6 - Drones for Turtles

Abstract

The Cape Verde archipelago hosts the world's third largest nesting population of the loggerhead turtle, with about two-third of the population nesting on Boa Vista island. However, the most serious threat is poaching of nesting females for their meat. In 2007 alone, 1200 turtles were reported to be killed on the beaches of Boa Vista, representing about a third of that year's nesting population. Now, after more than ten years of successful beach protection that has significantly reduced poaching, alternative techniques that can supplement or even replace conventional beach patrolling at lower cost are highly desirable. While in recent years unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones have become increasingly useful for a number of applications in sea turtle research and conservation, there have been almost no attempts to use drones for direct anti-poaching measures. Here we report on the planning, development, and implementation of a night vision UAV surveillance project as part of an integrated surveillance task force to control sea turtle poaching on Boa Vista. After two nesting seasons with nighttime drone surveillance of nesting beaches, the number of poaching incidents continued to decrease significantly, and it appears that the drone operations have made a significant contribution.