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Edition 47: Summer 2009 The world’s largest population of nesting leatherback sea turtles has recently been located on the beaches of Gabon.
The findings, which estimate the number of females in the country’s leatherback population to be up to 41,373, were published in the Biological Conservation journal.
“We knew that Gabon was an important nesting site for leatherback turtles but until now had little idea of the size of the population or its global ranking. We are now focusing our efforts on working with local agencies to coordinate conservation efforts to ensure this population is protected against the threats from illegal fisheries, nest poaching, pollution and habitat disturbance, and climate change,” said the paper’s lead author, Dr Matthew Witt of the University of Exeter.
The leatherback sea turtle species is current graded as critically endangered by the IUCN, but new figures may lead marine biologists to reconsider that ranking. Until this recent survey, estimates of leatherback turtles had been topped out at 43,000 nesting females worldwide.
This, the first comprehensive survey of Gabon’s leatherback sea turtle population, was the culmination of aerial surveys along the nation’s 600km coastline over three nesting seasons. The joint project between the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Exeter also found that Gabon’s extensive national parks and other protected areas host 79 per cent of the nesting leatherbacks surveyed.
“These findings show the critical importance of protected areas to maintain populations of sea turtles. Gabon should be commended for creating a network of national parks in 2002 that have provided a sanctuary for this endangered species as well as other rare wildlife,” said Dr Angela Formia of the WCS, a co-author of the paper.
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