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The Eritrean coast is home to a formidable diversity of marine wildlife, with marine turtles constituting an important food resource for coastal people. As a key component of the Eritrea Coastal, Marine and Island Biodiversity (ECMIB) Project, marine turtles along Eritrea’s coast are today the focus of comprehensive studies and critical conservation initiatives. These include public awareness, international linkages, and the protection of key nesting and foraging habitats.

In November of 2004, the ECMIB initiated its turtle conservation programme with a ten-day intensive training course in marine turtle biology and conservation, attended by more than 24 staff and specialists of the project and various stakeholder groups (including the Ministries of Agriculture, Fisheries, Tourism, and the Environment). From the participants, a team of four ECMIB Project staff were selected to form a core turtle research and conservation group, and began surveys of the coastal areas, collecting information on locality and seasonality of nesting, species present, and uses and captures where applicable. From this work two main species were found to be present in Eritrean waters, the hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and the green (Chelonia mydas). Initials findings indicated subsistence take has occurred along the entire southern half of the coast (some 650 km), and numerous discarded carapaces were found at artisanal fishing villages. Through interviews, turtles were found to be killed though incidental capture in nets primarily, although a level of directed take also exists. An additional pressing problem was bycatch in the mechanised trawl industry, through which hundreds of turtles had been caught over the previous few years (Eritrea Ministry of Agriculture, unpub. data).

In May 2005, during a field excursion undertaken by a team of 15 people including the authors, the turtle team, representatives of partner agencies (Ministries of Agriculture, Tourism and Fisheries), and various support personnel, the project recorded a regional first with the nesting attempt by an olive ridley turtle. This is the first time this species has ever been documented nesting on the Red Sea coast (<https://seaturtle.org/cgi-bin/imagelib/index.pl?photo=2210>). Identification was confirmed by the turtle’s distinctly more rounded carapace, with slightly upturned margins, and eight left and six right costal scutes with the first costal scutes touching the nuchal scute. Previous work in Eritrea (Hillman & Gebremariam 1995; Howe et al. 2003) and in the region (Frazier & Salas 1984; Gasparetti et al. 1993; Miller 1989; Pilcher & Al-Merghani 2000), and a regional review (Ross & Barwani 1982) have indicated the presence of the olive ridley turtle in Red Sea but none of these authors suggested that nesting has ever been documented.

Observer data indicate that olive ridleys have not been recorded as bycatch in the commercial fishery, and fishermen claim they rarely see any hard-shelled turtle other than the green and hawksbill, suggesting olive ridleys are not abundant in the area. Given the lack of previous documented encounters, no firm estimates of abundance of L. olivacea can be made, but we believe they constitute less than 1% of all turtles in the southern Red Sea based on this single encounter compared against > 100 carapaces of green and hawksbill turtles.

The future of marine turtle conservation has a bright outlook in Eritrea. After nearly thirty years of civil war during which marine resources were hardly exploited, the present condition of the coastal belt is considered to be in excellent condition. While commercial trawling does take place, and turtles are taken as bycatch, the turtle conservation project intends to train the onboard observers in turtle release techniques, and it is envisioned that TEDs will become compulsory in the near future, with the adoption of a National Action Plan for the conservation of Marine Turtles and their Habitats. Subsistence take occurs but is low, and the public awareness component of the ECMIB project aims to educate the fishermen and their families as to the importance of marine turtles, following which it is expected some reduction in direct take will occur. With the support of the UNDP-funded ECMIB Project, plans are also underway to link Eritrea with the IOSEA MoU, an agreement directed specifically at marine turtle conservation (see <http://www.ioseaturtles.org>), and further education and training for the turtle team is being coordinated. Marine turtles also feature prominently in plans to set aside marine protected areas, which will safeguard these resources and leave behind a longstanding legacy for future generations.

FRAZIER, J. & S. SALAS, 1984. The status of marine turtles in the Egyptian Red Sea. Biological Conservation 30: 41-67.

GASPARETTI, J., STIMSON, A., MILLER, J., ROSS, P. & P. GASPARETTI. 1993. Turtles of Arabia. Fauna of Saudi Arabia 13: 170-367.

HILLMAN, J.C. & T. GEBREMARIAM. 1995. The status of marine turtle conservation in Eritrea. Resources and Environment Division. Ministry of Marine Resources, Massawa. 16 pp.

HOWE, S.A., ASFAHA, B. & J.M. KEMP, 2003. Turtle strandings along the Southern Eritrean Red Sea. Marine Turtle Newsletter 103:4-7.

MILLER, J.D. 1989. Marine Turtles, Volume 1: An assessment of the conservation status of Marine Turtles in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Report No. 9, MEPA, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 289 pp.

PILCHER, N.J. & M. AL-MERGHANI. 2000. Reproductive biology of the green turtle Chelonia mydas at Ras Baridi, Saudi Arabia. Herpetological Review: 32: 142-147.

ROSS, J.P. & M.A. BARWANI. 1982. Review of sea turtles in the Arabian Area. In: Bjorndal K.A (Ed) Biology and Conservation of Sea Turtles. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. pp. 373-382.