seaturtle.org : MTN : ARCHIVES : Sign In

Conservation activities on local and national levels

Sea turtle projects are underway in most countries. Although many are still in the initial stages (basic data collection and identification of threats) and availability of adequate funding is a major constraint, significant progress has been achieved. For instance, in Macaronesian waters, work on loggerheads has been carried out for several years by universities in Madeira and Azores and the Archie Carr Centre for Sea Turtle Research, University of Florida. In Cape Verde, several important loggerhead nesting sites are studied intensively by a team from the University of Las Palmas (Canary Islands).

Work in the region of Joal-Fadiouth and Palmarin in Senegal has halted turtle meat consumption and the sale of carapaces. The Makasutu Wildlife Trust, a local NGO, is currently surveying and protecting nesting sites in Gambia. In Guinea Bissau, studies on reproductive behaviour and satellite tracking of nesting green turtles have been carried out in collaboration with the Marine Turtle Research Group, University of Wales Swansea.

In collaboration with the CNSHB (Centre National des Sciences Halieutiques de Boussoura), the existence of suitable hawksbill nesting sites in Guinea has been confirmed. The difficult task of establishing sea turtle conservation in Sierra Leone since the end of the civil war has been undertaken by the Conservation Society of Sierra Leone and the Njala University College. The SAMFU/Liberia Sea Turtle Project has been active at several sites designated as significant nesting and foraging habitats in southeastern Liberia.

In Côte d'Ivoire, a local sea turtle project, in collaboration with SOS Fôrets and several university students, has been studying a sea turtle nesting beach on the remote eastern coast, but current war and funding concerns may hinder future efforts.

The Ghana Wildlife Society and the Ghana Wildlife Division have identified significant sea turtle habitats and have been carrying out research and monitoring activities, conservation education, and enforcement of legislation. A financial scheme benefits villagers who participate in the turtle conservation project, providing credit to invest in new enterprises.

In Togo, university-based research and the national association Agbo-Zegue are carrying out an awareness campaign, as well as coastal surveys to gather information on species abundance and distribution.

In Benin, the Musée des Sciences Naturelles - Nature Tropicale ONG (with assistance from BIOTOPIC) has succeeded in raising environmental awareness in several coastal villages, where local committees regularly monitor turtle occurrences and enforce protection laws. Initiatives underway include nest translocation to protected hatcheries, a tagging programme, and training of local technicians.

In Akassa, Nigeria, thanks to extensive conservation education by the Akassa Community Development Project, sea turtles are recognised as an essential part of the natural heritage; most nests are protected and live stranded turtles are released.

Ecotourism, beach surveys, monitoring activities, and community development are among the activities pursued by the sea turtle organization Kulu-man, based in Ebodje, Cameroon (in collaboration with the Projet GEF d'Amenagement et de Conservation de la Biodiversité de Campo-Ma'an). Ebodje has been twinned with a town in France, with subsequent social benefits to fishermen and turtle poachers. In addition, a research station has been set up and efforts are underway to establish a marine reserve. The Cameroon Wildlife Conservation Society is active within the Doula-Edea faunal reserve further north.

In Equatorial Guinea, coastal surveys, monitoring of capture and consumption, awareness campaigns, and training of park guards have been carried out on a wide scale through CUREF- Conservación y Utilización Racional de los Ecosistemas Forestales de Guinea Ecuatorial, Cardiff University, and ECOFAC- Conservation et Utilisation Rationnelle des Ecosystemes Forestiers d'Afrique Centrale. Full-scale monitoring and protection have been implemented only in Bioko, including night patrols by local villagers and an ecotourism programme run by the NGO Asociación Amigos de Doñana, although their work was interrupted by political unrest in 1998. Since 2001, the Bioko Biodiversity Protection Programme has resumed sea turtle monitoring and protection in southern Bioko. Long-term studies on the ecology of the feeding grounds and a comprehensive conservation project are planned for the unique green turtle feeding ground in Corisco Bay (Equatorial Guinea and Gabon), and plans are afoot for the establishment of a vast trans-border marine reserve. In southern Gabon, priorities for this globally important leatherback nesting population include a tagging programme, a study on the effects of predation on reproductive success, as well as designing in-situ nest protection systems, and decreasing the level of poaching near villages. Beach surveys are carried out by local NGOs Nyamu, Aventures Sans Frontières (ASF), Ibonga and WWF-Gabon. Recently, Argos satellite transmitters have been fixed on nesting females in order to track their movements upon leaving the beach, thanks to collaboration between Nyamu, ECOFAC and the CNRS/CEPE of the University of Strasbourg, France. Conservation efforts are being extended to the Congolese section of the nesting beach within the Conkouati reserve, and the IUCN has proposed the creation of a trans-border marine reserve between Gabon and Congo to include all the most significant nesting areas. In collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society, ASF has also been carrying out conservation activities in the Gabonese section of Corisco Bay and in Pointe Pongara (the popular resort near the capital, Libreville), and monitoring the sea turtle meat and egg market in the capital.

