Leatherback turtle conservation and monitoring efforts at the crossroads: A remote sensing perspective

Abstract

The critically endangered West Pacific Ocean subpopulation of the leatherback turtles has faced a significant population decline in the past decades. One of the reasons for this is the loss of nesting habitats in the region. In this pilot study, turtle nesting habitats are remotely monitored employing satellite imageries. This methodology has been used to investigate the extent of habitat loss in the Kamiali wildlife management area along the Huon coast in Papua New Guinea which serves as a major hotspot for the leatherback turtles. Moreover, the conservation of this turtle species is increasingly at risk due to the intensification of community-level conflicts and paucity of donors; data collection endeavors along the Huon coast have been halted since 2014. Using Landsat 8 satellite images for the period 2013 to 2019, a 22.44 % (0.179 km2) decrease in sandy beach areas is noticable, resulting primarily from shrubs-mixed vegetation expansion and coastal squeeze following erosion. The research results highlight the urgency to revamp turtle conservation and data collection initiatives and emphasize the key role remote sensing can play in turtle habitat monitoring, particularly in areas experiencing a conflict of conservational interests. Based on the observations, the study propose four urgent technology-oriented measures - (i) revamping data collection strategies, (ii) developing turtle nesting sensitivity maps, (iii) surveying nesting habitats using drones, and (iv) investigating the influence of logging activities - to enhance leatherback turtle conservation efforts in the Kamiali region, that are expected to have wider applications across the globe especially in the West Pacific and to other sea turtle species.