Population Structure for Sea Turtles at Drini Bay:

Chelonian Conservation and Biology, 2013, 12(2): 283–292 © 2013 Chelonian Research Foundation doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2744/CCB-1002.1 Articles Population Structure for Sea Turtles at Drini Bay: An Important Nearshore Foraging and Developmental Habitat in Albania MICHAELWHITE*, LIZA BOURA, AND LILY VENIZELOS Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles (MEDASSET), 1c Licavitou Street, Athens, Greece [medasset@medasset.org] * Current address of corresponding author: Honu Cook Islands, Omoka, Tongareva Atoll, Cook Islands [crwban681@yahoo.co.uk]

ABSTRACT. – Loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta using an important shallow-water foraging ground at Drini Bay, Albania, were monitored over 3 consecutive summers (2008–2010). Working closely with local artisanal fishermen, researchers were able to obtain many of the sea turtles captured as bycatch (nontarget species). There were 407 new records (402 loggerhead and 5 green turtles, Chelonia mydas), with most (99%) being captured in 2 stavnike fish traps (a type of pound net) and a few with mrezh (gill nets). Morphometric data were collected from all captured turtles, and they were allocated into 10-cm size classes (length-frequency-distribution) based on their curved carapace length; caudal measurements were used to assess the developmental-stage of secondary sexual characteristics. An unusually high number of male loggerhead turtles (27%) were captured; their morphometric data were subsequently used as a reference for determining if short-tailed turtles might be adult or sexually developing females. Nesting has not been reported for Albania, so the presence of females is unclear.

Drini Bay is also a developmental habitat, as 69% of the studied turtles were yet to mature. Interannual recaptures of 26 turtles allowed their incremental growth rate to be calculated.

FOR FULL ARTICLE: http://dx.doi.org/10.2744/CCB-1002.1 KEY WORDS. – Reptilia; Testudines; Caretta caretta; Chelonia mydas; adult male; foraging; bycatch; Albania; site fidelity; sexual development; size at maturity; incremental growth RECEIVED: March 4, 2012; ACCEPTED: December 27, 2012. Handling Editor: Jeffrey A. Seminoff ARTICLE CITATION. – White, M., L. Boura and L. Venizelos. 2013. Population Structure for Sea Turtles at Drini Bay: An Important Nearshore Foraging and Developmental Habitat in Albania. Chelonian Conservation and Biology: December 2013, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 283-292.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. – The project was cofunded by MEDASSET, the Global Environment Facility’s Small Grant Programme (GEF/SGP), the United Nations Environmental Program-Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP), the Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas of UNEP/ MAP, the British Chelonia Group, the J.F. Costopoulos Foundation (Greece), the Spear Charitable Trust (UK), and the Panton Trust (UK).

Project partners included the University of Tirana, the Herpetofauna Albanian Society, and ECAT Tirana.

MEDASSET wishes to acknowledge the role that Prof. Dr. Idriz Haxhiu has played in first establishing sea turtle research in Albania and thank him for coordinating national logistics for this project. The authors thank the following for their support: Arian Gace, Xhevat Gërdeci, Esmeralda Kararaj, Marina Mitro, Dhurata Përkeqi, Lazjon Petri, Prue Robinson, Enerit Saçdanaku, and Bekim Trezhnjevna. We also thank the fishing community in Albania for their collaboration; Robert van Dam for his photo of male hawksbill turtles; Daniela Freggi for providing access to turtles at Centro Recupero Tartarughe Marine Lampedusa, Italy; www.seaturtle.org for the use of MapTool; and finally the anonymous reviewers whose comments considerably improved this manuscript.

LITERATURE CITED: Baran, I, and Turkozan, O. 1996. Nesting activity of the loggerhead turtle, Caretta caretta, on Fethiye Beach, Turkey, in 1994. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 2:93–96.

Bjorndal, K.A. 1999. Priorities for research in foraging habitats. In: Eckert, K.L., Bjorndal, K.A., AbreuGrobois, F.A., and Donnelly, M. (Eds.). Research and Management Techniques for the Conservation

of Sea Turtles. IUCN/SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group Publication No. 4, pp. 12–14.

Bolten, A.B. 2003. Variation in sea turtle life history patterns: neritic vs. oceanic developmental stages.

In: Lutz, P.L., Musick, J.A., and Wyneken, J. (Eds.).

