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Nesting biology and conservation of the olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) in Brazil, 1991/1992 to 2002/2003

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2007

Augusto Cesar C.D. da Silva
Affiliation:
Projeto TAMAR-IBAMA, Reserva Biológica de Santa Isabel, Pirambu – SE, 49190-000, Brazil
Jaqueline C. de Castilhos
Affiliation:
Fundação Pró-TAMAR, Reserva Biológica de Santa Isabel, Pirambu – SE, 49190-000, Brazil
Gustave G. Lopez
Affiliation:
Fundação Pró-TAMAR, Caixa Postal 2219 – Rio Vermelho, Salvador – BA, 41950-970, Brazil
Paulo C.R. Barata
Affiliation:
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rua Leopoldo Bulhões 1480-8A, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 21041-210, Brazil

Abstract

This article presents biological data and an assessment of the conservation of the olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) population nesting in the States of Sergipe and Bahia, north-eastern Brazil, between 1991/1992 and 2002/2003. Projeto TAMAR-IBAMA (the Brazilian Sea Turtle Conservation Programme) maintains seven field stations in that region to monitor nesting activity over 339 km of beach. An increasing trend was observed in the estimated number of nests per nesting season: from 252 nests in 1991/1992 to 2606 in 2002/2003, an approximately 10-fold increase in 11 years. The available data and biological knowledge suggest that TAMAR's conservation efforts may have contributed to the significant increase in olive ridley nesting in Sergipe and Bahia; that increase is not only of regional importance, but also of significance at the western Atlantic level.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2007 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

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