Turtle nesting threatened by logging practices in Gabon, Smithsonian warns
Endangered sea turtles are victims of sloppy logging practices in the west central African country Gabon, according to a study led by William Laurance, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The study will be published online in the journal Oryx later this month.
Sea turtle nesting attempts are impeded by lost or abandoned logs that accumulate along the country鈥檚 coastal beaches. Logs are floated downriver from forests to coastal lumberyards in the Gabonese Republic, but some float out to sea and then wash ashore, where they form large tangles.
In an aerial survey, Laurance鈥檚 team鈥攃o-coordinated by J. Michael Fay of the Wildlife Conservation Society鈥攃ounted more than 11,000 logs along Gabon鈥檚 beaches. In the most important area for turtle nesting, Pongara Beach, more than one-third of the beach was blocked by logs. In some places, scientists found up to 247 logs per kilometer of beach.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really sad to see what the logs are doing to the turtles,鈥� Laurance said. 鈥淪ea turtles move very slowly on land. When a log blocks their path, sometimes they just give up and return to the sea. In other cases they lay their eggs too close to the waterline, where the eggs are killed by seawater. Turtles also become entangled among the logs and die.鈥�
The authors estimated that 8 to 14 percent of all turtle nesting attempts are thwarted by logs, sometimes with fatal results for the female. Most of the turtles nesting in this area are leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea), a critically endangered species according to the IUCN Red Data Book.
鈥淪urvival of the leatherback turtle is threatened by fishing, environmental degradation and predation. It鈥檚 really unfortunate that logging is a threat as well, because plans are afoot to dramatically increase the logging of African rainforests,鈥� said Laurance.
Source: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
