HISTORY OF THE
BVI SEA TURTLE PROGRAMME
The BVI Sea Turtle Programme has existed since the Conservation & Fisheries Department (CFD) was first established in the early 1980’s. The programme was initially based on CFD staff patrolling known nesting beaches but limited to the retrospective assessment of tracks and other egg laying signs following a female turtle's departure. In 1986, the BVI joined the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST), which provided training in sea turtle biology and management to the VI Government's biologists. With WIDECAST, CFD and other non-governmental stakeholders developed a national sea turtle recovery action plan (STRAP) that impeded comprehensive habitat surveys, public awareness and data collection efforts in partnership with local fishermen, leading to revised legislation.
By the late 1990s, CFD’s monitoring efforts included a nesting leatherback tagging programme. This programme identified the nesting leatherback (locally known as a Trunk") population had declined to less than ten trunks per season in contrast to the days when up to six trunks nested per night during the 1920's. However, by 2001 the nesting activity had significantly increased.
In 2001, the UK Government commissioned a three-year project to address critical gaps in the knowledge of marine turtle populations found in the UK Overseas Territories. The project, Turtles of the Caribbean Overseas Territories, known as TCOT, was launched in November 2001 and assessed the status and exploitation of the marine turtle populations found in the six Caribbean UK Territories.
Over a three-year period and with funding from the UK, CFD staff was further trained in turtle biology, conservation, monitoring and research techniques. The research included nesting beach and foraging site monitoring, genetic stock analysis, turtle tagging, socio-economic surveys, and volunteer programmes involving dive operators and tourists. Subsequently, this project brought a new dimension to turtle monitoring in the BVI.
TCOT efforts and funding were supplemented by the commencement of The Darwin Initiative in Anegada in October 2003. This project specifically studied the sea turtles, plants and birds of Anegada. However, after the projects ended, CFD continued efforts to monitor both nesting and foraging turtles using the tagging techniques learned despite the conclusion of both programmes and termination of funding provided by the UK Government.
By the late 1990s, CFD’s monitoring efforts included a nesting leatherback tagging programme. This programme identified the nesting leatherback (locally known as a Trunk") population had declined to less than ten trunks per season in contrast to the days when up to six trunks nested per night during the 1920's. However, by 2001 the nesting activity had significantly increased.
In 2001, the UK Government commissioned a three-year project to address critical gaps in the knowledge of marine turtle populations found in the UK Overseas Territories. The project, Turtles of the Caribbean Overseas Territories, known as TCOT, was launched in November 2001 and assessed the status and exploitation of the marine turtle populations found in the six Caribbean UK Territories.
Over a three-year period and with funding from the UK, CFD staff was further trained in turtle biology, conservation, monitoring and research techniques. The research included nesting beach and foraging site monitoring, genetic stock analysis, turtle tagging, socio-economic surveys, and volunteer programmes involving dive operators and tourists. Subsequently, this project brought a new dimension to turtle monitoring in the BVI.
TCOT efforts and funding were supplemented by the commencement of The Darwin Initiative in Anegada in October 2003. This project specifically studied the sea turtles, plants and birds of Anegada. However, after the projects ended, CFD continued efforts to monitor both nesting and foraging turtles using the tagging techniques learned despite the conclusion of both programmes and termination of funding provided by the UK Government.
A unique framework to support CFD's BVI Sea Turtle Programme came about in 2008 after the BVI Tourist Board recognised a sustainable financing mechanism that would financially benefit CFD's programme, but would also add a high end, eco-tourism product for visitors, a "Turtle Encounters" experience. What was a routine activity carried out by CFD's sea turtle research team (spending the day out on the boat catching and tagging sea turtles, collecting data and then releasing the turtles) could provide a unique learning experience for visitors while helping collect local research data about the BVI's endangered sea turtles and raising funds.
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In 2015, the Conservation & Fisheries Department partnered with ARK to create a business model that could generate much needed funding to further develop the BVI Sea Turtle Programme. This partnership has become what is known as the
Turtle Encounters Project. |
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Published papers co-authored by members of the BVI Sea Turtle Research Team
Papers highlighted are most relevant specifically to the BVI and links to the papers are provided.
