The Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand (WAR)

Sea Turtle Conservation Project
Activities and Accomplishments for the 2004-2005 Season

Written by Agnese MANCINI and Damien MAIRESSE, Researcher

Sponsored by the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand

Contents:

Introduction
Objective
Location
Actvities and Accomplishment
Conclusion
Suggestion for next year
Acknowledgment

Introduction

Alarmed by the drastic decline of Sea Turtle populations in the Northern part of the Andaman Coast , the WAR-Thai Foundation launched in 2003 the first WAR-Thai Sea Turtle Conservation Project in Baan Talae Nork, province of Ranong . The results obtained after the 1 st year project underlined the urgent need for conservation action in the area and also put the groundwork for long term collaboration between local communities and the WARED Centre. This season we decided to continue the project and held a number of activities to list sea turtle populations nesting in the area. During a month we monitored the beaches twice per day and run an educational programme targeting local communities, children and students. The project was stopped one month after its beginning because of the tsunami.

The results briefly reported here concern the work held during this period. No nests were observed except a poached one found during a night-time monitoring. Also the carcass of an adult Hawksbill turtle was found and the carapace measured. The presence at the RCRRS of three Hawksbill hatchlings (kept in captivity) is a clear sign that some turtles are still nesting in the area. During our beach monitoring we also engaged in a beach cleaning activity especially in proximity of the villages. Educational activities included a questionnaire on local population habits regarding sea turtles consumption and fishing. Unfortunately we did not have time to distribute the questionnaire to people as it was under translation when the project was stopped. Anyway we had the chance to present our project to a group of Thai students at the RCRRS and discuss the importance of international cooperation with regard to protection and conservation of species at risk of extinction such as sea turtles. We tried also to improve information dissemination skill and strength links with other NGO working on the same issues along the Andaman coast.

This area is pretty much untouched and could be the last one where leatherback and Olive-Ridley turtles could nest. Thus it is very important to go on working there so that to implement a long-term conservation project held directly by local communities.

Key-words : sea turtle, nesting site, Andaman coast, local communities, conservation

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Backgroud

Historically four species of sea turtles have been found along the Andaman coast of Thailand and the offshore islands, and many of the beaches hosted large numbers of sea turtle nests. The four species that can still be founded in Thailand are as follows [Marquez, 1990]:

The leatherback turtle ( Dermochelys coriacea ): it is a very migratory species found all around the world, in Thailand the leatherback is only known to nest on the Andaman coast. Leatherback turtles are carnivorous, eating jellyfish.
The green turtle ( Chelonia mydas ): it is a migratory species found in tropical and sub-tropical waters around the world. In Thailand the green turtle is found nesting along the Andaman coast and in the Gulf of Thailand . Green turtles are herbivorous and feed on sea grass and algae. The Hawksbill turtle ( Eretmochelys imbricata ): it is found worldwide in tropical and sub-tropical waters. In Thailand , are found near off-shore islands in the coastal waters of the Andaman Sea and the Northern Gulf of Thailand. Hawksbill turtles are omnivorous with large diet.
The Olive-Ridley turtle ( Lepidochelys olivacea ): it is found in tropical and sub-tropical waters worldwide and it is the most abundant of the endangered sea turtles. In Asia, they are known to nest in India, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand even if the number of nests strongly decreased during the last 15 years (from 350 in 1985 to 11 in 2000) [Mather, 2001]. Olive Ridley turtles are omnivorous with a large diet.

