estimated annual number of females for Aves Island was 320 

 individuals if we use the remigratory interval of 2.5 years for 

 our calculations. Recent and more precise nesting data 

 collected at Aves Island by Glenda Medina and Genaro Sole of 

 FUDENA/WWF (pers. comm.) certainly agrees with the earlier 

 estimate. Their data on estimated numbers of females nesting 

 annually are as follows: 



Year Number of females/season 



1984 470 



1985 240 



1986 479 



1987 316 



Additional information on the average clutch frequency for Aves 

 Island females was given as 3 . The mean number of females nesting 

 per year is estimated to be 365 individuals. 



Tag return data from 11 recoveries throughout the Wider 

 Caribbean are interesting, but the data are too few to reach any 

 conclusions on where the important foraging areas are for this 

 breeding assemblage. Returns have come from both the Antilles 



(Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, St. Kitts, Grenada) , 

 North and Central America (Mexico, Nicaragua) , and South America 



(Turtle Island, Venezuela; Guyana) . 



Besides the undetermined level of mortality of the immature 

 and adult turtles away from Aves Island, the most serious threat 

 to the survival of this nesting assemblage is obviously loss of 

 nesting habitat. With sea levels predicted to rise significantly 

 (in terms of loss of coastal wetlands and low upland areas) in 

 the not too distant future, the question of what the females will 

 do after migrating to this isolated point and not finding a 

 suitable nesting site is intriguing. Hurricane and storm induced 

 flood and erosional damage to nests already in place is a real 

 problem that has and will continue to effect different year-class 

 hatching success. The adverse effects of these meteorological 

 events will continue to occur and be magnified over time due to 

 the incremental rise in sea levels. No long-term management 

 technique has been considered, to our knowledge, that could 

 mitigate these natural perturbations. Our global concern over 

 man's pollution of the atmosphere and the resultant greenhouse 

 effect does have an indirect bearing on a solution to this 

 problem. A logistically difficult nest transplanting effort may 

 be possible if the recovery of this nesting assemblage is 

 determined to be imperative and the rising sea level is no longer 

 a threat. 



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