The Biology of Sea Turtles. Volume II. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, pp. 243–257.

Bolten, A.B. and Witherington, B.E. (Eds.). 2003.

Loggerhead Sea Turtles. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 319 pp.

Bonn. Convention. 1979. The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).

Broderick, A.C., Glen, F., Godley, B.J., and Hays, G.C. 2003. Variation in reproductive output of marine turtles. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 288:95–109.

Canbolat, A.F. 2004. A review of sea turtle nesting activity along the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Biological Conservation 116:81–91.

Casale, P., Freggi, D., Basso, R., and Argano, R. 2005. Size at male maturity, sexing methods and adult sex ratio in loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) from Italian waters investigated through tail measurements.

Herpetological Journal 15:145–148.

Casale, P., Freggi, D., Basso, R., Vallini, C., and Argano, R. 2007. A model of area fidelity, nomadism, and distribution patterns of loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the Mediterranean Sea. Marine Biology 152:1039–1049.

Casale, P. and Margaritoulis, D. (Eds.). 2010. Sea Turtles in the Mediterranean: Distribution, Threats and Conservation Priorities. Gland, Switzerland: International Union for Conservation of Nature, 294 pp.

Chaloupka, M.Y. 1998. Polyphasic growth in pelagic loggerhead sea turtles. Copeia 1998:516–518.

Davenport, J. 1989. Sea turtles and the greenhouse effect.

British Herpetological Society Bulletin 29:11–15.

Demetropoulos, A. and Hadjichristophorou, M. 1995.

Manual on Marine Turtle Conservation in the Mediterranean.

UNEP (MAP) SPA/IUCN/CWS/Fisheries Department, MANRE (Cyprus).

Demetropoulos, A. and Hadjichristophorou, M. 2009. The Cyprus Turtle Conservation Project—29 years on.

In: Demetropoulos, A. and Turkozan, O. (Eds.).

Proceedings of the Second Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles. Barcelona Convention, Bern Convention, Bonn Convention (CMS), pp. 19–26.

Demetropoulos, A. and Hadjichristophorou, M. 2010.

Cyprus—Region B. In: Casale, P. and Margaritoulis, D. (Eds.). Sea Turtles in the Mediterranean: Distribution, Threats and Conservation Priorities. Gland, Switzerland: International Union for Conservation of Nature, pp.

53–64.

Dodd, C.K. 1988. Synopsis of the biological data on the loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta (Linnaeus 1758). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Biological Report 88(14):110 pp.

Eckert, K.L., Bjorndal, K.A., Abreu-Grobois, F.A., and Donnelly, M. (Eds.). 1999. Research and management techniques for the conservation of sea turtles. IUCN/SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group Publication No. 4, 235 pp.

Ehrhart, L.M. 1982. A review of sea turtle reproduction. In: Bjorndal, K. (Ed.). The Biology and Conservation of Sea Turtles. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 29–38.

Ehrhart, L.M., Bagley, D.A., and Redfoot, W.E. 2003.

Loggerhead turtles in the Atlantic Ocean: geographic distribution, abundance and population status. In: Bolten, A.B. and Witherington, B.E.

(Eds.). Loggerhead Sea Turtles. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 157–174.

Groombridge, B. 1990. Marine turtles in the Mediterranean: distribution, population status, conservation. A report to the Council of Europe, Environment and Management Division. Nature and Environment Series No. 48.

Haxhiu, I. 2010. Albania. In: Casale, P. and Margaritoulis, D. (Eds.). Sea Turtles in the Mediterranean: Distribution, Threats and Conservation Priorities.

Gland, Switzerland: International Union for Conservation of Nature, pp. 15–28.

Lazar, B., Casale, P., Tvrtkovic, N., Koul, V., Tutman, P., and Glavi, N. 2004a. The presence of green sea turtle Chelonia mydas in the Adriatic Sea. Herpetological Journal 14:143–147.

Lazar, B., Gargia-Borboroglu, P., Tvrtkovic, N., and Žiža, V. 2003. Temporal and spatial distribution of the loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta in the eastern Adriatic Sea: a seasonal migration pathway? In: Seminoff, J.A. (Ed). Proceedings of the TwentySecond Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation. NOAA Tech. Memor. NMFSSEFSC-503, Miami, pp. 283–284.