Sea turtles and their natural predators have been living for centuries symbiotically without any major impact on population size but recently the situation has changed as turtles have also to face threats coming from:

• Fisheries : sea turtles are caught basically by entanglement and drowning in long line fisheries and shrimp trawling nets. In particular, off-shore shrimp trawlers seem to be the main reason for the decline in sea turtles along the Andaman coast. These trawlers use bright lights disorienting turtles which are caught in the nets as they do not have Turtle Excluder Devices (TED). Recently, the United States banned all imports of non-farmed shrimps from Thailand as trawlers have reportedly failed to install TEDs. This decision, become effective on May 15 th , is supposed to hurt the incomes of Thai shrimpers, who export over US40$ million annually to the USA . The problem is that most often, shrimps caught by trawlers or drag-nets not equipped with TEDs are sold in national markets or locally consumed. Moreover, due to the intense monsoon rains, most fishing occurs in the drier months, October to April. This unfortunately overlaps with the peak nesting months for sea turtles in this area (November - March) [Garret and Munchow, 2004]. This may lead to a higher mortality of adult turtles, particularly breeding females, as they swim into coastal areas to lay their eggs on the beaches.

• Consumption and trade : turtles are caught for their meat, shells and eggs. In particular, poaching activities held by many people are hard to monitor and have strong negative consequences on turtle population size.

• Coastal development : the construction of hotels, seawalls and other infrastructure associated with coastal tourism and commerce has destroyed large areas once used by turtles as nesting sites. Moreover noise pollution can deter or interrupt females from successful laying and hatchlings can be disoriented by artificial lights. In Thailand some important nesting sites on Phuket have been destroyed during the last 30 years by tourism.

• Pollution : many turtles die each year from the ingestion of solid waste debris such as plastic bags. Large amounts of garbage have been removed last years from some Thai beaches and it seems that most of the garbage comes from boats.

A lot has been done during the past 20 years to stop sea turtle decline all around the world. Most of the turtle species are cited in Appendix I of the CITES (it lists species that are the most endangered among CITES-listed animals and plants threatened with extinction. CITES generally prohibits commercial international trade in specimens of these species, however trade may be allowed under exceptional circumstances, e.g. for scientific research. In these cases, trade may be authorized by the granting of both an export permit or re-export certificate and an import permit) [see article II, paragraph 1 and article III].

Meanwhile most of these species are listed as endangered and/or critically endangered by the IUCN Red List (which is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species, used by government agencies, wildlife departments, conservation-related non-governmental organizations, natural resource planners, educational organizations, and many others interested in reversing, or at least halting the decline in biodiversity). Concerning Thailand, a Ministerial Decree for implementation of article 32 (7) of the Thai Fishery Law of 1947 prohibited turtle fisheries, since then sea turtles benefit of a legal protection. Moreover a specific turtle conservation program was initiated in 1979 by Her Majesty Queen Sirikit on the Man Nai Island .

Objectives

In the last 20-30 years, declines in the populations of all four species and a reduction of turtle nesting sites have been observed. Alarmed by this, the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand (WAR Thai), in cooperation with the Ranong Coastal Resources Research Station (RCRRS), initiated the Sea Turtle Conservation Project in 2003. A very useful report was written on results of the 2003 program and challenges and advices for the 2004 one. Our purpose now is to go on working within this project to help in implementing long term sea turtle conservation and defining sea turtle populations' status.

Specific aims of this project are as follows:

Identify and protect sea turtle nesting sites on the Andaman coast

Study the populations of nesting sea turtles Create a database to be implemented in the IOSEA mapping system Assess human impact on sea turtle populations and reproductive cycle
Run an educational program on natural resource conservation issues

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Location

The research area was composed of 3 beaches described below from North to South for a total of 15 km length. As the project also included the identification of suitable marine habitats for sea turtles, surveys have been extended to others areas such as the Laem Islands and the Surin Islands further described. The following description of the research area only concerns potential disturbance affecting nesting females (for further details on the research area see annex I).

Hat Ngua

Some Crab-eating macaque tracks
This beach is divided by 2 rivers, the first one being very deep.
No houses except a small resort. Anyway it seems to be quite calm and not to have any artificial lights at night. Moreover the tsunami could have destroyed the building.

