Chance sighting gets Fiji its first satellite tagged turtle

After unsuccessful attempts over the last 2 years, this was the final one during this nesting season to locate and satellite tag a hawksbill nester, a first for Fiji. One of the major challenges has been the lack of funds to reach isolated islands which are now thought to support what remains of a once thriving Fiji turtle nesting population. Additionally, unlike that of the Solomon Islands, PNG and Indonesia, there is no one large known nesting beach in Fiji.
While nesting sites have been recorded on various islands throughout the Fijian Archipelago, nesting incidences in recent years have been minimal. Records of turtles nesting on Makogai Island for a period of 20 years show that in 1987 there were 21 nests while only 5 nests were recorded in 2007 (Department of Fisheries, Fiji, 2007).

Then in January, a National Trust and WWF team struck it lucky. On their way to await turtles and carry out research work, they spotted a nesting hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata)on a secluded beach locally known as Talice, North east of Yadua Taba Island.

!ADVERTISEMENT!

The turtle was spotted by the National Trust Officer, Jone Niukula, and other members of the team. The sight of the turtle crawl tracks on the beach triggered a wave of excitement among the researchers.
Pita Biciloa, Yadua Taba park ranger maneuvered his boat in an attempt to channel through a small passage to get to Talice. “This was a difficult task, especially because of storm waves that were battering the beach”, he said.
The team managed to secure the boat ashore, their excitement and enthusiasm fuelled even more, as they approached the turtle crawl tracks on the beach and heard loud “swooshes” – the sound of sand being scattered as the hawksbill turtle began to dig its nest.

The collaborative effort between the National Trust of Fiji (NTF), the community of Yadua, The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the National Ocean & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and WWF has been the climax of ongoing efforts over the past years to protect an endangered cultural icon.
“It is highly possible that the 88.8cm hawksbill turtle is a hatchling of Yadua returning after more than 25 years to the beach of her birth to transfer her genetic code into the future”, said Sanivalati Navuku.
The hawksbill was named ‘Marama ni Yadua’ (Lady of Yadua) by the villagers. They expressed great emotion at seeing the turtle lay its eggs and, with the attachment of the satellite tag, commented that it would be an unforgettable experience for them and Yadua community. 

The satellite tag was attached to the turtle’s shell using a laminating resin that should ensure the tag remains for at least 6 months.
A small church service was conducted before the turtle was released into the sea with the hope to see it return to Yadua in the years to come.

The excitement generated out of locating the nesting turtle on Yadua Taba stems out of the fact that this is Fiji’s first ever satellite tagged turtle. 

“It has become increasingly difficult to find nesting turtles in Fiji”, said Jone Niukula. “Reasons for this difficulty include low numbers of turtles returning to nest perhaps due to the low numbers of hatchlings that mature to an age where they’re capable of reproducing. This could be due to many reasons including domestic consumption of turtles and eggs, loss of feeding and nesting grounds or being accidentally caught in fisheries gear. So when the team saw Marama ni Yadua, we quickly reacted to ensure that we could satellite tag a turtle out of Fiji.” 

Turtles are known to nest from November through to March. Thus, over the holiday period, several other teams were conducting nesting beach work around Fiji including the Mamanuca group, Koro Island and Yadua Taba.
“These surveys are a part of Fiji’s Sea Turtle Recovery Plan – a document developed by various stakeholders to address key threats contributing to the decline of turtle populations in Fiji”, said Sanivalati Navuku.
Around the region, satellite telemetry work has enabled several Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs) like Samoa, Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia to track the migration of turtles that had nested on their beaches. 

Several of these telemetry results illustrate a westward trend to migration, with turtles tagged in 3 of the countries / territories listed above migrating to Fiji. Fiji’s healthy sea grass meadows and coral reefs are ‘hotspots’ for turtles to feed. 

One famous illustration of this type of work was the migration of Lady Vini – a female hawksbill turtle tagged in Samoa in March 2006 and then moved through the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ’s) of 6 Pacific Island Countries & Territories (PICTs) before entering Fiji’s in October 06 where the signal then died.

*Jone Niukula is working for the National Trust of Fiji
*Sainivalati Navuku is WWF Fiji Country Programme officer

Editor’s Note:
For several years now, turtle migrations have been tracked through various tagging methods including titanium flipper, passive internal transponder (PIT) or satellite tags. Titanium flipper tags are the more commonly employed method as it is relatively inexpensive. However, data retrieval is entirely dependant upon the serial numbers being reported to the relevant authorities by those who come across turtles carrying these flipper tags. Based on these reports, authorities are then able to plot the turtle’s path of migration.

While being more expensive, using satellite telemetry to track the migration of turtles during the 2006 Year of the Sea Turtle, SPREP facilitated the satellite tagging of turtles in Samoa, American Samoa, French Polynesia and were working with Fiji to do the same. Perhaps the most famous of those satellite tagged turtles was Lady Vini – a hawksbill nester tagged out of Samoa in March (06) and arrived in Fiji in October (06) after having swum through the EEZs of 6 other Pacific Island countries including Samoa, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Wallis & Futuna. Unfortunately, the signal was lost shortly after her arrival in Fiji.
The turtle conservation work in Fiji significantly contributes to meeting key goals of the turtle bycatch component in the Coral Triangle Network Initiative.

The Coral Triangle is the world’s epicenter of marine life abundance and diversity. The richness of coral, fish and other species is so high that the region is sometimes referred to as the “Amazon of the Seas”. This triangular shaped region covers all or part of the seas of six countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. Fiji is part of WWF‘s Coral Triangle Initiative, which also includes the neighboring country of Australia. Fiji is home to a rich coral biodiversity as well, but with lower numbers known to science.