Lazar, B., Margaritoulis, D., and Tvrtkovic, N. 2004b. Tag recoveries of the loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta in the eastern Adriatic Sea: implications for conservation. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 84:475–480.

Lazar, B. and Tvrtkovic, N. 1995. Marine turtles in the eastern part of the Adriatic Sea: preliminary research. Natura Croatica 4(1):59–74.

Limpus, C.J., Couper, P.J., and Read, M.A. 1994. The loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta in Queensland: population structure in a warm temperate feeding area. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 37:195– 204.

Limpus, C.J., de Villiers, D.L., de Villiers, M.A., Limpus, D.J., and Read, M.A. 2001. The loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta in Queensland: feeding ecology in warm temperate waters. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 46:631–645.

Limpus, C.J. and Limpus, D.J. 2003. Biology of the loggerhead turtle in western South Pacific Ocean foraging areas. In: Bolten, A.B. and Witherington, B.E. (Eds.). Loggerhead Sea Turtles. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 93–113.

Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis.

Laurentii Salvii (Salvius publ.). Tenth edition, 197 pp. http://dzl.gdz-cms.de/no_cache.dms/load/img.

Lohman, K.J., Witherington, B.E., Lohman, C.M.F., and Salmon, M. 1997. Orientation, navigation and natal beach homing in sea turtles. In: Lutz, P.L. and Musick, J.A. (Eds.). The Biology of Sea Turtles.

Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, pp. 107–135.

Margaritoulis, D. 1982. Observations on loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta activity during three nesting seasons (1977–1979) in Zakynthos, Greece.

Biological Conservation 24:193–204.

Margaritoulis, D.M. 1988a. Nesting of the loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta on the shores of Kyparissia Bay, Greece, in 1987. Mesogee 48:59–65.

Margaritoulis, D. 1988b. Post-nesting movements of loggerhead sea turtles tagged in Greece. Rapports et Procès-verbaux des Réunions. Commission Internationale pour l'Exploration Scientifique de la Mer Méditerranée 31(2):283–284.

Margaritoulis, D. 2000. An estimation of the overall nesting activity of the loggerhead turtle in Greece. In: Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation. NOAA Tech. Memor. NMFSSEFSC-436, pp. 48–50.

Margaritoulis, D., Argano, R., Baran, I., Bentivegna, F., Bradai, M.N., Caminas, J.A., Casale, P., de Metrio, G., Demetropoulos, A., Gerosa, G., Godley, B.J., Haddoud, D.A., Houghton, J., Laurent, L., and Lazar, B. 2003. Loggerhead turtles in the Mediterranean Sea: present knowledge and conservation perspectives. In: Bolten, A.B. and Witherington, B.E. (Eds.). Loggerhead Sea Turtles.

Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp.

175–198.

Margaritoulis, D. and Rees, A.F. 2001. The loggerhead turtle, Caretta caretta, population nesting in Kyparissia Bay, Peloponnesus, Greece: results of beach surveys over seventeen seasons and determination of the core nesting habitat. Zoology in the Middle East 24:75–90.

Marquez, M.R. 1990. FAO Species Catalogue Volume 11: Sea Turtles of the World. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of sea turtle species known to date. FAO Fisheries Synopsis 125(11). Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 81 pp.

MEDASSET. 2012a. Action Plan for the Conservation of Sea Turtles and their Habitats in Albania. White, M., Boura, L., Grimanis, K., and Venizelos, L. (Eds.). Athens, 40 pp.

MEDASSET. 2012b. Management Recommendations for Drini Bay, Northern Albania. White, M., Boura, L., Grimanis, K., and Venizelos, L. (Eds.). Athens.

Poloczanska, E.S., Limpus, C.J., and Hayes, G.C. 2009.

Vulnerability of marine turtles to climate change. In: Sims, D.W. (Ed). Advances in Marine Biology.

Volume 56. Burlington, VT.:Academic Press, pp.

151–211.

Polovina, J.J., Balazs, G.H., Howell, E.A., Parker, D.M., Seki, M.P., and Dutton, P.H. 2004. Forage and migration habitat of loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) sea turtles in the central North Pacific Ocean. Fisheries Oceanography 13(1):36–51.

Polovina, J.J., Kobayashi, D.R., Parker, D.M., Seki, M.P., and Balazs, G.H. 2000. Turtles on the edge: movement of loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) along oceanic fronts, spanning longline fishing grounds in the central North Pacific, 1997–1998.