Baan Talae Nork Beach

Presence of one or two herds of cattle. Many tracks all along the southern part of the beach.Many motorbike tracks. We saw frequently one or two motorbikes during night-time monitoring.Presence of many dead trees and/or big branches that could disturb and avoid the progression of turtles toward the upper part of the beach.
After the rocks, no cattle track but many human tracks and a great human activity especially during week-ends in this area and all around the rocks area. High beach gradient.

Hat Farang

A few tracks on this beach.
Only one house and no really visible activity
A lot of garbage probably coming from the sea especially on the last part of the beach, just before the river. The team of the Ranong Coastal Resources Research Station was in charge of the monitoring of Hat Farang, Hat Baan Glouy, Hat Taklan and Hat Praphat for a total of 30Km monitored periodically. [return to top]

Activities and Accomplishments

SUMMARY:

Beach monitoring

Beach monitoring was held at first in the morning between 7a.m. and 10a.m. and in the evening between 9p.m. and 12p.m. This timetable was changed under suggestion of Dr Sompotch and new monitoring was held between 10 p.m. and 2a.m. at night and between 4a.m. and 9a.m. in the morning. Although the efforts made in monitoring the beach, no nest was found. All monitoring activities were interrupted by the 25 th December, which corresponds to the beginning of the nesting season on the Andaman coast. Beaches were monitored for a total of 140h and 30mn in about 20 days. Figure 1 - Poached nest discovered in Hat Farang

A potentially poached nest was found on Hat Farang the 16 th December. The nest was observed during the night-time monitoring. Poachers could have acted in the morning probably around 6a.m. No turtle tracks were observed. We fear that other nests could have been poached very early in the morning.

Figure 2 - Adult Hawksbill found dead on Hat Farang

The carcass of an adult Hawksbill was found on Hat Farang during our first beach monitoring. The dead turtle was transported to the WARED Centre but no autopsy was performed due to the advanced decomposition status. The carcass had probably being laying there for at least five days. We measured the carapace length (CCL=60cm; LCL=70cm) and filled a Necropsy data sheet (see Annex II) following the "Sea Turtle Necropsy manual for biologists in remote refugees" (Work T.M., 2000). No external injuries were observed.

Garbage collecting

A total of 39 bags were collected on the monitored beaches by the volunteers. Mainly, rubbish was constituted by shoes, plastic bags, bottles and lost nets. Each bag weighing of more or less 20kg, a total of 780kg of garbage was removed from the beach. This activity was hold by the volunteers during their spare time. Most of the garbage was collected in proximity of the estuaries and on the BTN beach next to the main road so that to encourage local behaviour. In effect, sporadically, villagers showed an interest in the volunteers activity and helped them filling or transporting the bags. A very small part of the garbage collected on the BTN beach was thrown directly from villagers. The majority of waste seems to come from the sea and fishing boats. The most common items removed were shoes, glass and plastic bottles, fishing floats and nets, polystyrene. Trash was also collected in Hat Ngua and Hat Farang but only sporadically as the transportation to the WARED centre was too difficult. Garbage seemed to be mostly of the same nature that the one found along the BTN beach. Once collected garbage bags were carried to the town by WARED staff and thrown away. Some stuff could be recycled and used at the centre to develop educational activities and/or be used as equipment once cleaned and disinfected.

Habitat Assessment We decided to assess the status of potential sea turtles feeding habitats in the areas closed to ours so that to better understand the movements of sea turtles. We just started the assessments in two areas but had to stop after the tsunami. The following conclusions are just preliminary and probably of no worth now as the tsunami completely changed the phisionomy of the ground in particular destroying almost all the coral reefs.

• Laem Son National Park Islands

A first assessment was realized the 23rd of December in proximity of the Laem Son National Park Islands just in front of the research site. We decided with Dr SOMPOCH to visit the islands of Ko Khai Yai, Ko Nui and Ko Kam Nui where several fishermen had seen Green turtle 2 weeks before. We used both snorkelling and scuba diving gears. Corals resulted in very bad condition because of the sedimentation and the presence of a lot of garbage (in particular abandoned fishing nets). Some corals were starting bleaching especially in the most exposed area. Moreover we noticed that sea weed and sea grass were very rare in this area.

