Megafauna

Noteworthy

In 2022, our first year of surveys at Amaala, 145 Green turtle nesting attempts were recorded, including the first evidence of nesting at Al Nabaqiyah and Awandia Islands. There were 74 nesting attempts by the critically endangered Hawksbill turtle (at An Numan Island and the coastal beaches).

For TRS, 2022 was our second year of surveys. This year we recorded 613 Green turtle nesting attempts on nine islands, and 251 Hawksbill nesting attempts on 21 islands. These numbers are higher than in 2021, but as turtle nesting totals are naturally variable between years, it will take more time before clear patterns can emerge.

From our observations and those of others, five species of shark have been observed in Amaala waters and eight at TRS. Whitetip reef sharks were by far the most commonly observed shark during in-water surveys, but juvenile Blacktips were regularly sighted in the shallows around An Numan and Al Nabaqiyah Islands.

Photo-identification methods showed that a Whale shark sighted at TRS on 7 Nov., 2022, was first observed in the northern Gulf of Aqaba in August 2020.

Together with research partners, we initiated a program to better understand movement patterns and habitat use of the critically endangered Halavi guitarfish. Like last year, this species was regularly sighted in certain areas within the Al Wajh lagoon at TRS.

There were no dedicated dugong surveys at either Amaala or TRS this year, but our team encountered a dugong at Amaala, near Al Numan Island. Since 2020, there have been 27 reliable reports of dugongs at TRS, including two confirmed sightings of adult-calf pairs.

Six species of cetacean have been reported in the Amaala project area and seven at TRS. Notably, we received a reliable report of Orca in the Amaala area. This species is a very rare visitor to the Red Sea basin, with only around 10 previous records. This is the northernmost observation of Orca we are aware of.

Sea Turtles Methods

We surveyed islands and coastal beaches by walking along the shoreline looking for evidence of nesting. Nesting evidence includes pits from previous seasons’ nests, fresh tracks along the waterline leading onto the island, and fresh nests indicating recent nesting activity. Some coastal beaches are not easily accessible from inshore due to cliffs. At those places, tracks were identified using binoculars from the top of the cliffs.

Amaala surveys were concentrated on An Numan Island and the coastal beaches in and around Triple Bay. Two additional small islands (An Nabaqiyah and Awandia) offshore from Triple Bay, and other coastal beaches, were surveyed when possible. At TRS, 64 of the 92 islands were surveyed (the other 28 islands have had no previous evidence of nesting, lack suitable habitat, or have restricted access). Surveys were conducted at least once per month on the primary nesting areas but less frequently at other islands.

When a track is observed, the location is recorded along with turtle species (easily identifiable from the track), track width, and the presence (or not) of a nest. Other information, including proximity to vegetation, distance to high water mark, and distance to current water line, are also recorded and will help us to later model the distribution of prime nesting habitats. We estimated the age of tracks to calculate likely nesting dates.

Here we report on “nesting attempts,” which include both successful and unsuccessful attempts. Successful nesting attempts lead to a nest, but there are also unsuccessful attempts (‘false-crawls’), in which a turtle crawls onto the beach but returns to the sea without nesting. In some habitats, it is difficult to be certain of the outcome of a nesting attempt if there is very high nesting activity with overlapping tracks, or if we are only able to survey from a distance. Therefore, as is common for turtle nesting surveys, our base reporting unit is nesting attempts. Typically, around or a little less than half of all nesting attempts we have seen lead to an identified nest.

The number of nesting attempts throughout the season can also be used to estimate the population of females nesting that season. Using the methods of Shimada et al. (2021), which are based on the number of tracks and number of identified nests, we estimated nesting female populations for Green and Hawksbill turtles in Amaala and TRS areas.

Results Amaala

We recorded 145 Green turtle nesting attempts during Amaala surveys – 65 at An Numan Island, 75 on mainland beaches, and five in total on the two other Amaala islands (Al Nabaqiyah and Awandia). These five were the first records of turtle nesting on those islands that we are aware of.

We recorded 74 Hawksbill nesting attempts at Amaala, the great majority of which (61) were at An Numan Island, with the rest on coastal beaches.

The Red Sea