Environmental impacts in Drini Bay: an important sea turtle foraging and developmental habitat

Environmental impacts in Drini Bay: an important sea turtle foraging and developmental habitat in Albania.

Lazjon Petri1 Michael White2, Esmeralda Kararaj1, Marina Mitro1, Enerit Saçdanaku1, Dhurata Përkeqi1, Bekim Trezhnjevna1, Margarita Hysko1 1

School of Biological Sciences, Tirana University, Blvd. Zogu 1, Tirana, Albania.

2

Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles, 1c Licavitou Street, Athens, Greece.

Abstract: During MEDASSET’s (Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles) three-year study (2008-2010) at Drini Bay, 407 sea turtles were captured as fisheries bycatch (402 Caretta caretta, 5 Chelonia mydas). The project concluded that Drini Bay is a regionally and nationally important habitat that is used by sea turtles for foraging, as a refuge and as part of a key migratory corridor between the Ionian and Adriatic Seas.

Drini Bay supports several artisanal fisheries, as well as a small trawling industry. Fisheries Regulations No.1 prohibits trawling within three nautical miles of the coast, or shallower than the 40-metre isobath. Trawlers are frequently observed fishing close to the beaches of Drini Bay. All of the study area was shallower than 47 metres. Nearshore trawling is not an isolated incident, but the common practice. Conversations with trawlermen suggest that turtles are captured in their nets, especially south of River Drini, but this is unquantified and not reported. A comprehensive bycatch assessment should be undertaken.

In 2009, to determine coastal pollution in the area, a survey using quadratcounts of debris (10 × 10 m quadrats) was conducted at eleven locations around the bay. All of the beaches in the 30-km bay were found littered with debris,

mostly plastic; most of the waste enters the bay via the four main rivers. In 2010 water-sampling for micro-biological contaminants was conducted in several rivers that flow into the Adriatic Sea; all the river-water samples were ‘bad or ‘very bad’ for faecal coli forms.

Illegal dynamite use for fishing in Drini Bay was monitored throughout the three-year project. There were distinct changes in usage patterns during 2010: all explosions took place in the vicinity of Kepi Rodonit and the mouth of River Ishmi (i.e. the south-eastern corner of Drini Bay) whereas during 2008-9, dynamite was also used at Tales, but this site now has a small, yet successful, emerging tourism industry that may have curtailed dynamite-use there. The illegal use of dynamite for fishing in 2010 exceeded the total usage from the previous two years (540 charges in 2010, n = 24 days; 124 charges in 2008, n = 18 days; 57 charges in 2009, n = 15 days).

Albania is an impoverished developing country that lacks infrastructure and resources: a particular nation-wide problem is waste management, including disposal of sewage. Nevertheless, another important factor is lack of awareness about the importance of sea turtles as a species and the need for environmental protection. Throughout the project researchers endeavoured to raise awareness among fishermen regarding the importance of this ‘umbrella’ species locally, nationally and regionally.

Environmental education and awareness-raising, is probably the quickest way to improve the coastal zone; local residents could seek help from communities and prefectures, as well as national government. A national sea turtle management strategy, which includes the protection of Drini Bay, will be presented to the government in 2011.