Protection of marine birds and turtles at St Brandon’s Rock, Indian Ocean, requires conservation of the entire atoll

Abstract

A survey of seabirds and turtles at St Brandon's Rock, 400 km north of Mauritius, was undertaken in 2010. We estimated that 1.1 million seabirds of seven breeding species were present at the archipelago, and counted 279 turtle tracks and nesting pits of green turtles. Hawksbill turtles were also present. The number of species of seabird and overall number of seabirds breeding at the atoll have decreased. An analyses of 30 different islets that make up the atoll shows that the seabird species mostly partition their use of islets based upon islet size, with four species preferring larger islets and two species preferring smaller islets. Alien species introduced historically are still present, and other threats such as shipwrecks remain. We propose conservation and other measures that should adequately protect the birds, turtles and coral reef by treating the atoll as a system.

Impacts of a shallow shipwreck on a coral reef: A case study from St. Brandon's Atoll, Mauritius, Indian Ocean

“…St. Brandon's Atoll, forming part of the Cargados Carajos Shoals in the Mascarene Basin, is a 200 km 2 coral reef island approximately 450 km north-east of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean (Evans et al, 2016;Quod, 1999; Figure 1). SBR is located upstream of where the South Equatorial Current splits at the coast of Madagascar.…”

“…Shipwrecks provide structure for the formation of new coral reefs and shelter for fish and other sea-life, increasing the species richness and diversity of an area (Perkol-Finkel et al, 2006;Consoli et al, 2015). However, shipwrecks on coral reefs present a threat to reefs as they often cause physical damage to the reef and pollute the broader environment (Evans et al, 2016;Kelly et al, 2012;Yusuf, 2014). Physical damage is caused when strong wave action, storms, and strong currents break up the structure of ships, often pushing them across the reef crest into deeper waters, leaving scars on the lagoon floor.…”

Identification of Black Reef Shipwreck Sites Using AI and Satellite Multispectral Imagery

“…There are no permanent residents on the reef, with only occasional visitors making landfall. The major driver of pollution, therefore, comes from marine debris [27], [68,69].…”