Sea turtles have lived in the world’s oceans for over 150 million years. Sadly, these ancient reptiles are now globally threatened with extinction. Mamanuca Environment Society together with its member resorts and community stakeholders are leading the conservation of the critically endangered sea turtle around the Mamanuca group of islands.
The Mamanuca Islands are one of the major nesting sites for Green and Hawksbill turtle and are being overexploited for traditional use in the Mamanuca Group and the Fiji Islands in general. The Mamanuca Turtle Conservation Project is funded by UNDP – GEF Small grant programme and implements conservation work conducted to member resorts, local communities as well as targeting schools in the Mamanuca Region.
For the small team at MES, the nesting season is always one of the busiest for the year. 2016 is no different with 2 nesters gracing the Mamanucas yet again. Turtle nesting period in Fiji is from October to April while peak nesting season in the Mamanuca’s is from December to February.
At Mana island resort on the 11th of February, while a group of guests enjoyed watching the setting sun, sometimes around 6pm they were surprised by a nester which had crawled up the beach in search for suitable site to lay her eggs. The large Hawksbill nester oblivious to the activities around her, found the perfect site, under a beach hibiscus plant where she carefully and meticulously labored for more than an hour to make a nest to lay her ping pong sized eggs. After laying her eggs, the hawksbill proceeded to cover up her nest, before crawling back down to the beach and into the ocean. The eggs are expected to hatch on the 10th of April, while the nester is expected back to lay its next clutch approximately 14 days from now on the 23rd of February.
At Navini Island Resort, crawl marks were noticed on the beach by resort guests in the early morning on the 13thof February. Resort management and staff were able to determine that the crawls belonged to a turtle, likely that of a nester. MES project officer – Ilisapeci travelled to Navini on the 16th of February to determine if the turtle had laid eggs. The turtle nest was discovered, and nest survey was carried out, and found that the nester had certainly laid eggs. MES team will continue to conduct Beach nesting survey for other sites and also looking forward to be on sight when the first clutch of eggs hatch in April.
MES wishes to emphasize to the general public, boat operators and residents throughout the Mamanucas to be vigilant of potential nesters on the beach and in feeding waters, if we are to have an impact in increasing turtle population in the Mamanucas.
