Akazul sea turtle strandings at La Barrona, Guatemala 2013

Original provider: Akazul Dataset credits: Akazul Abstract: Akazul: Community, Conservation & Ecology has been operating its sea turtle conservation project since 2011 at La Barrona, one of Guatemala’s key nesting sites, utilized primarily by olive ridley (<i>Lepidochelys olivacea</i>) and infrequently by eastern Pacific green (<i>Chelonia mydas</i>) and leatherback (<i>Dermochelys coriacea</i>) sea turtles. From 1st July 2013 to 31st December 2013, Akazul conducted daily beach patrols across a 7.5 km study area and encountered a total of 67 dead sea turtles. Of these, 55 were <i>L. olivacea</i>, 11 were <i>C. mydas</i> and 1 was unknown. A peak of 35 dead turtles occurred in July where 28 olive ridley and 7 black sea turtles were recorded. A second peak was observed in October (N = 16), consisting of 12 olive ridley, 3 black and 1 unknown species of sea turtle. When possible, curved carapace length (CCL) and curved carapace width (CCW) measurements were collected and recorded in centimeters. Mean CCL and CCW for: 32 olive ridleys was 63.1 cm (range: 57-69.5 cm; SD = 3.1) and 68.0 cm (range: 61-73 cm; SD = 3.3), respectively; and 10 eastern Pacific green turtles was 68.2 cm (range: 54-81 cm; SD = 9.1) and 68.9 cm (range: 58-76 cm; SD = 6.2), respectively. Condition of stranded turtles was noted by the observer using the following classification scheme: alive without injuries, alive with injuries, fresh dead, moderately decomposed, dried carcass, skeleton (bones only). 44 turtles were recorded as fresh dead, 9 were moderately decomposed, 3 were severely decomposed and 2 were dried carcases. Cause of death was difficult to determine in virtually all turtles recorded and it is difficult to ascertain whether observed external injuries were obtained post-mortem. It is highly recommended that a regionally coordinated strandings program is implemented in the future as well as standardized sampling procedures to enable thorough analysis to effectively determine sources of mortality.