Western Australian Loggerheads - Gnaraloo Bay and Gnaraloo Cape Farquhar  2015-2018 (aggregated per 1-degree cell)

Keywords: Occurrence, Observation
Temporal coverage: 2016/2018

Original provider:
Gnaraloo Wilderness Foundation

Dataset credits:
Data provider
Aubrey Strydom
Originating data center
<a href="http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/">Satellite Tracking and Analysis Tool (STAT)</a>
Project partner
Gnaraloo Station Trust via the Gnaraloo Turtle Conservation Program 2008/18 and the Gnaraloo Feral Animal Control Program (GFACP)2008/15: Monitoring of the Gnaraloo sea turtle rookeries and feral animal control to protect the turtle rookeries: www.gnaraloo.com/conservation    www.gnaraloo.org   and Gnaraloo Turtle Conservation Program on Facebook.Animal Pest Management Services, feral animal control at Gnaraloo for the GFACP 2008/15 to protect the turtle rookeries: www.animalpest.com.auThe Australian Government provided part of the cost of the Gnaraloo satellite turtle tracking project 2015/16 for the 10 trackers deployed that season through a Caring for Our Country grant: https://fieldcapture.ala.org.au/project/index/bcb6f263-8527-4093-ae59-7d80f6b79990#detailsBrains Design: Creators of the Turtle Tracking App for smartphones: www.brainsdesign.com Aub Strydom provided the two trackers deployed in the 2017-18 season.Western Australian Department of Parks and Wildlife:  Permits, advice, training, turtle tags, the turtle restraining box.


Abstract:
Gnaraloo Loggerhead Turtle Satellite TaggingGnaraloo Station is a working pastoral station and wilderness tourism business located in a remote part of mainland Western Australia approximately 1,100 km north of Perth. The station abuts 65 km of pristine coastline at the southern end of the Ningaloo Reef and Ningaloo Marine Park.The beaches at Gnaraloo Station provide nesting habitat for predominantly loggerhead (Caretta caretta), some green (Chelonia mydas) and possibly hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) turtles generally from November to March each year.  The Gnaraloo Turtle Conservation Program (GTCP) (www.gnaraloo.com/conservation www.gnaraloo.org   Facebook) has conducted scientific monitoring of turtle activity at rookeries on the Gnaraloo coastline since 2008.The nesting range of loggerhead turtles in Western Australia extends from Dirk Hartog Island in the south to the Muiron Islands in the north, with important rookeries in-between including Gnaraloo Bay, Gnaraloo Cape Farquhar, Janes Bay and Bungelup in the Ningaloo Marine Park.  With loggerhead turtles also being satellite tagged at Dirk Hartog Island and South Muiron Island during the season 2015/16 (1 July 2015 – 30 June 2016), the satellite tagging at Gnaraloo by the GTCP forms part of a broader co-ordinated program to understand inter-nesting movements, post-nesting migrations, and identify foraging grounds and potential threats across the turtles' entire nesting range in Western Australia.   

Supplemental information:
<a href="http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/index.shtml?project_id=1149">Visit STAT's project page</a> for additional information.

This dataset is a summarized representation of the telemetry locations aggregated per species per 1-degree cell.