• Surin Island

A second habitat assessment was realized in the North of the Surin Islands . Ko Surin's reefs are subject to sport diving, gamefishing and nature excursions which are now the main attractions. Even though, coral reefs around Ko Surin remain spectacularly healthy. A great variety of fauna and flora was registered in all the area monitored (Fish, Annelids, Gorgonia, Black tip sharks) except for the entrance channel where most of the corals are damaged by the currants and the navigation. But tourism authorities have installed mooring buoys on some reefs and these have proven effective in reducing anchor damage to corals. The principal aim of this activity was the identification of potential feeding habitats for sea turtles. The absence of sea grass and sea weed indicates that in proximity of BTN, there are no feeding habitats for adult green turtles. On the other hand the presence of a great number of jellyfish, found washed up on the beaches, indicates that waters are rich of suitable food for leatherback turtles. The presence of a great biodiversity of fish and crustacean species in the corals surrounding the islands off the coast of Baan Talae Nork is an indicator of a potentially good habitat for Olive-Ridley and Hawksbill turtles. The assessment was abruptly interrupted by the Tsunami that hit all the South East Asia on the 26 th December 2004 . New assessments are needed now to establish the health status of the coral reefs in the Andaman coast but nevertheless, two areas seemed to be favourable for marine turtles: Ao Tao in the south-east part of the island and the north area named Sato Island .

Educational activities

The Sea Turtle Conservation Project was designed also to engage in widespread education campaign to spread awareness concerning the threats faced by sea turtles and some protection and conservation issues among local communities. We planned to work directly with local communities and with children and students. Unluckily because of the tsunami and the interruption of the project, we did not have enough time to realize all the activities we had planned. Anyway you can find here a brief summary of our main accomplishments. Following the suggestions of 2003-2004 project researchers, we prepared a questionnaire on which was very similar to the one proposed last year. The main idea was to investigate fishermen and local community habits concerning turtles and create continuity with the last year project and compare the results. The questionnaire was under translation when the tsunami hit the village and for this reason it was not distributed. We held a presentation at the RCRRS to a group of students under the supervision of Dr Sompoch. We briefly presented the WAR-Thai project and the site in Baan Talae Nork and discuss some topics on the turtle biology and ecology. Also we discussed some conservation issues and the need for a sustainable use of this resource. Even tough the barrier of the language, the students showed a great concern about conservation issues in general and the fact that foreign people are working in Thailand with them to save their resources. We also took part in a training on the mangrove and beach ecology. In order to reach younger school children, we prepared the layout and the text for a comic book. The comic book was about the threats faced by sea turtles all along their life and focused on the importance of sea turtle protection and actions needed to implement a long-term conservation project. Unluckily we could not finish the book; anyway the lay-out could be used for the 2005-2006 project. Also we created two educational games and played with BTN children during the "Children day Festival". The children seemed to enjoy both games but the educational aspect was reduced because of the events of the 26 th December. Anyway we think that education efforts should also be extended to villages surrounding BTN, both for educational purposes and in hopes of identifying local conservation allies.

Improve information dissemination

In order to improve and spread knowledge on WAR-Thai activities in BTN in particular among other associations, local communities and tourists, a sea turtle project logo was created and a t-shirt model drawn by Aimee, one of our volunteers. Also the text for a pamphlet specifically concerning the WARED Centre was written. The volunteers contributed substantially to the text and the lay-out and it should be printed in colour and maybe translated in French, Spanish and Italian so that to reach a great number of tourists. We tried to establish contact with the Surin Island National Park autorithies but we had communication problems and were not able to discuss about a possible cooperation. Also we had planned a visit to the Phuket Marine Biology Center and the Naucrates program on Phratong Island . The main idea was to reinforce links with other sea turtle conservation projects on the Andaman coast as done by researchers last year. Even if we were not able to visit these sites because of the tsunami we are deeply convinced that cooperation and exchange information are the first step for the implementation of a long term conservation plan in the area.

