Abstract
The south-western region of the Atlantic Ocean has feeding and nesting areas for the five species of sea turtles registered in Brazil, which are in different degrees of extinction threat, mainly due to anthropogenic factors. Fishing and the ingestion of solid waste, were identified as causing stranding and the mortality of sea turtles. In this work, data from the monitoring of beaches in the Municipalities of Macaé and Rio das Ostras, important oil zone in Brazil, in the north-central region of the State of Rio de Janeiro, were used in order to analyse the effects of seasonality on the sea turtle stranding. The monitoring was carried out daily from September 2017 to June 2019, in a study area covering 23.8 km long beach. Stranding data were obtained from active (n = 126) and passive (n = 66) monitoring of beaches and included the records of Chelonia mydas (n = 151), Caretta caretta (n = 23), Lepidochelys olivacea (n = 14), Dermochelys coriacea (n = 2) and Eretmochelys imbricata (n = 1). The largest stranding record occurred in the summer (n = 61) and spring (n = 60), a period compatible with the reproductive season of the species. The results obtained in this study emphasise the importance of the analysis of strandings of sea turtles, which provide relevant data on the biology of the group, the intra and interspecific dynamics and the state of conservation of these animals.
Highlights
The current fauna of sea turtle corresponds to seven species, of which five species are present on the Brazilian coast (Pupo et al 2006; Macêdo et al 2015)
All species found in Brazil are threatened, varying between vulnerable (Caretta caretta Linnaeus, 1758, Dermochelys coriacea Vandelli, 1761 and Lepidochelys olivacea Eschscholtz, 1829), endangered (Chelonia mydas Linnaeus, 1758) and critically endangered (Eretmochelys imbricata Linnaeus, 1766), according to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN 2021) or the Brazilian Red Book of Threatened Species of Fauna (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation/ Ministry of Environment – ICMBio/MMA 2018)
The study was developed by analysing the sea turtle strandings on the beaches located in the Municipality of Rio das Ostras (22°31'37"S, 41°56'42"W) in the Lagos region and in the Municipality of Macaé (22°22'15"S, 41°47'13"W) in the northern region of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Fig. 1)
Summary
The current fauna of sea turtle corresponds to seven species, of which five species are present on the Brazilian coast (Pupo et al 2006; Macêdo et al 2015). All species found in Brazil are threatened, varying between vulnerable (Caretta caretta Linnaeus, 1758, Dermochelys coriacea Vandelli, 1761 and Lepidochelys olivacea Eschscholtz, 1829), endangered (Chelonia mydas Linnaeus, 1758) and critically endangered (Eretmochelys imbricata Linnaeus, 1766), according to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN 2021) or the Brazilian Red Book of Threatened Species of Fauna (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation/ Ministry of Environment – ICMBio/MMA 2018) These five species frequent the coast of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Santos et al 2011; Reis et al 2017; Werneck et al 2018; Tagliolatto et al 2019a), a region identified as an important spawning site for the C. caretta (Marcovaldi and Chaloupka 2007) and a foraging habitat, mainly for juveniles of C. mydas (Almeida et al 2011; Awabdi et al 2013; Reis et al 2017; Guimarães et al 2018; Tagliolatto et al 2019a). The main anthropogenic threats include bycatch, egg collection, running over and compaction of nests by vehicle traffic on the beaches, artificial lighting in spawning areas, pollution by solid waste or organic compounds, habitat degradation and dredging in the construction of industrial structures onshore and offshore (Marcovaldi et al 2011; Goldberg et al 2015; Reis et al 2017; Ylitalo et al 2017; Tagliolatto et al 2019b)
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