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

CEP Technical Report No. 17
caught. This is especially true with regard to digging nests. There was a consensus among
persons interviewed for this Recovery Action Plan that the vast majority of eggs are collected
each year and that this has continued for generations.
4. There has been no attempt at record-keeping regarding the number of turtles harvested
each year. Attempts to obtain this information by interviewing fishermen and other residents
have generally resulted in conflicting reports. For example, one group of five local
spear-fishermen reported that each of them killed an average of one turtle per month, for an
annual tally of about 60 turtles; other fishermen contend that that level of take is impossible.
One regular diver reported seeing turtles on "80%" of his dives; others contend that encounters
with turtles are rare at best. Some say that staying up all night waiting to take an egg-bearing
female is a thing of the past; others say that in their village it is still common. While the
qualitative trends are obvious, quantitative data capable of describing recent population declines
are not available.
The constraints described above have made it difficult to reach conclusions on the
distribution and size of nesting assemblages, nesting frequency and success, distribution and size
of foraging populations, distribution and health of important feeding grounds, the number of
fishermen involved in the harvest, and the number (and species) of turtles landed each year.
Nonetheless, it is clear from interviewing local fishermen that nesting turtle stocks have
noticeably declined from pre-World War II levels. Nesting populations of leatherbacks (river
turtles) and green turtles appear to have suffered the most dramatic declines as a direct result of
over-exploitation. In the future, the commercial development of beachfront property will place
an additional burden on already depleted populations.
4.62 Goals and objectives
The broad goals of the proposed Sea Turtle Conservation Programme are to obtain
comprehensive and accurate data on the distribution of sea turtle nesting and foraging
populations and to promote the conservation and recovery of remaining sea turtle stocks. The
specific objectives of the Programme are as follows:
1. Determine nest density and nest success to provide credible estimates of reproduction
at two important nesting beaches on each island over five consecutive years, based on ground
surveys. Estimate leatherback (river turtle) nesting on St. Kitts using ground and/or aerial
surveys of Atlantic beaches and Sandy Point/Belle Tete.
2. Collect information relative to the distribution and abundance of turtles at sea over five
consecutive years based on sightings data assembled during proposed coral reef monitoring
programmes, as well as taking advantage of a volunteer sightings network.
3. Identify critical nesting and foraging habitats, based on the results of field surveys
described in 1. and 2. above, and develop holistic management plans for critical habitats.
4. Increase our understanding of the residency patterns and movements of local sea
turtles, including evaluating the extent to which turtles are shared with neighbouring political
jurisdictions, by initiating tagging (and bio-telemetry, if possible) programmes.
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