Tracking foraging green turtles in the Republic of the Congo: insights into spatial ecology from a data poor region K RISTIAN M ETCALFE ,N ATHALIE B RÉHERET ,G AËLLE B AL ,E VA C HAUVET P HILIP D. D OHERTY ,A NGELA F ORMIA ,A LEXANDRE G IRARD J EAN -G ABRIEL M AVOUNGOU ,R ICHARD J. P ARNELL S TEPHEN K. P IKESLEY and B RENDAN J. G ODLEY Abstract Globally, marine turtles are considered threatened throughout their range, and therefore conservation practi- tioners are increasingly investing resources in marine pro- tected areas to protect key life history stages and critical habitats, including foraging grounds, nesting beaches and inter-nesting areas. Empirical data on the distribution of these habitats and/or the spatial ecology and behaviour of individuals of many marine turtle populations are often lacking, undermining conservation efforts, particularly along the Atlantic coast of Africa. Here we contribute to the knowledge base in this region by describing patterns of habitat use for nine green turtles Chelonia mydas tagged with satellite platform transmitter terminals at a foraging ground in Loango Bay, Republic of the Congo, one of only a few documented mainland foraging grounds for marine turtles in Central Africa. Analyses of these data revealed that core areas of habitat use and occupancy for a wide range of size/age classes were restricted to shallow waters adjacent to Pointe Indienne in Loango Bay, with most individuals showing periods of high fidelity to this area. These data are timely given the Congolese government recently announced its intention to create a marine conservation zone to protect marine turtles in Loango Bay. Despite the small sample size of this study, these data exemplify the need for comprehensive strategies that span national jurisdictions, as we provide the first documented evidence of linkages between green turtle foraging sites in Central Africa (Loango Bay, Republic of the Congo) and Southern Africa (Mussulo Bay, Angola). Keywords Angola, Chelonia mydas, Congo, foraging, green turtle, habitat use, life history, spatial ecology Supplementary material for this article is available at doi.org/./S Introduction M any large marine species, including sharks, marine turtles and cetaceans, are considered threatened throughout their range and require targeted management strategies to support their conservation (Lewison et al., ; Hoffmann et al., ). The advent of so-called biolog- ging, along with recent improvements in tag size, battery duration and location accuracy (Hays et al., ), means that we now know more about the complex life history characteristics and migratory life cycles of many marine ver- tebrates, information that can be used to inform conserva- tion strategies, particularly for marine turtles (Hazen et al., ). Large adult female marine turtles come ashore during short nesting periods, and juveniles and adults can be cap- tured in-water, after which it is relatively easy to attach satel- lite and/or GPS platform transmitter terminals (PTTs) to their carapace (Jeffers & Godley, ). Such application has revealed insights into the breeding, migratory, foraging and spatial ecology of hatchling, juvenile and adult marine turtles (Luschi et al., ; Mansfield et al., ). There remain, however, data gaps in some regions that host globally important populations of marine turtles, hin- dering conservation efforts (Hamann et al., ; Mazaris et al., ). This is most notable for juveniles globally (Wildermann et al., ) and for all life stages along the Atlantic coast of Africa (Formia et al., ), where the status of several species and populations is considered Data Defi- cient (IUCN, ). Although research has increased in this region, it has primarily focused on monitoring nesting pop- ulations, leading to the identification of globally important KRISTIAN METCALFE (Corresponding author), PHILIP D. DOHERTY, STEPHEN K. PIKESLEY* and BRENDAN J. GODLEY Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, UK. E-mail kristian.metcalfe@exeter.ac.uk NATHALIE BRÉHERET (Corresponding author) GAËLLE BAL,EVA CHAUVET† and JEAN-GABRIEL MAVOUNGOU, Association RENATURA Congo, Ecocentre, Rue Bois des Singes, B.P. 414, Pointe Noire, Republic of the Congo E-mail direction@renatura.org ANGELA FORMIA Wildlife Conservation Society, Gulf of Guinea Sea Turtle Program, Libreville, Gabon ALEXANDRE GIRARD RENATURA France, Paris, France RICHARD J. PARNELL Wildlife Conservation Society, Gabon Program, Libreville, Gabon *Also at: Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, UK †Current address: Fédération Régionale des Centres d’Information sur les Droits des Femmes et des Familles, Marseille, France Received  November . Revision requested  February . Accepted  March . First published online  February . Oryx, 2020, 54(3), 299–306 © 2020 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605319000309 https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605319000309 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 34.235.124.162, on 28 Mar 2022 at 15:11:48, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at