Erzsebet Frey

Leatherback turtles range from 70°15'N to 27°S in the Atlantic, Pacific
and Indian oceans. The main nesting beaches are in Mexico, Costa Rica
Irian Jaya, French Guiana, Suriname and Gabon. In Canada, turtles have
been observed in the waters off Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland
and Prince Edward Island.

Virtually nothing is known about hatchling and juvenile
[habitat](https://simplyecologist.com/what-is-the-natural-habitat-of-a-red-panda/)
requirements, however, since they are never seen in temperate waters, It
can be assumed that leatherbacks acquire a cold tolerance as they
mature, possibly due to their increased body size.

Adult leatherback turtles are highly migratory and spend most of their
lives on the high seas. They are seen regularly along the continental
shelf off the Canadian coast, presumably due to the high concentration
of prey. Their use of temperate water habitat seems to depend on the
abundance of prey.

The largest colony in the Caribbean region is located in Yalimapo near
the border with Suriname. As is typical of long-term databases at
well-studied nesting beaches, the French Guiana database demonstrates
strong fluctuations in the number of nests laid each year, ranging
(since 1978) from more than 50,000 nests to fewer than 10,000.

The number of nests laid at Yalimapo has been steadily decreasing since
1992. Although the nature and extent of the decline are difficult to
interpret (due to the highly dynamic nature of beaches and the
consequent
[evolution](https://simplyecologist.com/history-of-the-wolves/) of
nesting patterns), the trend is clear. By averaging the
[data](https://simplyecologist.com/how-do-scientists-study-mammals/)
over the years (which reduces the effects of annual fluctuations), we
average a number of nests laid per year between 1993 and 1998 was
18,100.

There were less than 100 leatherback turtle nests laid in Suriname in
1967, but the number steadily increased to a peak of 12,401 nests in
1985 and has fluctuated widely since then. A minimum of 4,000 nests were
laid in Suriname in 1999, of which about 50% were lost to poaching.

More moderate-scale operations are reported in Guyana, Venezuela, and
Colombia. Sea turtles have been used extensively on nesting beaches in
Guyana for many generations. The most important nesting area is the
North-West District, especially Almond Beach. Pritchard (1986)estimated
that 80% of females were killed each year as they attempted to nest.

In 1989 an intensive tagging program began in collaboration with local
communities, and rates of mortality have since declined. The number of
nests laid at Almond Beachfluctuates among years and ranged from 90 to
247 between 1989-1994; The Acandí region (Gulf of Urabá),
specificallyPlayona Beach, is the most important nesting site(for
leatherbacks) in Colombia.

During 11 weeks of monitoring 3 km of nesting beach at Playona in 1998,
71 females were tagged and 162 nests were confirmed. In 1999, 180
females were tagged and 193 nests were confirmed). Current threats to
the colony are considered serious and include direct harvest, incidental
catch by fisheries, pollution, upland deforestation, and coastal
[development](https://simplyecologist.com/birds-reproduction-and-development/).

Local experts define leather nesting in Panama as being in decline;
Polls are needed to confirm the speculation. Between Costa Rica and
Escudo de Veraguas (Bocas del Toro Province), some 35-100 gravid females
are killed each year and
[egg](https://simplyecologist.com/birds-reproduction-and-development/)
poaching is estimated at 85%.

Most leatherbacks are killed near the Changuinola River, where the meat
is later found for sale in Changuinola and the banana plantations for
US\$0.25 per lb. Costa Rica has seen dramatic declines in some areas due
largely to egg poaching, which still approaches 100% outside of
protected areas.

An estimated 70% of all leatherback nesting in Caribbean Costa Rica
occurs within the protected areas of Gandoca-Manzanillo wildlife refuge,
Pacuare Nature Reserve, and Tortuguero National Park, where the combined
number of
[breeding](https://simplyecologist.com/what-is-the-breeding-behavior-of-red-pandas/)
females per year is 5,00 to 1,000, making it the third-largest known
breeding group in the wider Caribbean region.

The population of the Gandoca Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge is increasing,
with the number of nests per year varying from 200 to more than 1,100
between 1990 and 1999. In Honduras, there is a small colony 2575 nests
per year at Plapaya Beach which has been protected by MOPAWI and the
Garifuna community since 1995.

Breeding is described as rare in Mexico, where possibly fewer than 20
nests are laid each year on the entire Caribbean coast and the Gulf of
Mexico. With the exception of Trinidad (and possibly the Dominican
Republic), nesting in the insular Caribbean is predictable but does not
occur anywhere in large numbers, i.e. more than 1,000 nests (or about
150 females) per year.

There is considerable anecdotal evidence that nesting has dramatically
declined throughout the eastern Caribbean. In the British Virgin
Islands, for example, six or more females nested per night on beaches on
the northeast coast of Tortola in the 1920s. Turtles were harvested
primarily for the oil, which was (and is) used medicinally. In 1988,
only one nest was recorded in Tortola; in 1989 there were none.

There were 28 crawls (successful and unsuccessful nesting events,
combined) on Tortola in 1997, 10 in 1998, and 39 in 1999, suggesting
local nesting of 2-6 turtles per year. Egg theft and the killing of
egg-bearing females have combined to shrink the once-thriving colonies
of St. Kitts and Nevis, St.Lucia, Tobago, and elsewhere on the Caribbean
island.

On islands where nesting appears to have been historically rare or
occasional (eg., Anguilla, Antigua, Barbados, Jamaica, Netherlands
Antilles), it is impossible to estimate current trends. The news is
better in some areas where protective measures have been strong.

Nesting at the Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge, USVI, where
leatherbacks have been protected for nearly three decades, is showing a
clear upward trend. An average of 26 females nested (with an average of
133 nests laid) each year between 1982-1986 and an average of 70 females
brooded with an average of 423 broods each year between 1995 and 1999,
almost tripling in two decades ( Similar trends are seen at Culebra
National Wildlife Refuge (PlayaResaca and Playa Brava), Puerto Rico,
where an average of 19 nested females (with an average of 142 nests
laid) each year between 1984 and 1986 (east coast) and Grande Rivière
(north coast), were declared protected areas in 1990 and 1997
respectively.

Systematic tagging began at Matura in 1999 and 862 females were tagged,
but beach coverage was Incomplete and only more than 1,000 females
probably nested almost 10 km from the beach that year. A similar number
of females (800-1,000 per year) are believed to nest at Grande Riviere.

The status of the nesting colony in Trinidad is unknown. Community-based
beach patrols have reduced the number of females killed each year to
near zero (down from an estimated 30-50% per year on the east coast and
near 100% on the north coast in the 1960s and 1970s), but high levels of
incidental catch offshore have the potential to decimate the colony.


Leatherback turtles range from 70°15’N to 27°S in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The main nesting beaches are in Mexico, Costa Rica Irian Jaya, French Guiana, Suriname and Gabon. In Canada, turtles have been observed in the waters off Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island.

Messaggi di Rogue Scholar

Where do leatherback turtles live?