Improve life conditions of sea turtles in captivity

The RCRRS hosted eight sea turtles in captivity (see table 1 for further details) in concrete tanks 5 meters long, 2 meters wide, and 1.5 meters deep. Table 1 - Summary of sea turtles kept in captivity at the RCRRS

Species	Age	General conditions
Green turtle	Adult	Extremely light coloration, one eye missing and the other one infected
Hawksbill turtle	Adult	Good conditions
Hawksbill turtle	Juvenile	Healthy
Hawksbill turtle	Juvenile	Healthy
Olive-Ridley turtle	Adult	Light coloration, both eyes infected
Hawksbill turtle	Hatchling	Healthy
Hawksbill turtle	Hatchling	Healthy
Hawksbill turtle	Hatchling	Healthy

Some of the tanks were quite clean, others were covered with algae. The water level was too low and turtles could hardly swim. The lack of direct sunlight in their tanks made the skin colour of certain specimens unusually light. We wanted to propose the releasing of at least three individuals to the RCRRS Director but the tsunami completely destroyed the tanks and it seems that the surviving sea turtles had been released after this event. No tag was applied.

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Conclusion

Even though the project was stopped just one month after its beginning, we were able to come to a number of conclusions regarding the presence of sea turtles in the study area. The discovery of a poached nest is an indicator that some turtles are still nesting in this part of the Andaman coast. Unfortunately poachers are still operating in the area. Moreover we found at the RCRRS three hatchlings kept in captivity. We ignore the origin of these specimen but we are convinced that it is a positive sign as they probably have been removed from one of the beaches monitored by the RCRRS staff. We estimated that other nests were present in the research area during the project during the beginning of the 2004-2005 season. This idea has been reinforced talking with local fishermen, as it emerged that the presence of sea turtles is determined by external factors as the wind and the strength of the currents. Thus, this year seemed to be particularly favourable to nesting. Unluckily the tsunami made our attention shift to other more urgent issues concerning local community and the WARED Centre.

The reconstruction of the centre and the village will probably take a long time but it is important that the Sea Turtle project goes on as the long process of local conservation education has already been initiated and groundwork has been laid and consolidated for future efforts. Moreover this area is probably the last one along the Andaman coast in which the Leatherback and Olive-Ridley turtles could nest; and being rarely visited by tourists, beaches are still in good conditions and present a great potential as nesting sites.

Suggestion for the next year

The project leader and his/her assistant should establish solid relationships with other NGO and conservation associations working along the Andaman coast on sea turtles issues so that to create a continuity in their work;
The project leader and his/her assistant should dispose of a budget and a car. Every dispense and car use will be noted on a special copybook with a justification of each act;
Distribute at least one Sea Turtle T-shirt to all the volunteers coming for this project. The project leader and his/her assistant should have a "Staff" t-shirt;
A staff meeting should be organized twice per month to discuss all the issues concerning the WARED centre and also to evaluate projects advancement;
The project leader should be able to read all the information of coming volunteers long before their arrival and should contact them to briefly present the project overview;
The project leader and his/her assistant should arrive at least one week before the beginning of the project to get familiarized with the site, the centre, and also learn basic Thai and main habits of the villagers;
A scheme of "Who is who" with the name and a picture of all the staff members (permanent and seasonal) should be put in the main room of the centre so that to facilitate the new volunteers learning the names and the functions of each person. A special part of this board should be dedicated to the volunteers who could put a photo of them, their name, age and origin and the name of the project they are volunteering for.
Beach monitoring should be held all night long by at least two teams so that to cover the entire area from the sunset to the dawn. The presence of surveyors should be discussed with the villagers previously.
A small "Turtle library" should be created for the proper knowledge of volunteers.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand for sponsoring this project. Also we would like to thank the Yaboumba Conservation Society for their support. Special thanks go to all the villagers of Baan Talae Nork, the staff at the WARED Centre and to Dr SOMPOCH and his staff.

