Sea Turtle Monitoring Project Interim Report2009

Annexe

Marine Turtle Monitoring on the Chekka/El-Heri beach, North Lebanon

A project funded by: “Cimenterie Nationale”, Chekka – North Lebanon

INTERIM REPORT

July 15, 2009

Submitted by:

Ramez Al Chami, Project Field Officer

Manal R. Nader, Ph.D.

Ghassan R. Jaradi, Ph.D.

Marine Turtle Monitoring on the Chekka/El-Heri beach,

North Lebanon

This project is a continuation of the turtle monitoring program which waslaunched last year during the period of June 30 until September 30, 2008, in Chekka/El-Heri based on the program established in the Palm Island Nature Reserve. All results of the 2008 project have been included in the report entitled “Marine Turtle Monitoring on the Chekka/El-Heri beach and the Palm Island Nature Reserve, North Lebanon” that was submitted to the Cimenterie Nationale s.a.l.

  • Funding Agency:

CIMENTERIE NATIONALE S.A.L. – Chekka, North Lebanon.

Implementing institution: Government Appointed Committee of the Palm Island Nature Reserve

  • Start and end date of reporting period:

June 1 until July 15, 2009

  • Monitored beaches:

Chekka/El-Heri beaches: “El-Kfoury” beach, “El-Zireh” beach, “Chate’ Loubnan”.

Introduction

Population of marine turtles in the Mediterranean have been decreasing steadily through the last decades. Incidental catches by fishing gears, sea pollution and the use of nesting beaches are the main causes of marine turtles decline.

Marine turtles are dying needlessly due to human behavior: they are hunted for their shells, for their meat and their eggs. They are also caught in fishing nets that leads to their drowning.

Their numbers are also decreasing due to the loss of nesting habitats. The major factors include residential and tourist use of beaches, bright lights, noise, polluted water with chemicals and garbage.

For a successful nesting, sea turtles require a wide and clean sandy beach, in the absence of lights and free from major human activities. The turtle will search the highest sections of the beach for a spot with low moisture and high temperature conditions. When that area is located, the turtle will start to dig its nest and then lay its eggs. Finally, it will cover the hole using its posterior flippers and head back to the sea.

Monitored Beaches

The same beaches that were covered last year are being monitored with effort being mostly concentrated on the Chekka beaches. The Herri beaches are surveyed once per night while the Chekka beaches are surveyed at least three times per night.

“El-Kfoury” Beach

It is a relatively narrow sandy beach (width around 8 m) in the middle of Chekka, it is the main destination where locals are all concentrated during summer time. Sand covers this beach in all seasons. No change in the nature of the shore from last year was recorded.

  • “El-Zireh” Beach

El- Zireh beach is fifteen times bigger than El-Kfoury beach. Nature of El-Zireh beach has experienced some changes due to natural events where the sandy shore switched to a relatively mixed sand/pebbles beach.

“Chate’ Loubnan”

It is situated between the ruins of the Chate’ Loubnan resort and the Holcim seaport. It is a wide Sandy beach (length approximately 300m and width 60m). No major changes in the nature of the shore has taken place since last year.

Launching of Project and Related Activities

One field officer was appointed to handle the day to day activities of the project that included:

  • Organization of the working staff, which consists of four rangers (The field officer is also one of the rangers), working on two different shifts. 1st shift covers from dusk till midnight, 2nd shift from midnight till dawn, six days a week, with one day off on Saturdays However, the field officer patrols the beaches early in the morning on that day for any tracks of emerging turtles.
  • Regular awareness activities are targeting the community at Plage El-Kfoury to expose the objectives of the project, to raise awareness about sea turtle conservation and to involve the community in the observation of turtle nesting behavior. Individuals are kindly requested to inform the project team of any turtle emergence. .
  • Meetings with the resort owners to inform them about the continuation of the project which started last year and to raise awareness again on the importance of conservation of sea turtles and to make sure to secure access to beaches for the rangers. Emphasis was placed on the importance of reducing noise and lights for the benefits of the turtles, but these recommendations were not welcomed by the resort owners.
  • Meetings with the Coast Guards and Lebanese Army to inform them about the continuation of this project and to secure easy access to the targeted beaches and guarantee safety of the rangers during their working hours.
  • Preparation of equipment, e.g. flash lights and small back-packs containing all necessary material for recording nesting activities
  • Distribution of the remaining brochures from last years’ project to all resorts and hotels in Chekka/El-Heri and in El-Minã, Tripoli, describing the on-going project and the importance of marine turtle conservation, threats to marine turtles and how can the community contribute to the protection of marine turtles.
  • Interim and final project reports to be submitted detailing the results of the monitoring activities taking place within the period designated for this project.

