Design of a protected area for inter-nesting hawksbills in Barbados: an evidence-based approach

To aid in the designation of a marine protected area for hawksbill sea turtles, Eretmochelys imbricata (Linnaeus, 1766), nesting at one of the largest rookeries in the Wider Caribbean Region (Needham's Point, Barbados), we elucidated key inter-nesting behaviors (i.e., the approximately 2-wk period of time spent at sea between nesting events) from published spatial, diving, and habitat utilization data, and the areas of overlap and potential conflict with anthropogenic uses of the coastal zone. Historically, much of the focus of conservation efforts for this species has been on protecting breeding females and their eggs from harvest, and more recently protection of nesting beaches. However, protecting the habitats in which these animals spend their inter-nesting interval and addressing the indirect anthropogenic mortality they are exposed to while in these nearshore habitats has received less attention. Despite a relatively small percentage of a hawksbill's life-cycle being spent in inter-nesting habitats, the relative value of adult females for population recovery and the vulnerability associated with large aggregations of females adjacent to rookeries makes this mature stage of their life-cycle one of high conservation priority.