Reference

Balazs G. H (1999). Factors to Consider in the Tagging of Sea Turtles. In: Eckert, K. L., K. A. Bjorndal, F. A. Abreu-Grobois, and M. Donnelly (Editors). 1999. Research and Management Techniques for the Conservation of Sea Turtles. IUCN/SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group Publication No. 4. Briseño-Dueñas R , Abreu-Grobois F. A, (1999). Databases . In: Eckert, K. L., K. A. Bjorndal, F. A. Abreu-Grobois, and M. Donnelly (Editors). 1999. Research and Management Techniques for the Conservation of Sea Turtles. IUCN/SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group Publication No. 4. Congdon J. D.,. Dunham A. E (1999). Defining the Beginning: the Importance of Research Design . In: Eckert, K. L., K. A. Bjorndal, F. A. Abreu-Grobois, and M. Donnelly (Editors). 1999. Research and Management Techniques for the Conservation of Sea Turtles. IUCN/SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group Publication No. 4. Eckert, K.L. (1999). Designing a conservation program . In: Eckert, K. L., K. A. Bjorndal, F. A. Abreu-Grobois, and M. Donnelly (Editors). 1999. Research and Management Techniques for the Conservation of Sea Turtles. IUCN/SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group Publication No. 4. Garret, B. (2004). Sea Turtle Conservation project - Activities and accomplishments for the 2003-2004 season . WAR Web-site: www.warthai.org Márquez, M. R. (1990). FAO species catalogue. Vol. 11: Sea turtles of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of sea turtle species known to date . FAO Fisheries Synopsis. No. 125, Vol. 11. Rome, FAO. Mather, R. (2001). WWF Thailand and Turtle conservation . WWF-Thailand web-site: www.wwfthai.org Schroeder B., S. Murphy (1999). Population Surveys (Ground and Aerial) on Nesting Beaches. In: Eckert, K. L., K. A. Bjorndal, F. A. Abreu-Grobois, and M. Donnelly (Editors). 1999. Research and Management Techniques for the Conservation of Sea Turtles. IUCN/SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group Publication No. 4. Work T.M. (2000). Sea turtle Necropsy manual for biologists in remote refugee. U.S. Geological Survey, National wildlife Health centre - Hawaii Field Station. Available online. IUCN Red List: www.redlist.org
CITES: www.cites.org

For further information on the 2004-2005 sea turtle project, please contact Agnese Mancini, project leader at amancini79@yahoo.fr or Damien Mairesse at damienmairesse@yahoo.fr

Please refer to as: MANCINI A. & MAIRESSE D. (2005). WAR Thai 2004-2005 Sea turtle conservation project Report . Published online at www.warthai.org

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Appendices I - Detailed description of the Research Area (from the 2003-2004 Sea Turtle Project Report)

Beaches are described from North to South:

Hat Ngua

Approximately 8km long with a moderate beach gradient.
Safe potential nesting area (i.e. sand above spring tide line) of between 5 and 15 meters.
Potential nesting area shaded from morning sun up until about 10:30am .
Only accessible by boat or on foot at low tide. It has three small tidal rivers which can be crossed about 2 hours either side of low tide.
Some erosion banks about 100m either side of these rivers which may hinder nesting efforts though this only affects a small part of this beach.
There is a small resort along approximately 400m of land at the very southern end of this beach, with the remainder being uninhabited. The resort is bordered by two of the three rivers and it is only this small portion of the beach between these rivers that would suffer from light pollution.
Several large troops of Crab-eating Macaques ( Macaca fascicularis irus ) have been seen regularly on this beach and the tracks of river otters have also been seen on the beach. These may be major land predators for hatchling turtles.

