Assessment of the nesting population demography of loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) in La Roche Percée: first long-term monitoring in New Caledonia

Journal article

1. Population monitoring is essential to assess, manage and protect threatened species. Although the South Pacific loggerhead turtle subpopulation is classified as critically endangered by the IUCN, monitoring data are scarce.

2. This study reports the results of the first long-term monitoring of the nesting population of loggerhead turtle held by Bwärä Tortues Marines on La Roche Percée beach, New Caledonia.

3. From 2006 to 2020, Capture Mark Recapture was used to identify nesting individuals. Time and nesting success were recorded on site.

4. A total of 452 different females were observed and tagged over 14 years. The number of different nesting individuals observed each year showed a significant increase along the timeframe of the study. A remigration interval of 3.34 years was observed and the overall nesting success was 59.02%. This study also reports the inter-nesting intervals, monthly and hourly variabilities in the visits at the nesting site.

5. The conservation actions led by Bwärä Tortues Marines seem to be correlated with a higher nesting success. This study provides encouraging results and highlight the need to pursue the monitoring and conservation actions implemented by Bwärä Tortues Marines. Further management recommendations are also provided.

Authors: Barbier, M; Lafage, D; Bourgogne, H; Read, T; Attard, M

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Wiley
• Journal: Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems
• Volume: 33
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 579-591
• Publication date: 2023-05-09
• Acceptance date: 2023-04-11
• DOI: 10.1002/aqc.3949
• EISSN: 1099-0755
• ISSN: 1052-7613
• Language: English
• Keywords: population assessment; New Caledonia; conservation; FFR; South Pacific; marine turtle; critically endangered