In São Tome and Principe between 1998 and 2001, Projecto Tato carried out complete coastline surveys, regular monitoring of significant nesting beaches and of turtle captures at sea, nest relocation in protected hatcheries, as well as awareness campaigns among locals, students, tourists, government officials and tortoiseshell artisans. Although funding for Projecto Tato was ended in 2001, conservation efforts have been resumed thanks to the NGO MARAPA, which built two new egg hatcheries at the end of 2002. Sea turtle conservation initiatives are underway in other range countries, including Morocco, Mauritania, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola and Namibia.

International conservation initiatives

In May 1999, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) organized an international conference for the conservation of sea turtles of the Atlantic coast of Africa in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, with support from the French government, IUCN-France and WWF-West Africa. A Memorandum of Understanding was formulated to politically seal the decision for regional co-operation. To date, 19 States have signed the Memorandum of Abidjan, and several others, including some European countries, are preparing to do so. In May 2002, the First Meeting of Signatory States to the Memorandum of Abidjan was held in Nairobi, Kenya. A regional conservation plan for sea turtles was developed further at this meeting, which is meant to apply to all the countries ranging from the Straits of Gibraltar to the Cape of Good-Hope, including the islands of Macaronesia, Saint-Helena, Ascension, and the Spanish territory of Ceuta. This vast programme, initiated by the CMS, is complemented by Programme Kudu (the vernacular name for sea turtle in several African languages), an umbrella organisation aimed at coordinating and supporting the activities of national groups (comparable to WIDECAST in the Caribbean region). In turn, Kudu is divided into three networks: TOMAO (Tortues Marines d'Afrique de l'Ouest) for northern West Africa from Mauritania to Guinea, WASTCON (West Africa Turtle Conservation Network) for southern West Africa from Sierra Leone to Nigeria, and PROTOMAC (Protection des Tortues Marines d'Afrique Centrale) for Central Africa from Cameroon to Republic of the Congo. A regional office and database have been established in Libreville, Gabon, with assistance from the Coopération Française and the European Union programme ECOFAC.

Current threats

Most of the threats affecting sea turtles along the Atlantic coast of Africa are not exclusive to this part of the world, although their accumulated effect makes the situation particularly challenging for the well-intentioned conservationist. Poverty of coastal inhabitants is often associated with the absence of basic infrastructure and services, such as clean water, health care, transportation and access to basic commodities. Where sea turtles are relatively abundant, they are considered significant sources of food and income, and villagers depend on them to supplement their fishing and crop harvests. In areas with large turtle aggregates, such as green turtle feeding or nesting grounds (Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, São Tome and Principe), organised market systems have developed around exploitation of meat, eggs and other products. Demand from the upper and middle classes in large cities drives this market to intensive harvests.

Hawksbill shell is used to make ornaments and souvenirs for sale to tourists, particularly at holiday destinations such as São Tome and Principe. Oil from leatherback fat and crushed skulls are thought to have medicinal properties and are used in the West African countries of Ghana, Togo, Benin and Cameroon. Sea turtle carapaces are also sometimes incorporated in traditional religious ceremonies, although local beliefs and myths focusing on sea turtles may also be a source of protection for the species (such as in Ghana, Republic of the Congo, Benin and Côte d'Ivoire).

In addition to direct exploitation, sea turtles are affected by several indirect threats. Commercial fisheries (many from east Asian countries) operating in the Gulf of Guinea, particularly between Ghana and Gabon, are thought to incidentally capture a large number of sea turtles in their gear, mainly olive ridleys and leatherbacks (specific research on the subject has recently been initiated). Over-harvesting and damaging of marine ecosystems by industrial trawlers may lead to decreases in fish catch by small-scale fishermen and, in turn, lead to greater dependence on other resources, such as sea turtles.

The Gulf of Guinea is also the focus of extensive and rapidly increasing oil exploitation activities. Vast oil reserves have been discovered in the last decade in areas which also host important sea turtle habitats (e.g. Corisco Bay, São Tome), and drilling activities by large oil corporations, associated with pollution and habitat destruction, are increasingly serious threats.