Baan Talae Nork Beach

Approximately 6km long with a low beach gradient.
Safe potential nesting area of between 5 and 15 meters.
Nesting area shaded from morning sun up until 8:30am (northern end) and 9:30am (southern end).
Easily accessible by road and has a small fishing village near by. It therefore has quite a heavy human presence each day with villagers collecting shellfish, setting nets and launching boats.
Two large fluorescent marker lights are illuminated near the beach each evening to guide local fisherman back to the beach though the light pollution from these lights is fairly limited with only about 300m of the beach being affected.
Has only one small tidal stream on the southern half of the beach, which can be crossed at any time of the tide. Some small erosion banks can also be found along this beach though they would not be large enough to hinder nesting efforts.
While several troops of Crab-eating Macaques have been seen in the trees behind this beach, they have never been seen to come down onto the beach nor have their tracks been found on the beach so there potential impact on hatchling turtles is thought to be minimal. River Otters have been seen near this beach, and their tracks are regularly found on the southern end of the beach so they may pose more of a potential threat to the hatchlings on this beach than the Macaques.

Hat Farang

Approximately 4km long with a low beach gradient (though the northern end is slightly steeper and has some small erosion banks).
Safe potential nesting area of between 3 and 10 meters.
Potential nesting shaded from morning sun up until 9:00am (southern end) and 10:00am (northern end).
Easily accessible on foot at any time of the tide, though a bar of rocks at the northern end of the beach makes it slightly more difficult during high tide.
There is one river about half way along the beach which can be easily crossed 3 hours either side of low tide.
There are a few small huts along the beach though these would cause little to no light pollution. The inhabitants of these huts also collect crushed shells from the beach. While this might pose a threat to nests, only a small section of the beach (200m) is actually affected by sand collection.

Hat Baan Glouy

Approximately 2.5km long with a low beach gradient.
Safe potential nesting area of between 5 and 10 meters.
Potential nesting area shaded from morning sun up until 10:30am .
A small walking track leads to this beach from nearby Baan Glouy village making the beach easily accessible to the villagers.
A large rocky headland separates Hat Baan Glouy and Hat Farang.
There is no light pollution on this beach and very little human activity (i.e. very few footprints).

Hat Taklan

Approximately 3km long with a low beach gradient.
Safe potential nesting area of between 10 and 15 meters.
Potential nesting area shaded from morning sun up until 11:00am .
Two deep rivers at either end of this beach and the absence of footpath access make this beach accessible only by boat.
There is very little human presence on this beach and no light pollution.

Hat Praphat

Approximately 5km long with a low beach gradient.
Safe potential nesting area of between 5 and 10 meters.
Potential nesting shaded from morning sun up until 8:30am .
Bordered by a large river to the north and a rocky headland to the south.
Easily accessible by road and has several restaurants, a village and a research station along the length of its shoreline. This beach suffers high levels of light pollution from the restaurants during the evening and from human presence during the day.
Dogs (pets of the restaurant owners and villagers) can be found along this beach during the day as well as at night and may pose a threat to both nesting turtles and hatchlings.

After the tsunami, most of the dry send has been washed away and the presence of natural garbage (above all wood) has improved drastically. The beach cleaning is probably the first step to accomplish in order to allow turtles to reach the upper part of the beaches .

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Appendices II - Necropsy Data Sheet

Species Eretmochelys imbricate

Date Collected 06/12/2004 Date Necropsied 08/12/2005

Collection site: Hat Farang

History: carcass found in the afternoon during a beach monitoring

SEX: undetermined

AGE: adult

Weight: n/a CCL: 72 cm CCW: 60 cm

BODY CONDITION : advanced decomposition status

POST-MORTEM CONDITION : >2 days old

EXTERNAL EXAM :

Some scutes peeling, no visible fresh and/or old wounds, one barnacle, no eyes, intestines protruding out of the cloaca, back left flipper partially absent, tail partially cut.

INTERNAL ORGANS

No internal organ available for the necropsy

SAMPLES

No samples collected

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