Avens L, Taylor JC, Goshe LR, Jones TT, Hastings M. (2009). Use of skeletochronological analysis to estimate the age of leatherback sea turtles Dermochelys coriacea in the western North Atlantic Journal of Endangered Species Research, Vol. 8: 165–177.
Bostrom BL, Jones TT, Hastings M, Jones DR. (2010). Behaviour and physiology: the thermal strategy of leatherback turtles. PLoS One Vol 5; Issue 11.
Bjorndal KA, Chaloupka MY, Saba VS, Diez CE, van Dam RP, Krueger BH, Horrocks JA, Santos AJ, Bellini C, Marcovaldi MA, Nava M, Willis S, Godley BJ, Gore S, Hawkes LA, McGowan A, Witt MJ, Stringell TB, Sanghera A, Richardson P, Broderick AC, Phillips Q, Calosso MC, Claydon JAB, Blumenthal J, Moncada F, Nodarse G, Medina Y, Dunbar SG, Wood LD, Lagueux CJ, Campbell CL, Meylan AB, Burns Perez VR, Coleman RA, Strindberg S, Guzman V, Boulon RH, Connett S, Outerbridge ME, Bolten AB. 2016. Somatic growth dynamics of West Atlantic hawksbill sea turtles: a spatio-temporal perspective. Ecosphere 7:1–14.
Campbell LM, Silver JJ, Gray NJ, Ranger S, Broderick AC, Fisher T, Godfrey MH, Gore S, Hodge KVD, Jeffers J, Martin CS, Mcgowan A, Richardson PB, Sasso C, Slade L, Godley BJ. (2009). Co-management of sea turtle fisheries: biogeography versus geopolitics. Marine Policy 33:137–145.
Hawkes LA, McGowan A, Broderick AC, Gore S, Wheatley D, White J, Witt MJ,Godley BJ. (2014) High rates of growth recorded for hawksbill sea turtles in Anegada, British Virgin Islands. Ecology and Evolution 4, 1255–1266.
Hawkes LA, McGowan A, Godley BJ, Gore S, Lange A, Tyler CR, Wheatley D, White J, Witt MJ,. Broderick AC (2013). Estimating sex ratios in Caribbean hawksbill turtles: testosterone levels and climate change. Aquatic Biology, Vol. 18; 9-19.
Jones TT, Bostrom B, Hastings MD, Van Houtan KS, Pauly D, Jones DR. (2012) Resource requirements of the Pacific leatherback turtle population. PLoS One 7.
Jones TT, Hastings MD, Bostrom BL, Andrews RD, Jones DR. (2009). Validation of the use of doubly labelled water for estimating metabolic rate in the green turtle (Chelonia mydas L.): a word of caution Journal of Experimental Biology;212(Pt 16):2635-2644.
Jones TT, Hastings MD, Bostrom BL, Pauly D, Jones DR. (2011). Growth of captive leatherback turtles, Dermochelys coriacea, with inferences on growth in the wild: Implications for populations decine and recovery. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 399:84–92.
McGowan A, Broderick AC, Frett G, Gore S, Hastings M, Pickering A. (2008) Down but not out: marine turtles of the British Virgin Islands. Animal Conservation, 11, 92–103.
Richardson PB, Broderick AC, Coyne MS, Gore S, Gumbs JC, Pickering A, Ranger S, Witt MJ, Godley BJ. (2013). Leatherback turtle conservation in the Caribbean UK overseas territories: act local, think global? Marine Policy, 38, 483–490.
Seminoff JA , Jones TT, Eguchi T, Hastings M, Jones DR. (2009). Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope discrimination in soft tissues of the leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea): Insights for trophic studies of marine turtles. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, Volume 381, Issue 1, 30 November 2009, Pages 33–41
Witt M, McGowan A, Blumenthal J, Broderick A, Gore S, Wheatley D, White J, Godley BJ. (2010). Inferring vertical and horizontal movements of juvenile marine turtles from time-depth recorders. Aquatic Biology, 8: 169–177.
