Achievement Report Curieuse September 2016

Report Title
Curieuse Islands Lemon Shark and Hawksbill Seasons Begin
Objective
Long-term objectives
To increase scientific knowledge and baseline data on the health and
ecosystems on Curieuse Island.
Short-term objectives
To undertake lemon shark tagging project in Q1, Q3, Q4.
To undertake hawksbill turtle nesting surveys in Q1, Q3, Q4.
Summary
Here on Curieuse Island, GVI conducts a number of scientific surveys in order to
widen our knowledge and data on the health of the island and its ecosystems.
The 2016 season for both our Sicklefin lemon shark and Hawksbill nesting survey
began this September with our capture of this years first shark pup and with the
team tagging our first Hawksbill turtles of this season and marking the nests.
Report
Here on Curieuse Island, GVI works with the Seychelles National Parks Authority
(SNPA) in order to meet our objectives. We conduct six different biological
projects in order to widen our scientific knowledge and baseline data on the
health of the island and its ecosystems. As the year has progressed, we have all
been eagerly anticipating the beginning of two of our projects in particular. These
projects focus on the tagging of Sicklefin lemon sharks and surveying the nesting
activity of the Hawksbill turtles that nest on the island. The 2016 season for both
these projects was due to begin at this time of year and there was much
excitement amongst the staff and volunteers when they finally did.
Our sea turtle project monitors the nesting activity on the beaches of Curieuse
Island, focusing largely on the Hawksbills when they begin coming up on to the
beaches to lay their eggs, though Green turtles nest to a lesser degree all year
round. Our staff and volunteers patrol the beaches regularly, looking for signs of
turtle activities, hopefully finding nests that have been successfully laid and with
luck for the turtles themselves. If turtles are found on the beach, data is taken
such as measurements, distinguishing marks, and they are tagged if necessary.
Also, if timing allows the eggs are counted and the nests are marked, our team
will then monitor the nests and eventually excavate them to determine the
success of the nest after hatching.
The turtles first arrived here on the island this year on the morning of the 26th of
September as our patrol team set out to check our largest beach, Grande Anse.
This Hawksbill turtle was found as soon as the team came on to the beach, and
she had already selected her nesting site, dug out her body pit and egg chamber
and begun to lay. The team readied their equipment and waited until she had

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finished laying her eggs, marked her nest and checked her for identity tags in
her front flippers which she had from a previous season. This female was then
measured, with a carapace (or shell) length of 81cm. Once the measurements
were complete and she had finished covering and disguising her nest, she
returned to the sea leaving a very happy GVI team behind her.
The very next day, our nesting season continued with a second hawksbill being
found on our most northerly beach, Anse Badamier. Again this female was found
mid-way through laying her eggs, and she had a carapace length of 89cm. This
was our first turtle of the season with no tags, so along with all the other data
that was collected, two tags were also put in her front flippers.
Our Sicklefin lemon shark capture and tagging project is now in its third year.
Adult female lemon sharks give birth once every two years, meaning this year's
pups are very likely to be from the mothers that give birth to the pups we caught
and tagged in our first year. We conduct this project in an area known as the
Turtle Pond, a bay area surrounded by mangrove habitat, which is largely
protected from the elements of the open ocean. It is this lagoon that the Lemon
shark mothers use as a nursery to give birth to their pups and we use specialised
techniques to capture the young sharks, taking certain biological data and
tagging them, in order to be able to confidently identify them in the future.
We have gone out looking for sharks continuously this year and up until the 29 th
September, we have been catching Lemon sharks from last year's season, which
were larger in size and often already tagged. This however has given us the
chance to record important data which allows us to monitor them, whether they
appear to be healthy and over time get an idea of how fast they are growing and
putting on weight. A few days after the first turtle was worked up, we caught our
first new born Lemon shark pup of this year. This was a very exciting moment
and one we had all been hoping would happen soon, this year's sharking season
had begun! This was shark capture 192, a small male with an umbilical scar that
was only partially closed, meaning he was definitely born this year. He was
promptly weighed and measured by our team, at 61.2cm long and 1.5kg in
weight, as well as being tagged so that we are able to monitor him in the future.
The start of these project seasons has marked the beginning of a busy and
extremely exciting time here on Curieuse, with staff and volunteers working hard
to gather as much data as possible. This data can then be used by the
appropriate authorities in future decision making, regarding both the protection
of these species as well as the island and its surrounding waters as a whole.

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