Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation. Brisbane, Australia, 14-19 February 2009 ORAL PATOKU: MONITORING AN IMPORTANT SEA TURTLE FORAGING GROUND IN ALBANIA Michael White Idriz Haxhiu Enerit Saçdanaku Lazion Petritaj Merita Rumano Prue Robinson Stephanos Kouris Lily Venizelos Centro Recupero Tartarughe Marine, Lampedusa, Italy Museum of Natural Sciences, University of Tirana, Albania University of Tirana, Albania University of Tirana, Albania Ministry of Environment, Albania MEDASSET, Athens, Greece MEDASSET, Athens, Greece MEDASSET, Athens, Greece ---------------------------------------Turtles have been tagged in Albania since 2002 (Professor Haxhiu). In 2005 a voyage was made to confirm the coastal distribution patterns of turtles; the survey included interviewing fishermen throughout Albania (White et al. 2006). There are many loggerheads in Albania’s northern-most bay at Patoku: the shallow habitat is sand/mud, rich in molluscs and crustaceans; marine plantlife is sparse as underwater visibility is mostly poor. Researchers are investigating whether this habitat supports summer-only or year-round foraging, mating, development, overwintering, or transient use by migrating turtles. Artisanal-fishing is the main economic activity in this remote area and turtles are caught as bycatch. Dynamite-fishing is a particular problem at Ishmit, Tales and Shengjin, but policing resources are extremely limited. Stavnikes are large rectangular fish-traps constructed of posts and nets, usually set in shallow seawater (5-6 m depth) and emptied each morning by boat. A barrier-net, which guides fish into the stavnike, extends from the trap towards the beach. Although there were 18 stavnikes throughout the bay, only two fish-traps, near to Ishmit and Matit Rivers, were monitored closely; other fishermen were interviewed whenever possible. The Ishmit and Matit fishermen captured 126 turtles in their stavnikes (June-July). Photographic-recognition and morphometric data were collected, health status assessed, and turtles were tagged and released. Most turtles (80%) were large short-tailed loggerheads (Mean CCL=65cm; n=98), there was only one adult female; however, this was also the egg-laying period in the Mediterranean region and perhaps adult females will be encountered later in the year (post-nesting). The distribution and lifestyle of male turtles is not as well known as that of females. Patoku may be a male foraging and developmental habitat, as 20% of loggerheads tagged in June were males (adult=4; adolescent=9). This has added importance because of the potential feminisingeffect of climate-change on global turtle populations. A juvenile green turtle Chelonia mydas (CCL 39cm) was in Ishmit stavnike (June); regionally this species nests only in the northeastern Mediterranean. An important finding was that entrapped turtles were not deterred from foraging locally, despite being manhandled out of the nets, and then being landed for measuring and tagging. The evidence for this is that 17 recently-tagged turtles were recaptured in stavnikes on more than one occasion (one was taken five times, two on three occasions, and 14 were captured twice). These serial recaptures indicate that at least some turtles showed short-term fidelity to Patoku’s foraging grounds (16 Caretta caretta and the Chelonia mydas). Some turtles (6 Cc & 1 Cm) were
Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation. Brisbane, Australia, 14-19 February 2009 captured in both stavnikes (4.5km apart), suggesting a larger foraging area was being used, whereas the other recaptures were always in the same traps. Stavnikes appear to be a turtlefriendly method of fishing. Perhaps the most important factor is that turtles entering the traps can swim around and, crucially, surface to breathe normally. Ten loggerheads had been tagged in previous years (all at Patoku), the earliest in 2003; these indicate repeat migrations: either to Patoku or enroute elsewhere.