Seychelles Curieuse Island Conservation

Dear Supporters,

The beginning of 2020 saw the continuation of all of the research and conservation projects. We were in the peak of turtle and shark seasons, with daily checks of the turtle nesting beaches for new nests and the excavation of nests in full swing to assess the nesting success, and continued monitoring of the Lemon shark juveniles.

The juvenile sharks were also busy tracking themselves after the implantation of 20 acoustic transmitters during October and November, with their acoustic signals being automatically recorded on 12 fixed receivers throughout their habitat. The preliminary results are in and they show that out of 329,208 acoustic detections, only 1,203 of those detections were in the deeper waters off of Curieuse. This shows that the juvenile sharks strongly prefer the shallow waters of the island and further highlights the importance of protecting it, especially the mangrove areas.

The rat eradication project has also been continuing. We have been seeing tentative evidence of ecosystem recovery following the removal of rats, with a number of native species being seen in areas they have not been seen before, and certain strong evidence such as the sporadic presence of large numbers of butterflies and dragonflies, also certainly not seen before. We hope the expansion of the study area will now allow us to answer a number of questions regarding the potential of the Goodnature A24 traps for control and eradication of rats within the Seychelles.

Having got off to a great start for 2020, of course the coronavirus pandemic is now having a severe impact on all countries of the world, and Seychelles has not escaped. At the moment there are no volunteers to assist with our research and conservation projects due to global travel bans, so we have had to drastically scale back our activities.

Some of our research projects will likely not be carried out this year, such as the annual giant tortoise census and the BRUV surveys, however we are maintaining some activities. The rat eradication project is continuing uninterrupted. Some monitoring of the turtle nesting beaches is continuing, and we will likely also manage to continue some monitoring of the tortoise hatchlings in the nursery. While we have undoubtedly had to scale back many of our field activities, we are still able to maintain some, and with less fieldwork going on it presents a great opportunity to focus on data analysis and producing and publishing scientific papers. 

With volunteers expected to arrive back on Curieuse Island in mid-October, turtle and shark data collection will resume. 

For the first couple of months of 2020 we continued the great progress in research and conservation on Curieuse. While this is now clearly a very challenging time for everybody, we feel it is important to identify areas we can take advantage of to continue the great work that everyone has contributed to over the years, and that is what we plan to continue doing!

Thank you all for your continued support, fundraisers and donations. It really does makes a difference.

With Gratitude,

Seychelles Curieuse Island Conservation

Dear Supporters,

The Republic of Seychelles is an Archipelago of 115 tropical islands set in the middle of the Indian Ocean, 1,500 kilometres off mainland East Africa. Our project is based on an Island where only our researchers are resident with the Tortoise’s. Our partners have been funded through ethical tourism and you as the donor and recently our project has seen borders closed and this once very popular travel destination is now deserted. 

Seychelles like many nations have been in lockdown and this has had a huge impact on our partners' 15,000 trees planted target in 2020. It is also a special time for our partners as they are celebrating their 10 years of service to the community. Not only does our partner have a huge tree planting target they  also play a vital part in data collection, research and analysis on a majority of the Islands that make up Seychelles. All very important work for our conservation problem. 

Since the lock down the community have begun to notice other issues, firstly an alarming low of dams has been noticed as people stay home consuming more water on a daily basis and for hand washing. Lockdown also has brought a halt to tree planting and research and as restrictions are being released the volunteer support through tourism is not looking to recover in anytime soon meaning our partners are seeking urgent support to bring in more resources. This is a critical project as the planting of Mangroves act as sponges of the coastal area, absorbing sea water to protect the land from high tides as well as helping to tackle climate warming. Our earth is in a state of new return due to global warming and the only option is for us to slow down the warming and this is why this project is so important. 

As our team are coming out of lockdown images show that coral just off the Islands are displaying white and this could be due to the tide being too low or the coral could be dying again but either way we urgently need to help our project kick off and get our researchers back in the water to inform us of the situation under the ocean that we face alongside COVID. 

Our attention has been diverted to the unexpected COVID-19 and we full agree this was the right thing to do as Countries prepared but now we must pick up and support the rebuild of our conservation projects so we protect the future of our planet. 

We appeal to you to help with any little donation so we can increase our resources to get our tree planting back on track and our research back on track to ensure we protect our Ocean and Coral. 

Thank you

Dear Supporters,

The past three months have been an exciting time for the Island Conservation Expedition. We have continued with our annual Aldabra giant tortoise census in order to locate as many free ranging animals as possible. Our target is to find 90% of known individuals which we have successfully completed. In addition, we have also had 10 adult tortoises donated to us from the neighbouring island of Praslin as well as 10 tortoise juveniles which have been added to our hatchling nursery. This brings our tortoise total up to 165. 

Shortly after the tortoise census concluded Hawksbill turtle nesting season and Lemon shark pupping season began. This is always the busiest time of year on Curieuse, with daily monitoring of the main turtle nesting beaches. So far this season we have had 98 turtle nests spread out over five beaches across the island. Additionally, we have ID tagged 21 nesting female individuals . 

The Lemon shark study has been extremely interesting during the peak season too. Since pupping season began on 15th October we have caught 140 individuals with our highest number of sharks caught in one survey being 23. We have primarily been catching Lemon sharks however similarly to the previous quarter we have also been catching a number of other shark species, with some previously not known from the study area. Several pups of Blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus) and Oceanic blacktip (Carcharhinus  limbatus) have been captured and tagged, and one Scalloped hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini) pup was also caught. 