Fisheries Oceanography 9:71–82.

Polovina, J., Uchida, I., Balazs, G., Howell, E.A., Parker, D., and Dutton, P. 2006. The Kuroshio Extension Bifurcated Region: a pelagic hotspot for juvenile loggerhead sea turtles. Deep-Sea Research II 53:326–339.

Schofield, G., Hobson, V.J., Fossette, S., Lilley, M.K.S., Katselidis, K.A., and Hays, G.C. 2010. Fidelity to foraging sites, consistency of migration routes and habitat modulation of home range by sea turtles.

Diversity and Distributions 16:840–853.

Schroeder, B.A., Foley, A.M., and Bagley, D.A. 2003.

Nesting patterns, reproductive migrations, and adult foraging areas of loggerhead turtles. In: Bolten, A.B. and Witherington, B.E. (Eds.). Loggerhead Sea

Turtles. Washington,: DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 114–124.

Turkozan, O. and Kaska, Y. 2010. Turkey. In: Casale, P. and Margaritoulis, D. (Eds.). Sea Turtles in the Mediterranean: Distribution, Threats and Conservation Priorities. Gland, Switzerland: International Union for Conservation of Nature, pp.

257–293. van Dam, R.P. and Diez, C.E. 1998. Caribbean hawksbill turtle morphometrics. Bulletin of Marine Science 62(1):145–155.

White, M.G. 2007. Marine ecology of loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta (Linnaeus 1758) in the Ionian Sea: observations from Kefalonia and Lampedusa. PhD Thesis, University College Cork, Ireland, 300 pp.

White, M., Boura, L., and Venizelos, L. 2010a. An overview of MEDASSET's role in sea turtle research and conservation in Albania. Testudo 7(2):43–54.

White, M., Boura, L., and Venizelos, L. 2011a.

MEDASSET's three-year project: monitoring an important sea turtle foraging ground at Patok, Albania. Marine Turtle Newsletter 131:34–38.

White, M., Haxhiu, I., Boura, L., Gërdeci, X., Kararaj, E., Mitro, M., Petri, L., Përkeqi, D., Robinson, P., Rumano, M., Saçdanaku, E., Trezhnjevna, B., Vrenozi, B., and Venizelos, L. 2010b. Male loggerheads at a foraging & developmental habitat in Albania. Book of Abstracts, 30th Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation, International Sea Turtle Society, Goa, India.

White, M., Haxhiu, I., Kararaj, E., Mitro, M., Petri, L., Saçdanaku, E., Trezhnjevna, B., Boura, L., Grimanis, K., Robinson, P., and Venizelos, L. 2011b. Monitoring and conservation of important sea turtle feeding grounds in the Patok Area of Albania 2008–2010. Final Project Report. A project of MEDASSET in collaboration with University of Tirana; H.A.S., Albania; ECAT, Albania. Supported

by GEF/SGP, Tirana; RAC/SPA (UNEP/MAP); UNEP/MAP. www.medasset.org.

White, M., Haxhiu, I., Kouroutos, V., Gace, A., Vaso, A., Beqiraj, S., and Plytas, A. 2006. Rapid assessment survey of important marine turtle and monk seal habitats in the coastal area of Albania, October– November 2005. www.medasset.org.

White, M., Haxhiu, I., Saçdanaku, E., Petri, L., Rumano, M., Osmani, F., Vrenozi, B., Robinson, P., Kouris, S., and Venizelos, L. 2008. Monitoring stavnike fish-traps and sea turtle bycatch at Patoku, Albania.

International Conference on Biological and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Tirana University, Tirana, Albania, pp.

404–409.

Yilmaz, C., Turkozan, O., Bardakci, F., White, M., and Kararaj, E. 2012. Loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) foraging at Drini Bay in Northern Albania: genetic characterisation reveals new haplotypes.

Acta Herpetologica 7(1):43–50. Žiža, V., Marencic, Z., and Lipej, L. 2003. First data on the loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta in Slovenia (North Adriatic). In: Margaritoulis, D. and Demetropoulos, A. (Eds.). Proceedings of the First Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles. Nicosia, Cyprus: Barcelona Convention, Bern Convention, Bonn Convention (CMS), pp. 261–264.