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First satellite tracking of sea turtles in Albania
Citation
MEDASSET. 2011. First satellite tracking of sea turtles in Albania. Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles. https://marineinfo.org/id/dataset/2830
Contact: Venizelos, Lily

Access data
Archived data
Availability: Creative Commons License This dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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Description
The second phase of the three-year project “Monitoring and Conservation of Important Sea Turtle Feeding Grounds in the Patok Area of Albania, 2008-2010” included the satellite tracking of three loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta). Turtles were caught incidentally by local fishermen who find them in their fish traps called “stavnikes”. One turtle (Shpresa) was assumed to be an early-adult female; the other two (Guximtari and Patoku) were immature males (sexually-developing). more

The project revealed habitat use by these males, different overwintering strategies, the timing of a return migration into Albanian waters, and the fact that all three turtles used Drini Bay in consecutive summers i.e. showing fidelity to a foraging site.
The overall project aimed to establish the Patok lagoon area and Drini Bay in general as an important foraging area for sea turtles. Together with data and results derived using ‘traditional’ research methods (tagging, etc), the satellite tracking data have been used to justify the need for sea turtle protection measures to be enacted in Albania. Management Recommendations for Drini Bay and an Action Plan for the Conservation of Sea Turtles and their Habitats in Albania were formally submitted by MEDASSET to the Albanian Authorities in January 2012; the latter was officially adopted by Ministerial Order No. 596 on 22nd November 2012: a contribution to the Mediterranean Region’s endeavours to safeguard turtles in all of their habitats and migratory corridors.
The project was developed by MEDASSET in close collaboration with the Albanian Herpetofauna Society and the University of Tirana, with the endorsement of the Albanian Ministry of Environment. The satellite tracking programme was funded by the Global Environmental Facility Small Grants Programme in 2009 within the framework of the project “Monitoring and conservation of important sea turtle feeding grounds in the Patok Area of Albania 2008-10”, a project co-funded by MEDASSET, the United Nations Environment Programme-Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP), the Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA) of UNEP/MAP and the British Chelonia Group.

Scope
Themes:
Biology > Reptiles
Keywords:
Marine/Coastal, Habitat selection, organism, Satellite tracking, Mediterranean Region, Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758)

Geographical coverage
Mediterranean Region [Marine Regions]

Temporal coverage
2009 - 2011

Taxonomic coverage
Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758) [WoRMS]

Contributors
Mediterranean Association to save the sea turtles (MEDASSET), moredata ownerdata creator
Venizelos, Lily

Related datasets
Published in:
EurOBIS: European Ocean Biodiversity Information System, more
OBIS-SEAMAP: Spatial Ecological Analysis of Megavertebrate Populations, more

Publication
Based on this dataset
Oakley, D. et al. (2011). Satellite-telemetry reveals different behavioural patterns for three loggerhead turtles Caretta caretta tagged at a foraging ground in Albania, in: Bentivegna, F. et al. (Ed.) (2011). Book of Abstracts. 4th Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles, Naples 7-10 November 2011 . pp. 59
White, M. et al. (2011). Monitoring and conservation of important sea turtle feeding grounds in the Patok Area of Albania 2008-2010: Final Project Report. A project of MEDASSET in collaboration with H.A.S., Albania; University of Tirana; ECAT, Albania. Supported by: GEF/SGP, Tirana; RAC/SPA (UNEP/MAP). UNEP/MAP: [s.l.]. 68 pp.
Coyne, M.S.; Godley, B.J. (2005). Satellite Tracking and Analysis Tool (STAT): an integrated system for archiving, analyzing and mapping animal tracking data. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 301: 1-7

Data type: Data
Data origin: Research
Metadatarecord created: 2011-04-07
Information last updated: 2022-08-10
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