Marine Turtle Conservation

Seychelles hosts one of the five largest nesting populations of the critically endangered Hawksbill turtle in the world and Cousin is the most critical nesting site for this species in the western Indian Ocean. Every year, hundreds of turtles emerge from the waters around the island to nest.

The largest hawksbill turtle (Erechmotelys imbricata) population remaining in the Western Indian Ocean occurs in Seychelles, where an estimated 1,230-1,740 females nested annually in the early 1980s.  Since then, however, populations have declined due to widespread harvesting of nesting females during the 30 years prior to 1994, when a total legal ban on turtle harvest was implemented.  An exception to the downward trend is the population at Cousin Island Special Reserve, managed by Nature Seychelles. The reserve including the waters around the island 400m from the shore is protected, creating a safe haven for turtles to nest here.

Turtle monitoring has been ongoing in Cousin since 1972. The island has one of the longest running monitoring program for hawksbill turtles in the world. Turtle monitoring forms a core part of the  Cousin  work programs during the nesting season. Records of dates and locations are kept as nesting beaches are patrolled several times a day during daylight. 

Titanium metal tags bearing a unique identification code are also applied to the front flippers of each nesting turtle encountered during beach patrols. This long-running activity has allowed Cousin to identify individual females as they return to the beaches to nest season after season.

Please see this paper on the success of the conservation program:  Allen et al. 2010. Hawksbill turtle monitoring in Cousin Island Special Reserve, Seychelles: an eight-fold increase in annual nesting numbers. Endang Species Res 11:, 2010

Threats to turtles:

Beach erosion remains a threat, especially given recent climactic variability and significant changes in beach profiles. Turtle nests are lost due to beach erosion and water logging. Steep crests and obstacles inhibit the females’ progress across the beaches to lay eggs.