LAGUNA DE ROCHA, A CRITICAL HABITAT FOR SEA TURTLES IN URUGUAY.

Daniel González-Paredes1,2, Alejandro Fallabrino1 and Andrés Estrades1

1) Karumbé NGO. Av. Rivera 3245. 11600. Montevideo. Uruguay.
kar umbem a i l @gm a i l .c om
2) Hombre y Territorio Association. C/ Betania #13, 41007. Seville, Andalusia, Spain.
co nt act o@hom b re y t e r r i t or i o.org

Laguna de Rocha
LAGUNA.DE.ROCHA Protected Area Map

A . C R I T I C A L . . H A B I T A T. . F O R N

S E A . T U R T L E S 2 km

I N . . U R U G U A Y
INTRODUCTION
Five of the seven species of marine turtles are present in
Uruguay. The Uruguayan waters represent a key fora-
ging and development area in the temperate latitudes of
Southwestern Atlantic Ocean for at least three of these
species; leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), green
turtle (Chelonia mydas) and loggerhead (Caretta ca-
retta). Meanwhile, olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea)
and hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) are also present Laguna UY
but are listed as “rare” species in Uruguay (Carreira &
Maneyro 2015).
de
Rocha
STUDY AREA
The Uruguayan coast consists of a succession of sandy
beaches of variable extension separated by rocky out-
crops. These linked habitats conform a relevant biologi-
26/01/12
La Paloma
cal corridor for marine turtles, finding abundant food re-
sources. One of these spots is the coastal protected area 19/06/07
of Laguna de Rocha. Laguna de Rocha was included as
UY 23/06/10 Species
19/03/06 15/01/13
“Protected Landscape” to the SNAP (National System of 29/01/10 16/04/03 D. coriacea
Protected Areas of Uruguay) in 2010. It is located on the 07/11/04
11/06/07 C. caretta
Atlantic coast of the department of Rocha. The area oc- 22/04/05
cupies 22,000 hectares, which includes the 7,200 water 19/04/07 C. mydas
18/01/10
bodies, hillocks, plains, the coastal strip and part of the T IC L. olivacea
17/01/10
A N
oceanic platform. The aim of this report is to highlight the 08/06/01
T L AN E. imbricata
importance of Laguna de Rocha into this corridor for sea A E
turtles arriving the Uruguayan coast. O C

RESULTS LEATHERBACKS (n=6) LOGGERHEADS (n=3) GREEN TURTLES (n=3)

Karumbé NGO has been recording the presence of sea
turtles in Laguna de Rocha and adjacent waters during
the last decade. These records of sea turtles consist of:
CONCLUSION
We determined the main threat affecting sea turtles in
Laguna de Rocha is the incidental capture in different fis-
hing gears operating in the area, including sports fishing,
artisanal gill nets and coastal trawls. Moreover, it should
be mentioned there is a circumstantial illegal trade as a
consequence of these incidental mortalities, when some
carapaces are extracted from the dead turtles and then
selling or used as decorative items.
These records might indicate this area supports relative
densities of sea turtles. Therefore Laguna de Rocha
should be considered as a critical habitat for sea turtles
into the biological corridor of the Uruguayan coast. We
suggest more effort should be directed to the as-
sessment of the occurrence of marine turtle species in
the Laguna de Rocha. Monitoring and systematic sur-
veys along the area and throughout the year should be
maintained in order to improve our knowledge on the cu-
rrent distribution of these species in Uruguayan waters.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Authors are really greateful to all members and volun-
teers who are or once formed part of Karumbé for their
support and efforts to do this report.
This poster was made possible through the support of the
ISTS38 sponsors highlighted in the printed Program.
CCL mean: 131.3 ± 14.0 cm CCL mean: 74.0 ± 16.6 cm CCL mean: 35.2 ± 0.9 cm
CCL range: 118.0 - 146.0 cm (adults) CCL range: 64.2 - 95.6 cm (2 juveniles CCL range: 33.1 - 38.5 cm (juveniles)
Records: 1 Bycatch and 5 Strandings in and 1 adults) Records: 1 Bycatch and 2 strandings
January and June. Records: Strandings from April to June from November to January.
Observations: This species feeds on Observations: This species feeds mainly Observations: These juveniles showed a
large groups of gelatinous organisms in on crabs, snails and other marine inver- feeding preference on macroalgae and
the Uruguayan waters (Lopez-Mendila- tebrates in the Southwestern Atlantic gelatinous macrozooplankton in these
harsu et al. 2009). (Martínez-Souza et al. 2013). latitudes (Vélez-Rubio et al. 2016).
OLIVE RIDLEY (n=1) Hawksbill x Loggerhead (n=1)
CCL : 70.1 cm (adult) CCL : 56.5 cm (juvenile)
Records: Stranding in March 2006. Records: Stranding in June 2007 (A.
Observations: This species is conside- Estrades and S. Vilaça, pers. comm.)
red as “rare” in the Uruguayan coast, Observations: The hybridization bet-
with only 12 records (González-Paredes ween E. imbricata and C. caretta has
et al. 2017). been reported previously in the region
(Southern Brazil) (Proietti et al. 2014).
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