Marine and coastal pollution are also widespread in industrial and urban areas, and garbage litters many developed beaches. Okoume timber lost at sea by logging companies washes up onshore and obstructs nesting beaches in Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon. Coastal erosion due to sand mining, harbour building and irregular current flows has compromised the suitability of long stretches of coastal areas as nesting sites, particularly between Ghana and Nigeria. Environmental awareness, and the concepts of finite natural resources and the importance of protecting biodiversity for future generations are not widespread. Generally, governments along the Atlantic coast of Africa have inadequate regulatory legislation focusing on environmental issues, and enforcement of species protection laws is often scarce or absent. Where legislation has established protected areas or prohibited use of sea turtles and turtle products (all countries appear to have laws fully or partially protecting some or all species), poaching remains widespread, especially since extreme poverty means there is often little else available. Even in Nigeria, the only country requiring the use of Turtle Excluder Devices by its trawling fleet, numerous strandings have been reported of turtles entangled in trawler nets.

Political instability and civil wars often hamper conservation activities. Both Sierra Leone and Liberia have recently emerged from years of devastating wars. Republic of the Congo and Nigeria are plagued by high insecurity, social and religious tensions, and the previously wealthy and stable Côte d'Ivoire has now plunged into what may well escalate into civil war. Sea turtle conservation initiatives in these countries may be negated by difficulties in establishing safe, long-term field projects and enforcing national legislation, or by shifting pressure on natural resources. In many countries, wealth from the large-scale exploitation of resources such as oil, minerals and timber has not yet filtered through to the majority of people.

As in many developing countries, conservation initiatives must operate within the daily constraint of coastal villagers needing the sustenance provided by the species being protected. It is essential that any proposed protection measures be associated with careful campaigns stressing the socio-economic benefits of conservation and of sustainable use of natural resources, as well as initiatives providing viable, sustainable livelihoods. The latter is often too easily ignored, in favour of blanket bans on exploitation of threatened resources. Seed funds and expertise are seldom available to set-up alternative enterprises, to provide stable sources of income, and to bring basic services improving the quality of life. In addition to financial and logistical difficulties, undertaking conservation initiatives must bear in mind several essential precautions. A fine balance must be achieved between what might be viewed as foreign interference and empowering of local projects. Although sometimes lacking in scientific background, the most effective initiatives tend to be those undertaken locally, such as in Benin, Gabon, and Ghana. On the other hand, it is essential for local projects to receive national and international support, to be made aware that many of the challenges and issues they face are common world-wide and that successful approaches and solutions have been devised that may be applicable within their context. Due to remoteness and the difficulty of accessing information and means of communication, many African sea turtle projects are not taking advantage of the power derived from working synergistically.

Sea turtle conservation in Africa is still relatively young and offers great potential and scope for the establishment of successful initiatives. In spite of the challenges, the past few years have shown many advances in our knowledge of sea turtles along the Atlantic coast and conservation efforts initiated in different countries have been encouraging. Much remains to be done - for example, baseline surveys are still lacking from potentially significant habitats in Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Angola, and Namibia. Management strategies must be designed and implemented soon, before populations become depleted beyond recovery, and should be based on the best available knowledge. Several tag returns (e.g. Bellini et al. 2000; Marcovaldi et al. 2000; Pritchard 1973) and genetic studies (Formia 2003) have shown the inter-connectedness of African sea turtle populations with those present in the western Atlantic. Many surprises may still be in store, including the possibility that some individuals use nesting areas on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean (Fretey 1992). The migratory nature of sea turtles reminds us that it is impossible to ignore threats affecting the same population in sometimes very distant parts of its range; international coordination is an essential aspect of conservation efforts.

Acknowledgements:We would like to express our deep appreciation to the hundreds of individuals involved in sea turtle conservation along the Atlantic coast of Africa. Their continuing efforts, enthusiasm and dedication are a driving force toward successful conservation; we apologise we cannot mention them all. In addition to the organizations listed in the text, we acknowledge the support of Direction de la Faune et de la Chasse (Gabon), Direction des Forets et des Ressources Naturelles (Benin), Direction des Parcs Nationaux des Reserves de Faune et de Chasses (Togo), Division of Wildlife and National Parks (Liberia), L'Institut National de Recherche Halieutique (Morocco), Ministére de l'Aménagement du Territoire et de l'Environnement (France), Ministère de l'Environnement et de la Forêt de la Côte d'Ivoire, Ministerio de Bosques, Pescas y Medio Ambiente (Equatorial Guinea), Ministry for Tourism and Environment (Namibia), Pro Natura International (Nigeria), Universidad de Guinea Ecuatorial, Université du Togo-Lomé. Funding agencies for projects mentioned here include Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research, British Chelonia Group, Centre Béninois pour le Développement Durable (Benin), Chelonian Research Foundation, Chelonian Research Institute, Conservation International, Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, Coopération Française, European Union, Fauna and Flora International, Fondation Internationale du Banc d'Arguin, Global Environment Fund, IUCN-France, Mobil Foundation, People's Trust for Endangered Species (UK), Ruffords Small Grant Programme, Statoil, United Nations Development Fund, WWF, Wildlife Conservation Society.

