Maldives Sea Turtle Rescue & Rehabilitation

At the close of March, we were caring for 3 Olive Ridleys (Lepidochelys olivacea), 1 Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), and zero Green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) in our Rehabilitation Centre at Landaa.
This month, we inspected and maintained our large turtle enclosure out in the lagoon, and repaired several small holes that had developed in the netting.

At Kuda Huraa, we were at capacity with five Olive Ridley rescue patients occupying our rehabilitation pools. This month, the dividing wall between pools 3 & 4 was removed, and the whole tank was repainted. (Many thanks to our colleagues in Engineering, for their quiet handiwork that minimised disturbance to the turtles.)

Our long-term turtle patient, Ari has been very lucky this month, as a returning guest has gifted her a generous donation and some delicious octopus! Unfortunately, she did not like the octopus, but it was soon shared between the other turtles. Ari is now the proud resident of our newly elongated pool, and she is actively making the most of the extra swimming space.

Good news about Emma this month, as she started to rest on the bottom of her tank for the first time! When we introduced her to the shared pool with Michelangela, she was soon able to dive down for food with ease, and rest on the bottom in her new ‘crate cave’.

Updates on Our January Admissions

• Xanchi – is making good progress as his wounds heal, but his injured flipper is still not functioning properly. His buoyancy is not an issue, so in the coming weeks we will transfer him to our ocean enclosure out in Landaa’s lagoon, in readiness for release.
• Seakid – is now very enthusiastic during feeding, and tries hard to overcome his buoyancy issues to dive down for food.
• Michelangela – her wounds have completely healed, and she continues to impress with her diving skills. She will soon be ready for release back into the big blue!
• Burrita – is doing well with her buoyancy training, and she can now reach the bottom of the pool to feed

Sea Turtle Nest Protection

On 10 and 20 March, we had two further green turtle nests laid on the beaches at Landaa. They are close to nests #1 and #2 (near villa 200). A third turtle made a false crawl in the same area on the night of 20 March, without laying a nest.

• Nest #1 – from 8 March, we started actively monitoring to catch the emergence of the first hatchlings. No activity was seen on the expected hatching date (day #60) and after a further 10 days we decided to excavate the nest. As expected, there were no fully developed eggs, with only 14 out of 106 eggs containing visible embryos. We suspect this was due to flooding, as recent tides have been higher than average, and the egg chamber itself was only 90cm deep. The egg shells were pale and translucent (rather than a solid white colour) and the yolks were watery.
• Nest #2 – is close by, and there is no activity so far. Sadly, we are anticipating a similar result.

Sex Determination of Sea Turtle Hatchlings

This month, we were pleased to receive photo ID submissions for two male turtles (one green, one hawksbill), and both were found to be new additions to our database. In recent years, we have been recording sightings of fewer numbers of males, and we think this might be due to increasing global temperatures.

Unusually, the sex of most species of turtles (and some other reptiles) is determined after fertilisation. It is the temperature of the incubating eggs that establishes whether the hatchlings will be male or female (warmer sand produces more females).

• Incubation <27.7°C, the turtle hatchlings will be male.
• Incubation >31°C, the hatchlings will be female.
• Variable temperatures produce a mix of both male and female hatchlings.

As the Earth experiences climate change, increased temperatures will likely result in fewer male turtle hatchlings, which could be devastating for the future survival of sea turtles.

REEFSCAPERS Coral Propagation & Reef Restoration in the Maldives

Monthly Progress

At Landaa during March, we transplanted 32 new coral frames, kindly sponsored by guests (17), the Resort (13), and online orders (2), using a total of ~1200 new coral fragments. In addition, we monitored (cleaned, repaired, photographed) 646 coral frames at various sites around Landaa Giraavaru. This month, we have also been recycling and lifting coral frames around Landaa, including 12 coral frames buried in the sand at the Turtle and Blue Hole sites, and recycling 290 coral fragments at the Turtle and Bissie’s Reef.

At Kuda Huraa, we transplanted 6 new guest coral frames, kindly sponsored by guests (4) and the Resort (2). We also monitored a total of 235 existing frames (mainly at the House Reef site), retagged 23 frames, retransplanted 27 frames (House Reef and Channel sites), and remapped 73 heart-formations (Deep House Reef site).

Coral Bleaching Monitoring

From late March to late May, we experience higher than average ocean temperatures in the Maldives due to the transition from the NE to the SW monsoons that brings calm periods with little wind and rain. Warmer ocean currents coupled with zero cloud cover can be extremely stressful for shallow water corals, resulting in paling and fluorescence, followed by possible bleaching and eventual mortality.

We have deployed our temperature loggers at various sites in the lagoons to record hourly SST (sea surface temperature). We will be monitoring the severity of any coral bleaching, to determine which species demonstrate the greatest resilience and which locations offer the best protection.

Read our Reefscapers Diaries for further details and photographs of our ongoing coral propagation efforts and reef regeneration experiments, both in the Lab and out in the lagoon, updated each month.