“Turtle watching” conservation guidelines: green turtle (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Chelonia mydas</Emphasis>) tourism in nearshore coastal environments |
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Authors: | Melissa S Landry Christopher T Taggart |
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Institution: | (1) Marine Affairs Program, Dalhousie University, 6100 University Avenue, Suite 2127, Halifax, NS, B3H 3J5, Canada;(2) Oceanography Department, Dalhousie University, 3700 Oxford Street, Halifax, NS, B3H 4J1, Canada |
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Abstract: | We propose a conservational opportunity for humans to ‘use’ the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) in a non-consumptive manner. Although the concept of a social safe-minimum standard analysis, as applied to the sustainability
of tourism-dependent turtle watching, has focused on beach-nesting habitats, other tourist activities like diving and snorkelling
also occur in shallow coastal habitats frequented by juvenile and adult turtles. When integrated over time, at a specific
location, such tourism activities may compromise turtle physiology in a manner that limits conservation goals for the species
and hence the tourism. We identify research insights that can be used to achieve a creatively managed tourism—one that allows
tourists to observe turtles in their natural coastal habitat in a manner that is commensurate with functional turtle conservation.
We propose management options loosely based on whale-watching: i.e. voluntary and/or mandatory regulations based on home-range
studies that identify localized temporal and spatial patterns of habitat use exhibited by turtles. We recommend temporally-
and spatially-dynamic stratified-random-design tours that exclude critical local (small-scale) habitat and include less-critical
habitat on a randomized rotational basis. Practical guidelines for tour operators that are founded on turtle habitat-occupancy
patterns may ensure expanded life-history conservation measures and sustainable turtle-watching tourism. |
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