BELLINI, C., T.M. SANCHES, & A. FORMIA. 2000. Hawksbill turtle tagged in Brazil captured in Gabon, Africa. Marine Turtle Newsletter 87:11-12.

BILLES, A. & J. FRETEY. Nesting of leatherback turtles in Gabon: Importance of nesting population is confirmed. In: Proceedings of the 21st Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation and Biology. NOAA Technical Memorandum. In press.

BRONGERSMA, L.D. 1995. Marine turtles of the eastern Atlantic Ocean. In: Bjorndal, K.A. (Ed.). Biology and Conservation of Sea Turtles, Revised Edition. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC. pp. 407-416.

CARR, A. 1957. Notes on the zoogeography of the Atlantic sea turtles of the genus Lepidochelys. Revista de Biología Tropical 5:45-61.

CARR, T. & N. CARR. 1991. Surveys of the sea turtles of Angola. Biological Conservation 58:19-29.

CARR, A. & H. HIRTH. 1962. The ecology and migrations of sea turtles, 5. Comparative features of isolated green turtle colonies. American Museum Novitates 2091:1-42.

CATRY, P., C. BARBOSA, B. INDJAI, A. ALMEIDA, B.J. GODLEY & J.C. VIÉ. 2002. Biology and conservation of the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) nesting at Poilão, Bijagós Archipelago (Guinea Bissau). Oryx 36:400-403.

DONTAINE, J.F. & O. NEVES. 1999. Le Projet Tato à São Tomé. Canopée 13:i-iv.

FORMIA, A. 1999. Les tortues marines de la Baie de Corisco. Canopée 14:i-ii.

FORMIA, A. 2003. Population and genetic structure of the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) in West and Central Africa; implications for management and conservation. PhD thesis. University of Cardiff. 269pp.

FORMIA, A. & J. FRETEY. An assessment of the distribution and status of sea turtles in Central and West Africa. In prep.

FRETEY, J., 1992. A technique for identifying adult female leatherback turtles by their injuries. In: Soptom Village des Tortues (ed) Proceedings of the First International Congress of Chelonian Pathology, pp. 43-56.

FRETEY, J., 1999. La tortue olivâtre: une espèce très menacée au Cameroun. Canopée 14:iii-iv.

FRETEY, J. 2001. Biogeography and Conservation of Marine Turtles of the Atlantic Coast of Africa/Biogéographie et conservation des tortues marines de la côte Atlantique de l'Afrique. CMS Technical Series Publication No. 6, UNEP/CMS Secretariat, Bonn, Germany.

FRETEY, J., A. MEYLAN & M. TIWARI. 2002. The occurrence of the hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) in West Africa. In: A. Mosier, A. Foley & B. Brost (Eds.), Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-477. pp. 95-96.

MARCOVALDI, M.A., A.C.C.D. DA SILVA, B.M.G. GALLO, C. BAPTISTOTTE, E.P. LIMA, C. BELLINI, E.H.S.M. LIMA, J.C. DE CASTILHOS, J.C.A. THOMÉ, L.M.P. MOREIRA, & T.M. SANCHES. 2000. Recaptures of tagged turtles from nesting and feeding grounds protected by Projeto TAMAR-IBAMA, Brasil. In: H. Kalb and T. Wibbels (Eds.), Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation and Biology. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-443. pp. 164-166.

PRITCHARD, P.C.H. 1973. International migrations of South American sea turtles (Cheloniidae and Dermochelidae). Animal Behaviour 21:18-27.

TOMÁS, J., J. CASTROVIEJO, & J.A. RAGA. 1999. Sea turtles in the south of Bioko Island (Equatorial Guinea). Marine Turtle Newsletter 84:4-6.

Leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) in Mexican Pacific. © Doug Perrine/seapics.com