World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

KIRIBATIPOPULATION:Chelonla mydasNesting sites According to Anon. (1979c), C. mydas nests in most islandsin Kiribati, although no details of sites are provided. Anon. (1979c)stated that turtles ( C. mydas is the most common) have been "seen, caught orknown to nest" in 15 of the 16 islands in the Gilberts group, and while mostencounters are at sea, not on a nest beach, some apparently low-intensitynesting is reported on remote beaches on most islands. The Phoenix and Lineisland groups are very sparsely inhabited and hence turtle populations arepoorly-known. Anon. (1979c) was able to gather very few turtle records fromthe Line Islands, but suggested that good numbers may occur in view of theinfrequency of disturbance, although nesting is thought to be sparse.Balazs (1982c) cited reports of apparently sparse nesting on Fanning andChristmas. In the Phoenix Islands, mating C. mydas were seen at GardnerIsland in June 1978 (Anon., 1979c), nesting is known on Canton and is alsoreported on Enderbury, Hull, Birnie and Sydney (Balazs, 1975).Nesting numbers Numbers appear to be low in the Gilberts and LineIslands, but may be somewhat greater in the Phoenix group. In the Gilberts,"good numbers" are reported only on Katangateman Sandbank north-east ofMakin and on another bank near Nonouti (Anon., 1979c).Balazs (1975) visited Canton (Phoenix group) on 13-20 February 1973. Herecorded C. mydas nesting at four locations, extending for 2.1, 2.7, 0.4 and3.1 km. Site 1 held two nesting females on one night, with two fresh setsof tracks on a subsequent night, and 16 tracks probably made within the past10 days. Site 2 had one set of fresh tracks (with a further 13 reported inJune 1973) and more than 100 nest pits thought to be two or three months old(i.e. nesting in November-December); Site 3 had over 30 pits of the sameage. Site 4 had more than 40 pits and four fresh tracks. Balazs (1975)suggested that "a fairly large number of animals may be involved" in nestingat Canton, and was told that nesting at Enderbury is "heavy" inOctober-NovemberTeebaki (1986) visited Canton (Kanton) in April-August 1986 and foundnesting only at one site in the south-east, apparently not corresponding toany of the locations mapped by Balazs (1975: Fig. 1), but a little to thesouth of his Site 1. Nesting was found on one sandy portion of a 2-mile(3.2-kin) section of beach fragmented by deposits of coral rubble and"base- cemented slabs"; some 20-30 suspected nests were recorded (some ofthis total may well comprise trial pits). Signs of emergence by one turtle,but no nesting, were seen on the southern rim of the atoll. Anon. (1979c)suggests, on the basis of Balazs's 1973 findings, that a minimum of tenfemales nightly may nest on Canton, and if April, June and October-Decemberare the main nest months, some 160 may have nested yearly in the 1970s.Balazs (1982c) suggested the annual total may be as high as 200 (see nextparagraph). No data are available for Gardner, Sydney, Hull or Enderbury;beaches on Birnie were seen to be "covered with turtle tracks" during aJanuary 1978 flight (Balazs, 1982c).Trends in nesting numbers A comparison of the reports of Balazs (1975;visit in 1973) and Teebaki (1986) suggests that nesting has declined onCanton; even though Teebaki's visit took place longer after the suspectedmain nest period than that of Balazs, some signs of nesting at the levelreported by Balazs might be expected to persist if originally present.Balazs (1975) speculated that nesting populations are depleted on Hull,Sydney and Gardner following heavy exploitation during Gilbertese tenure ofthe islands. Little information is available on suspected trends in the292