First satellite tracking of sea turtles in Albania

Data provider
Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles MEDASSET
Originating data center
Satellite Tracking and Analysis Tool (STAT)
Project partner
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.
Project sponsor or sponsor description
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 2008-10â€, 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.

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 “stavnikesâ€. One turtle (Shpresa) was assumed to be an early-adult female; the other two (Guximtari and Patoku) were immature males (sexually-developing).

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.

Further reading:
Project report: http://www.medasset.org/project-reports/monitoring-and-conservation-of-important-sea-turtle-feeding-grounds-in-the-patok-area-of-albania-2008-2010-final-project-report/

This project has been presented at the 4th Mediterranean Conference of Marine Turtles. Citation:
D.Oakley, M.White, E.Kararaj, D.Përkeq, E.Saçdanaku, L.Petri, M.Mitro, L.Boura, K.Grimanis, L.Venizelos. Satellite-telemetry reveals different behavioural patterns for three loggerhead turtles Caretta caretta tagged at a foraging ground in Albania. In Bentivegna F., Maffucci F., Mauriello V. (compilers). Proceedings of 4th Mediterranean Conference of Marine Turtles Naples â€" Italy (2011)

Abstract available at: http://www.medasset.org/scientific-papers-thesis-and-dissertation/satellite-telemetry-reveals-different-behavioural-patterns-for-three-loggerhead-turtles-caretta-caretta-tagged-at-a-foraging-ground-in-albania/

N/A

Visit STAT's project page for additional information.

Overview

This section explains attributes included in the original dataset. OBIS-SEAMAP restricts the attributes available to the public to date/time, lat/lon and species names/counts only. Should you need other attributes described here, you are encouraged to contact the data provider.

Attributes described below represent those in the original dataset provided by the provider.
Only minimum required attributes are visible and downloadable online. Other attributes may be obtained upon provider's permission.

Attributes in dataset

Attribute (table column)	Description
prognum	Program number
tag_id	PTT ID
lc	Location class
iq	Quality indicator
dir1	Dir 1
nb_mes	Number of messages received
big_nb_mes	definition not provided
best_level	Best signal strength in dB
pass_duration	Pass duration in seconds
nopc	Number Of Plausibility Checks successful (from 0-4)
calcul_freq	Calculated frequency
altitude	Altitude used for location calculation
sensors	Sensors
species	Species name
project_id	STAT Project ID
lc_filter	Parameters to location filtering
speed_filter	Parameters to speed filtering
distance_filter	Parameters to distance filtering
topo_filter	Parameters to topo filtering
time_filter	Parameters to time filtering
angle_filter	Parameters to angle filtering
life_stage	Life stage of the animal
gender	Gender of the animal
wetdry	Wet or dry
wetdry_filter	Parameters to Wet or dry filterint
obs_datetime	Date and time (local time zone)
timezone_h	Time difference from UTC