Richardson, James, Lynn Corliss, Rebecca Bell and John Fuller 



Antigua and Barbuda Hawksbill Project 



University of Georgia 

 Institute of Ecology 

 "* Athens, GA 30602 USA 



Lord Nelson Club, 

 St. John, Antigua, WI 



The nesting behavior of the hawksbill sea turtle 

 ( Eretmochelys imbricata ) is poorly known because the species 

 disperses its nesting on many small remote beaches. However, 

 Pasture Bay Beach on Long Island, Antigua, has a relatively high 

 concentration of nesting hawksbills, perhaps one of the highest 

 accessible concentrations known in the Caribbean. 



WIDECAST - Antigua and Barbuda and the University of Georgia 

 have initiated a program to study the biology of these turtles on 

 the nesting beach. Hourly patrols are run nightly, and each 

 turtle is identified by three methods: a self-locking tag in the 

 flipper, a drill hole in the marginal scutes of the carapace, and 

 a photograph. Nests are marked, and nest success is checked 

 after the hatchlings have emerged. 



Resource management is an important part of this program. 

 Long Island is owned by a resort development company. 

 Construction on the resort is still underway. Because of the 

 owners' new awareness of the importance of the hawksbill nesting 

 beach, they have agreed to leave several selected sites 

 undeveloped and to design houses with shielded lighting. Parts 

 of Pasture Bay Beach are not good nesting beach. Plans are being 

 made to modify this area by adding dune and seagrape habitat to 

 enhance nesting possibilities on a crowded beach. 



Environmental education is another important aspect of this 

 program. Guests at the resort are encouraged to observe the 

 nesting turtles, thus demonstrating that sea turtles can be an 

 important part of the tourist's Caribbean experience. 

 Educational programs have been introduced into the schools. The 

 potential for environmental education in Antigua is very good. 



To date, (midseason-Sept. 20) , 19 nesting females have been 

 tagged. They have produced 53 nests. By the end of the season 

 in December about 25 turtles are anticipated to have produced 

 well over 100 nests. The nest site fidelity exhibited by 

 returning females at this time appears to be equal to or greater 

 than that of any other species of sea turtle investigated to 

 date. 



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