The Leatherback Turtle and Argos Beacons

French Guiana has the privilege of being the last site in the world where leatherback turtles come to lay their eggs. But it is a doubtful privilege to be the last bastion in the seemingly unstoppable decline of an animal species. So it is precisely to achieve a better understanding of the reasons for its decline that biologists are studying and monitoring the marine turtle with the help of satellite technology.

On the beach of Les Hattes, by the Amerindian village of Awala-Yalimapo, scientists and members of animal protection societies busy themselves around an impressive reptile ‘Dermochelys coriacea’, better known as the leatherback turtle. It looks like a delicate operation: an Argos transmitter is to be attached to the back of the turtle, using a harness, which must in no way hinder the animal’s movements.

What is the purpose of all this bustle?

The idea is to track the movements and behaviour of this poorly-known species in real time with the help of satellite systems, in the hope of discovering the reasons for its decline, for the leatherback turtle is threatened with extinction.

By some estimates its global population declined from 115,000 specimens in 1980 to fewer than 30,000 females in 1996.

In French Guiana, the number of batches laid has dropped from 50,000 in 1992 to fewer than 10,000 in 2000. Natural predators, human activity (fishing, ocean pollution, urbanisation of the beaches etc.) and climate parameters have no doubt all contributed to its progressive disappearance.

Perhaps it is not too late, at least as far as human activities go, to help conserve this species. With a better knowledge of its migration routes, detailed regulation of fishing practices in the critical zones could save the leatherback turtle, one of the world’s largest marine turtles.

CEPE-CNRS(*) has undertaken to track the movements of several females with Argos transmitters in order to establish how they migrate and where they reproduce. The French Guiana DIREN (**), WWF, CNES, CLS-Argos and the Amana nature reserve are the principal partners in this study, along with environmental protection societies, particularly Kwata.

In all, 25 Argos transmitters will be placed on leatherback turtles while they are laying in the chief known nesting sites around the Atlantic: Panama, Suriname, French Guiana and Gabon.

(*) (*) CEPE-CNRS: Centre d’écologie et physiologie énergétiques du Centre national de la recherche scientifique (Centre for the Study of the Ecology And Physiology of Energy)
(**) DIREN: Direction régionale de l’environnement (Regional Environmental Authority)