S.E.H. Conservation Committee Blog

In a recent published article (you can download the pdf directly here and find the abstract of the article below) the authors explored the available literature on the interaction between marine turtles, tourism and conservation. The article offers a good review on this topic and on the negative effects that some common tourist activities have on the marine environment (e.g., coral reefs, but also whales and marine turtles).

I suggest to read this article to anyone who is interested on how tourism can impact the marine organisms. As highlighted by the authors in this article, the literature available on this topic is still very limited, and further studies, on other marine turtle species and not only limited to tropical environments, are needed.

‘‘Turtle watching’’ conservation guidelines: green turtle (Chelonia mydas) tourism in nearshore coastal environments
Melissa S. Landry, Christopher T. Taggart

Biodiversity and Conservation, 2009

"We propose a conservational opportunity for humans to ‘use’ the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) in a non-consumptive manner. Although the concept of a social safeminimum standard analysis, as applied to the sustainability of tourism-dependent turtle watching, has focused on beach-nesting habitats, other tourist activities like diving and snorkelling also occur in shallow coastal habitats frequented by juvenile and adult turtles.
When integrated over time, at a specific location, such tourism activities may compromise turtle physiology in a manner that limits conservation goals for the species and hence the tourism. We identify research insights that can be used to achieve a creatively managed tourism—one that allows tourists to observe turtles in their natural coastal habitat in a manner that is commensurate with functional turtle conservation. We propose management options loosely based on whale-watching: i.e. voluntary and/or mandatory regulations based on home-range studies that identify localized temporal and spatial patterns of habitat use exhibited by turtles. We recommend temporally- and spatially-dynamic stratifiedrandom- design tours that exclude critical local (small-scale) habitat and include lesscritical habitat on a randomized rotational basis. Practical guidelines for tour operators that are founded on turtle habitat-occupancy patterns may ensure expanded life-history conservation measures and sustainable turtle-watching tourism."