeastern peninsula." In a report prepared for
WATS I, Wilkins and Meylan (1984) noted that Sandy Point, Conaree, Majors Bay, Cockleshell
Bay, Sand Bank Bay, and North Friar's Bay were the "main nesting beaches in St. Kitts." They
also indicated green turtle and/or hawksbill nesting at Newton Ground, Dieppe Bay, Sandy Bay,
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