Site Suitability Analysis for Sea Turtle Nesting Area by using AHP and GIS

Abstract

Sea turtles are among the endangered marine life not only in Malaysia but also in the world. There are various criteria required in finding a suitable turtle nest site, it may be necessary to suit the needs of the environment in the study area, and it was found that there are four (4) most important criteria in studying turtle nesting suitability site namely (1) sand temperature, (2) vegetation, (3) beach slope, and (4) sand particle size. The use of GIS with the help of AHP can get a better result in finding the site suitability for sea turtle nesting by using weighted overlay analysis. The highest weight value is sand particle size with 0.616, followed by beach slope with 0.220, sand temperature with 0.114, and vegetation with 0.049 was derived from the use of AHP techniques. As a result, the suitability index in the study area was measured and analyzed with the sea turtles’ activities. As a result, the suitability index in the study area was measured and analyzed with the sea turtles’ activities. It was found that there is a low correlation between the site suitability index and the sea turtles’ activities which matches the expert’s opinion that though the site is deemed suitable for sea turtles nesting, they may not be crawled up and nest due to other external factors. The sites with the highest index were verified to be the most suitable by the experts as it is true that sea turtles were ascending to the sites for nesting. In conclusion, integrating GIS with the help of AHP can be an important technique to find a suitable site for the sea turtle nesting area.