Turtle Island, Fiji: Hatching a plan on an island paradise

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This was published 6 years ago

Turtle Island, Fiji: Hatching a plan on an island paradise

By Alison Stewart
Fiji turtle conservation is underway at Turtle Island.

Fiji turtle conservation is underway at Turtle Island.Credit: iStock

Turtle Island – the luxury, all-inclusive private resort in Fiji's Yasawa chain of islands – has long been associated with sustainability and safeguarding the island's biodiversity. Now it has accepted a new challenge – to protect its endangered namesake, the sea turtle.

The waters around Fiji's 332-island archipelago has five of the seven living species of sea turtles – green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead and olive ridley. Endangered green and critically endangered hawksbill turtles are the most common Fijian sea turtle species.

These beautiful creatures are the ancient mariners of the modern age, effectively living fossils, one of the oldest reptile groups first appearing about 215 million years ago. Hawksbills can live to more than 100 years, reaching maturity at 30 in the Indo-Pacific.

New born sea turtle coming out from the nest.

New born sea turtle coming out from the nest.Credit: iStock

Even though Fiji, working with the World Wildlife Fund, has developed a Fiji Sea Turtle Recovery Plan and has imposed a moratorium on harvesting turtles from 2009 to 2018, turtles have strong cultural links with Pacific peoples and traditionally were a sacred food item reserved for those of noble birth, as well as being important to people's subsistence needs. The tortoiseshell has also been prized.

To counter this, WWF South Pacific is employing strategies to engage with Pacific Island people to recover sea turtle populations including the Da ni Vonu network. This is where local turtle monitors, who are often former turtle-hunters, are trained to record sightings, nesters and egg numbers, monitor seagrass (turtle food) health and to affix satellite tags.

Individual resorts also play their part. Turtle Island owner, Richard Evanson Senior, instigated a "Turtle Preserve" program some years ago, encouraging local fishermen to bring sea turtles to Turtle Island where management pays them "top dollar" in exchange for the creature.

Turtle Island, Fiji, offers vulnerable turtles protection.

Turtle Island, Fiji, offers vulnerable turtles protection.

The turtle's shell is then marked with an eco-friendly marine paint to render it unmarketable, and then the turtle is released. On Valentine's Day a year ago, Turtle Island reported that 14 turtles hatched on Turtle Island.

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"We nurtured these hatchlings until they had the best chance of surviving independently – then we released them to the sea," said Turtle Island management.

"Witnessing a strengthening of the sea turtle population in the Yasawas is one of our greatest pleasures and proudest accomplishments."

Sea turtle eggs and a newborn at a hatchery site.

Sea turtle eggs and a newborn at a hatchery site.Credit: iStock

While paying local fishermen for the release of turtles has certainly contributed positively to turtle preservation, ideally there would be a more formal means of identifying turtles, working with the World Wildlife Fund, the leading organisation in wildlife conservation and endangered species. This is where Turtle Island's new general managers, Rob and Landi Burns, come in.

With African conservation backgrounds, they have committed to a Turtle Island-specific turtle-tagging program and have ordered the first 100 titanium tags. Captured turtles will be measured, weighed, tagged and released and the tags will identify the turtles with a "TI" name and number, specific to the island and identifiable anywhere in the world.

Rob Burns says satellite transmitters would be the next Turtle Island step for the sea turtles that spend most of their lives in coastal waters, feeding on coral reefs when not nesting. Satellite tagging is crucial for understanding post-nesting movement and habitat use.

Transmitters attached to the turtle's shell transmit to an orbiting satellite whenever the turtle surfaces for air and data is sent to receiving stations. Signals are transmitted to an orbiting satellite when the turtle surfaces and data is sent to receiving stations.

In the two months Rob and Landi have been in the job, they have already counted 18 turtles visiting Turtle Island. Landi Burns has designed a silver turtle pendant, which has just gone on sale in the island gift shop. Proceeds will go towards buying tags and, eventually, transmitters.

The Burns gained their sea turtle experience working for Wilderness Safaris' Rocktail Beach Camp in South Africa's Maputaland Coastal Forest and Marine Reserve, one of only two places in Africa where leatherback turtles breed.

Rocktail guides patrol the beach throughout summer at night, monitoring both the leatherbacks and the loggerhead turtles as they emerge to lay their eggs.

The sea turtle initiative is the latest in a series of eco-initiatives introduced on this beautiful, 202-hectare island that has long respected the integrity of the island's biodiversity by limiting guest numbers – there are only 14 bures in a low-rise environment.

When Richard Evanson bought the island in 1972, wild goats overran it, decimating the vegetation and there was no established water. Since then, hundreds of thousands of trees have been planted, developing lush rain forests and stabilising hillsides.

Coastal mangroves have been preserved to provide reef protection from runoff. Freshwater ponds and wetlands have been introduced to encourage indigenous bird life. A huge vegetable garden and orchard, including a hydroponic section, provide 70 per cent of the resort's fresh vegetables and fruit.

An impressive solar array of nearly 1000 high-quality panels now means the island is self-sufficient, with back-up generators. And the island is Green Globe-certified, the global certification for sustainable tourism, confirming best environmental practices.

TRIP NOTES

Multiple airlines including Qantas/Fiji Airways, Jetstar and Virgin fly from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to Nadi, and Turtle Airways connects you to the island.

STAY

Turtle Island costs from $US2499 a night, per couple, all inclusive. See turtlefiji.com

Alison Stewart was a guest of Turtle Island

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