West Africa is home to five of the world’s seven species of endangered sea turtles, but unfortunately very little is known about their populations or movements in West Africa.  Research efforts in this area have been hindered by financial and logistical compilations that make research difficult; and therefore, long-term sea turtle conservation programs have not been well developed.  HATCH was developed to establish a long-term research program designed to collect the missing data needed to reduce sea turtle mortality and increase sea turtle hatchling recruitment into the population. 

In 2006, we started conducting night-time nesting surveys on 9 km of beach near Ada Foah, Ghana.  These surveys function to locate sea turtles during the nesting process, which allows us to collect data on the nesting females, including tagging each female, as well as monitoring the success of each nest.  Understanding nesting periods and nest site selection will help us provide the Ghana Wildlife Division with recommendations for managing the beach habitat for sea turtles.  Monitoring the nests through the completion of development will help us determine what threats are facing the nests and what mechanisms can be used to maximize hatching success (proportion of eggs that successfully produce hatchling turtles).

Our primary research goal is to establish the first long-term sea turtle tagging program in Ghana.  Tagging each turtle with a uniquely numbered tag allows us to identify each sea turtle as an individual.  We can then start learning about population trends, movement patterns (including movements outside of Ghana), individual growth rates, nesting frequency, clutch size, and hatchling production.  We are mostly interested in learning about the population sizes and trends in the nesting density over time.  To answer these questions, the tagging program will need to consistently collect data and tag turtles for near ten years.

To conduct the required nesting surveys, we utilize the help of volunteer and graduate students interested in studying sea turtle biology in West Africa.  Currently we have two graduate students and one volunteer working on the beach.  You can click on ‘news and updates’ to find a link for field updates from our current volunteer.  If you are interested in volunteering with HATCH please contact Phil Allman.

CURRENT STUDENTS:

Andy Agyekumhene (M.S. Oceanography & Fisheries, University of Ghana): Andy is a graduate student working on his m/s degree in the department of oceanography and fisheries at the University of Ghana under the direction of AK Armah.  He is studying the nesting ecology and hatching success of sea turtles in Ada Foah.  His project has two somewhat different components.  First, he is looking at the rate of erosion and how the changing beach profile influences nest site selection.  Previous nesting surveys indicate olive ridleys are nesting in different areas from the leatherback sea turtle; however, each species seem to shift nesting locations throughout the nesting season.  This shift may be a function of the erosion and profile of the beach.  Andy is also marking, and monitoring the fate of each nest laid within the study area.  The field site encompasses five fishing villages and many dogs from each village raid sea turtle nests for a source of food.  Last year we estimated about 80% of the nests were destroyed by dogs.  Andy is quantifying this loss and working on different mechanisms that can be used to protect the nests from dogs.

Derek DeWitt (M.S. Environmental Sciences, FGCU): Derek's research explores the behavior of sea turtles to ascend the beach and return to the water without nesting (non-nesting emergences). Non-nesting emergences are observed for all species of sea turtles, but we still do not fully understand the significance of this behavior. Derek is examining the potential role of tides, lunar cycle, beach temperature, and beach profile on sea turtle nesting success (female depositing eggs) and hatching success. Derek is conducting this research at our field station in Ada Foah, Ghana.