Threats to Marine Turtles: Field Observations

Major threats have been identified on the Chekka/El-Heri beaches that negatively affect the potential of these beaches as turtle nesting sites, which could be categorized under two main categories: natural threats and man made threats. The disappointing issue is that the same threats that were identified last year and that prevented the turtles from nesting on the Chekka/El Herri beach remained the same and were not addressed.

Natural Threats

The animals represent the main natural threats for marine turtles. Feral dogs and crabs which are abundantly found on both El-Kfoury and El-Zireh beaches can be considered as natural predators for marine turtle eggs and hatchlings on nesting beaches.

Untamed dogs were spotted on Al- Zireh beach at 11:00 pm, on the 20th of July, where they have attacked the rangers during their patrol.

Sometimes harsh weather conditions and high waves can prevent turtles from approaching the shore and may cause damages to the laid turtle nests (in case of any nests available). In addition, natural events (i.e. winter storms) aggravated by human activities have degraded and eroded the beach to a level that cannot accommodate nesting turtles in their current states.

Erosion and sand loss of the nesting beaches results in the loss of nesting habitat. Human interference has hastened erosion in many places. Loss or degradation of nesting habitat resulting from erosion control through beach nourishment and armoring, beachfront development, artificial lighting is a serious threat affecting nesting females and hatchlings. Although beach nourishment, or placing sand on beaches, may provide more sand, the quality of that sand, and hence the nesting beach, may be less suitable than pre-existing natural beachesresulting in abnormal nest construction, and reduce the survivorship of eggs and hatchlings.

Man made Threats

Today marine turtles are in great danger mostly due to human activities with the most important threats are briefly described below:

Increased human recreational activities, intentional and non intentional human disturbance of nest sites and increased pollution have decreased the potential of the monitored beaches to accommodate nesting turtles. Light and noise pollution from beachside developments especially on weekends, late night swimmers and raving parties on said beaches, in addition to debris and solid wastes are highly damaging to marine turtle nesting. The rangers have recorded debris on all beaches during their daily basis patrol.

Also, uncontrolled development has led directly to the destruction of critically important marine turtle nesting beaches. Lights from roads and buildings attract hatchlings and disorient them away from the sea. Instead of finding the ocean, the hatchlings fall prey to predators or die the following day from the heat of the sun. Furthermore, vehicle traffic on beaches compacts the sand and makes it impossible for female turtles to dig nests.

Attached are few images taken for the rangers during their nightly patrol on (El-Zireh) and (El-Kfoury) beaches:

A detailed table attached will describe the major threats affecting each beach being monitored for nesting activities.

In addition of the threats identified last year, the following is a summary of new threats that need to be addressed.