Another exciting development has been the continuation of the Lemon shark tracking study. With generous funding from the Seychelles Climate Conservation Adaptation Trust (SeyCCAT) we have been able to purchase 12 acoustic receivers and 25 transmitters. We have done further extensive testing to determine receiver detection range prior to the arrival of this year’s pups, at which point we began surgically implanting transmitters to follow the pups. We have successfully detected shark acoustics surrounding Curieuse which is helping us to assess the effectiveness of the national park in their protection.as well as vastly increasing our knowledge of their movements.

Another recent addition to the range of projects with Curieuse is an experimental eradication of invasive rats in an area of coastal forest near the  base. Rats were accidentally introduced to Curieuse by the original colonists of the Seychelles, and since then they have decimated the populations of many native species. Most notably there are no nesting seabird colonies on Curieuse while close by rat free islands have extensive colonies, and many other endemic species such as lizards have also been negatively impacted. The project has now humanely eradicated roughly 682 Black rats (Rattus rattus) from a two hectare area of sensitive coastal forest habitat, and we are now beginning to see encouraging signs of ecosystem recovery.

The Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV) study has captured 36 hours of video footage of carnivorous and scavenging fish species in shallow and deep habitats off the poorly studied north coast of Curieuse. Review of the footage has just been completed, and data analysis will begin shortly, however one notable new discovery this season was a Snaggletooth shark (Hemipristis elongata). We await the results of the analysis to see the comparison in these fish detections with previous seasons.

The annual mangrove survey was also conducted in August, with eight permanent 10m x 10m quadrats being surveyed to assess the trends in mangrove species abundance, diversity and recruitment. R. mucronata, B. Gymnorrhiza and A. Marina are still the most populous type of mangrove on the island and all three are thriving. The data collected thus far has indicated that it is important to also establish permanent quadrats throughout the forest in order to represent all mangrove species present and provide sufficient insight into the changes occurring throughout the entire forest. Continued monitoring is required in order to assess whether the seaward edge of the forest will continue to degrade or whether a natural state of equilibrium has been reached.

We'd like to thank you all for your generous donotions and continuious support. Looking forward to a great year ahead!

With Gratitude,

Seychelles Curieuse Island Conservation

Dear Supporters,

Since we began studying the flora and fauna of Curieuse Island in 2007, the expedition has been continuously evolving. Originally set up to monitor the health of the coral reefs around Curieuse and Praslin Islands, it was quickly realised that Curieuse Island and the Curieuse Marine National Park are very special places in their own right. Not least because it is one of only two places in the world where the spectacular Coco de Mer palm grows, and it is the only place in the world where Coco de Mer and giant tortoises coexist in the wild.

Over the course of its existence the expedition has studied many of the island’s endemic and endangered species, with the current range of study subjects including Hawksbill and Green turtles, Sicklefin lemon sharks, Aldabra giant tortoises, mangroves and near shore fish, shoreline stability has been continuously monitored, and invasive rats are now being removed to allow recovery of native species.

The past three months have been an exciting time for the Island Conservation Expedition. We have continued with our annual Aldabra giant tortoise census in order to locate as many free ranging animals as possible. Our target is to find 90% of known individuals and we now only need to find another three to reach this objective.

The tortoise census will be concluded very shortly to make time for the arrival of Hawksbill turtle nesting season and Lemon shark pupping season. This is always the busiest time of year on Curieuse, with daily monitoring of the main turtle nesting beaches. The first nests of the season have now been laid so we will be putting in much effort in the coming months to find and mark as many nests as we can, and attach ID tags to as many nesting females as possible.

The Lemon shark study has been extremely interesting during the low season. We have still been catching Lemon sharks regularly, however we have also been catching a number of other shark species, with some previously not known from the study area. Several pups of Blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus) and Oceanic blacktip (Carcharhinus  limbatus) have been captured and tagged, and one Scalloped hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini) pup was also caught. This was the most interesting discovery, and it was also recaptured later, giving us some valuable growth data and confirming it is doing very well in the nursery.

Another exciting development has been the inception of a Lemon shark tracking study. With generous funding from the Seychelles Climate Conservation Adaptation Trust (SeyCCAT) we have been able to purchase 12 acoustic receivers and 25 transmitters. We have done extensive testing to determine receiver detection range prior to the arrival of this year’s pups, at which point we will begin surgically implanting transmitters to follow the pups and vastly increase our knowledge of their movements. This will also help to assess the effectiveness of the national park in their protection.

Another recent addition to the range of projects with Curieuse is an experimental eradication of invasive rats in an area of coastal forest near the base. Rats were accidentally introduced to Curieuse by the original colonists of the Seychelles, and since then they have decimated the populations of many native species. Most notably there are no nesting seabird colonies on Curieuse while close by rat free islands have extensive colonies, and many other endemic species such as lizards have also been negatively impacted. The project has now humanely removed over 550 Black rats (Rattus rattus) from a two hectare area of sensitive coastal forest habitat, and we are now beginning to see encouraging signs of ecosystem recovery.

The Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV) study has captured 36 hours of video footage of carnivorous and scavenging fish species in shallow and deep habitats off the poorly studied north coast of Curieuse. Review of the footage has just been completed, and data analysis will begin shortly, however one notable new discovery this season was a Snaggletooth shark (Hemipristis elongata). We await the results of the analysis to see the comparison in these fish detections with previous seasons.

The annual mangrove survey was also conducted in August, with eight permanent 10m x 10m quadrats being surveyed to assess the trends in mangrove species abundance, diversity and recruitment. The data is currently being analysed and we will shortly find out what changes, if any, have occurred since August last year.

It has been a very busy three months for the Seychelles Curieuse Island Conservation Expedition. In addition to our long running research projects which continue to produce valuable data on the health of the national park, we have added some exciting new studies which will not only expand our knowledge of the species on and around the island, we are now making significant progress in returning some of the habitats to a more natural state.

We would like to thank you for all your support, it's greatly appreciated!

Seychelles Curieuse Island