kélonia     The Observatory of Marine Turtles constellation.tif
Kélonia





Migratory Studies





Mayotte


Réunion Island

Migration routes and orientation behaviour is best studied through fitting animals with either metal (Monel or Titanium) fin tags or satellite transponders the signals of which are read via the Argos system centred in France. Staff from Kelonia and Ifremer have joined with other European teams to further develop these satellite programmes which started in 1997.

Ifremer
CNRS Montpellier



SWIOFP WORKSHOP
AT KELONIA
A workshop on Argos tags fixation, tissue sampling and standardization of marine turtles long term monitoring and protocols were held at Kelonia from the 31st of August to the 2nd of September 2010.



This workshop was organised as part of the 5th component of the SWIOFP (South Western Indian Ocean Fisheries Project), and financed by the project in order to host for three days, actors for marine turtles research and conservation from different countries in the area (South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania, Seychelles, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Reunion Island). During this workshop, participants assisted to an Argos tag fixation on a loggerhead turtle on Thursday 2nd of September. The turtles will be released within a few days. Beforehand, discussions were created around the importance of standardisation of data collection and sharing standardized data for a regional management, as well as different methods for long term monitoring of marine turtles population.

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For further information please contact
Mira Hurbungs, regional coordinator
of SWIOFP-C5: mhurbungs@mail.gov.mu
and Jérôme Bourjea Ifremer :
jerome.bourjea@ifremer.fr



INTERNATIONAL
SCIENTIFIC CO-OPERATION
at Itsamia Mwali, Union of the Comoros
July 2010

Mohéli

Itsamia was chosen for the site of this project due to the number of green turtles that come to reproduce on the beaches of the eastern point of this, the smallest island, of the Comoros Archipelago.

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PUBLICATIONS

Marine turtles use geomagnetic cues
during open-sea homing.
Luschi P., Benhamou S., Girard .C, Ciccione S.,
Roos D., Sudre J., Benvenuti .S (2007).
Current Biology 17, 126–133.

Homing in green turtle Chelonia mydas :
oceanic currents act as a contraint
rather than a information source.
Girard C., Sudre j., Benhamoun S., Roos D., Luschi P. (2006), Marine Ecology Progress series
Vol. 322 : 281-289.

Oceanic survival and movements of wild
and captive-reared immature green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the Indian Ocean.
Pelletier D, Roos D, Ciccione S (2003).
Aqua Liv Res 16: 35-41.

Kélonia, the observatory of marine turtles
Saint-Leu, La Réunion, France
SWIOFP WORKSHOP
AT KELONIA

The SWIOFP is a project financed by the World Bank, and comprise 6 components. The global aim is to focus on the marine resources shared by different countries and exploited by fisheries in the south-western Indian Ocean (stock status, fisheries impact on the resources, solutions for a sustainable exploitation of the resources etc.). More precisely, the component 5’s objective is to evaluate and reduce interactions between fisheries and protected species, like marine turtles. This workshop was organised by Kelonia and Ifremer, and was co-financed by the FFWD (French Funds for the World Development).

The regional coordinator of this component, Mrs Hurbungs Mira Devi from the fishery research centre of the Fisheries Minister of Rodrigues and Mauritius (ALBION), was present to supervise the workshop. Dr Jack Frazier, an international expert on marine turtles, member of the advisory comity of the IOSEA-MoU and actively studying them in the area since the 1970s, was also present. Scientists of Kelonia and Ifremer dispensed the training sessions. Kelonia was chosen to host the training workshop because of its adequate facilities and its participation in long-term studies on Indian Ocean French territories (Eparses Islands and La Réunion for more than 30 years).

Marine turtles are long-lived migratory species (with late sexual maturity: between 15 and 30 years old) that occupy various habitats scattered across the south-western Indian Ocean during their life cycle. Regional cooperation is thus essential to evaluate population status and put in place adequate management and conservation measures. Standardisation of protocols is one of the key elements to enable the comparison and analysis of the results of research programme.

International Scientific Co-operation
at Itsamia Mwali, Union of the Comoros

From July 17 to July 30, 2010, the Association for the Social-Economic Development of Itsamia (ADSEI) hosted an international mission : Simon Benhamou of the CNRS at Montpellier, Paolo Luschi and his team from Pisa University, Tomoko Narazaki from the University of Tokyo, Stéphane Ciccione and Jerome Bourjea with the team Kelonia/Ifremer of Reunion. The objective is to study the mechanisms by which green turtles orient themselves.

Itsamia was chosen for the site of this project due to the number of green turtles that come to reproduce on the beaches of the eastern point of this, the smallest island, of the Comoros Archipelago. During the year, between 30 and 150 turtles land on the 5 beaches monitored by ADSEI since 1998. These beaches thus represent, the most important populated reproductive site for green turtles in the Southern Indian Ocean. The preparation undertaken by ADSEI made it possible to select females at the beginning of the laying season. Members of ADSEI systematically tagged all the females having reached the beaches of Itsamia during the eight weeks preceding the arrival of the scientists.

Sixteen specimens were then equipped with Argos transmitters and 4 equipped with temperature, depth and speed data loggers. The turtles were then taken on board the vessel, Antsiva (www.antsiva.com) and taken 80 miles from their laying site before being released at sea.
’ navigational modes at sea and in proximity to the beaches. By the time that the scientists had left, 4 (four) turtles had already returned to lay their eggs at Itsamia. The ADSEI will continue to watch the beaches for another month in order to recover the data loggers and thereby, recover information concerning magnetism, temperature, depth and three-dimensional acceleration. The Argos transmitters will already have indicated the itineraries of each turtle.


Kelonia partnership.

Chelonia mydas green turtles. This species has become the emblem of the village which effectuates daily surveillance of the beaches in order to protect them from poaching, which is still intensely practiced on other of the island’s beaches. This surveillance has uncovered a regular increase in the number of laying females. Eco-tourism generates supplementary revenue for the village which are partly reinvested in communal equipment: the turtle house, school, solar panels.

“Sea Turtle Days.” This has become the most important popular event in Moheli and is an opportunity to sensitize the population to the necessity of preserving sea turtles and their natural habitats in the Union of the Comoros.