Threats / Beach / Description / Remarks - Improvement
Increased Human Presence / El-Kfoury / - Residential&Tourist use / Minimize the presence of Human Activities especially at night
Limit & stop if possible the introduction of recreational equipments that can reduce usefulness of the beach for nesting
- Recreational use(chairs, umbrellas, small boats…)
El-Zireh / - Occasional Residential& Tourist use
Chate'Loubnan / - Kiosks&bamboo tents
Late night swimmers
Noise / El-Kfoury / High music, fireworks / Redirecting speakers away from the beach
El-Zireh / Occasional fireworks / Minimizing use of fireworks especially late at night
Chate'Loubnan / Loud music, fireworks, electrical generators / Installing engine silencers
Artificial Lighting / El-Kfoury / Lights coming from buildings&beachfronts / Turn off the lights or at least turn the bright light direction away from the sea and not towards the broad open horizon of sea especially during nesting season
El-Zireh / Occasional lighting (fireworks)
Chate'Loubnan / Lights coming from buildings&beachfronts
Fishing activities- Boats & Jet-skies / El-Kfoury / Fishing activities Jet-skies&small boats Sailing activities / Enforcing strict rules in regards to boats and jet skies use in shallow water
El-Zireh / Jet-skies&small boats Sailing activities
Chate'Loubnan / Less boat&jet skies activities
Threats / Beach / Description / Remarks - Improvement
Animals / El-Kfoury / Cats,dogs and birds / Use of metal cages for nest protection
Reduce and eliminate if possible lost and undomesticated dogs and cats
El-Zireh / Crabs, cats,dogs and birds
Chate'Loubnan / Crabs, cats,dogs and birds
Debris and Solid waste / El-Kfoury / Nylon bags,plastics resembling food / Major and continuous beach and shore clean up campaign should be carried on
Placing more rubbish bins on the shores
El-Zireh / Plastic,Nylon,bags Rugs,Cans,Rocks&bricks
Chate'Loubnan / Plastic,Nylon,bags Rugs,Cans,Rocks&bricks, Old clohes
Decrease in beach width and sand supply (Beach Erosion) / El-Kfoury / Construction developmentSewage and Pipe lines Erosion / Raise awareness about the effect of this kind of development on the loss of nesting habitat Enforce strict rules regarding sewage and pipelines
Restoration through sand replenishment projects
El-Zireh / Sand mining, Beach Erosion
Chate'Loubnan / N/A

Conclusion and Future Tasks

Many threats are identified through the monitoring activities of this project. The observations of sea turtles swimming in the area and information gathered from local divers and fishermen about the sighting of sea turtles, prove the importance of the monitored beaches regarding nesting activities.

Even though these monitored beaches are suffering from excessive human interference and activities they still have great potential for turtle nesting only if more efforts are invested towards rehabilitating these beaches and limiting unnecessary human activities that can result in disturbance to nesting turtles.

Slight changes were identified this year in comparison to last year in regards to:

  • Nature of beaches: Some sections of Al-Zireh beach has turned from sandy to relatively mixed sand/pebbles beach.
  • Cooperation of resorts owners: They are more open, flexible and helpful, providing us with an easy access through their resorts to the monitored beaches.
  • Coast Guards and Lebanese Army granted us secure and easy access to the monitored beaches and guarantee safety of the rangers during their working hours after they have been informed about the continuation of this project.
  • Increased public awareness and education about the threats of Marine Turtles and their habitat, however, we still need to develop and advance a sense of appreciation and responsibility about the uniqueness and importance of marine turtles and their habitats among local communities and promote their participation in local conservation activities.

Despite all efforts, same threats that were identified last year that prevented the turtles from nesting on the Chekka/El Herri beach remained the same and were not addressed, as a result, no marine turtles or nests were noted this year. More investigations are necessary to be conducted and continuous monitoring of these beaches should be carried on which will provide us with a clear and deeper look at the problems encountered in order for us to have a list of recommendations that will provide a better and healthier environment for marine turtles nesting habitat for the coming months.

References

Monitored Beaches profile pictures, Google Earth.

Sea Turtle Recovery Plans adopted by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service “Threats to Marine Turtles”

Source URL:

NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries Service). “Office of protected Resources”

Source URL:

WWF for a living planet, Source:

URL

Aureggi, Monica., Risk, Charbel., Venizelos, Lily. “Survey on sea turtle nesting activity in Lebanon”. January 2005.

NJMSC. New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium. “Beach Profiling”. The education Program at the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium.

Source URL:

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