Last month ICS staff and volunteers and partners attended practical field training in seabird GPS tagging and data collection. Designed to enhance conservation outcomes for Seychelles’ important bird species, the data is already yielding results.
Conducting this training in the field at the height of Brown Noddy and Sooty Tern breeding season gave participants the opportunity to track movements and feeding behaviours of live birds. One interesting observation was that the Brown Noddys in this study conducted shorter, more frequent sorties to find food while incubating. This contrasted with a general pattern of longer but more occasional foraging trips of Sooty Terns. The eager participants retained their enthusiasm from start to finish and realised practical skills in tagging, tracking, downloading and interpreting foraging behaviour data - which is vital to the ongoing conservation of these iconic seabird species and central to the Outer Island Project objectives.
This training was designed to minimise handling and disturbance to the birds. Participants were able to complete the entire procedure in under five minutes, and to observe the birds returning very quickly to their normal incubating behaviour. Whilst Aride Island was chosen to conduct the course due to its accessibility, the skills learned will now be shared and soon in use on the other outer islands, namely Desroches, Poivre, Alphonse and Farquhar groups, all of which are home to large and globally important seabird colonies.
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![]() Voices rang loud and clear through the streets of Victoria on Saturday 12th August 2017 as the fifth annual Seychelles Sea Turtle Festival took to the streets for a vibrant March with a Message. Island Conservation Society (ICS) stepped out with other environmental NGOs, Seychelles Ministry of Environment, and hundreds of schoolchildren, teachers and members of the public to raise awareness of sea turtles and the many threats they face. Despite laws in place since 1994 to protect them, turtle populations in Seychelles still suffer from illegal poaching for food or jewellery, unsustainable fishing practices, Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs), nesting habitat loss, and plastic and other marine pollution. Standardized protocols are in place for turtle conservation monitoring and management on the islands of Alphonse, Desroches, Poivre and Farquhar as prescribed under the GoS-UNDP-GEF Outer Islands Project implemented largely by ICS. Primary and secondary school students are more aware than ever of these dangers and others affecting our shared future. Through incredibly creative use of costume, dance, song, plays and slogans they demonstrated how we all need to behave to ensure turtles may continue to be one of the wildlife wonders that make Seychelles so unique, for generations to come. Our young changemakers are congratulated for campaigning so enthusiastically and eloquently for the “voiceless turtles”. A big Thank You to our partners at GoS-UNDP-GEF Programme Coordination Unit (PCU) for donating prizes for the schools competition, and thank you again to all who participated or came along on behalf of Sea Turtles. On first inspection Aride looks like any of the other inner Islands of Seychelles. As the northernmost of the central islands, it is actually smaller than most-it only covers 72 hectares and reaches a maximum height of 134 meters. If you didn’t know your destination you would probably describe the island as ordinary. Day-break on the Aride beachThe boat trip to the island offers hints as to what awaits. You might encounter a school of bonito feeding on baitfish, with seabirds flocking around to pick up a morsel. Once you get close enough you catch a glimpse of what makes Aride special: the image of thousands of shapes radiating around the island and its surrounding waters. A little bit closer and you can make them out as seabirds, but at a scale which you’ve never imagined. The official numbers are staggering: almost a million seabirds make Aride their home during breeding season! Thousands of them are in the air at any given time, either engaging in a courtship ritual, collecting nesting material, getting a drink of seawater, or heading out to feed. Soon you can hear their squawking as well, which might appear to be for no other reason than to keep up the constant din of noise around the island. As you set foot on land the assault on your senses is completed with an overwhelming smell of earthy manure to welcome you at your new home. Luckily these intrusions are soon normalized into your daily routine and even offer a sense of comfort after a spell off the island. The staff on Aride are vastly experienced and possess knowledge of the most intricate details regarding the island’s species. This makes your transition to island life a seamless experience as you are soon introduced to the numerous conservation projects on the island. Your day may start off with a turtle patrol, requiring you to walk the length of the beach in the morning looking for turtle tracks (not the worst way to start a working day), or you can be responsible for feeding the critically endangered Seychelles Magpie Robin, which is part of a re-introductive breeding program. Among the many other activities volunteers participate in is the monitoring of the various seabirds and invertebrates on the island, while you are also required to help in the annual seabird census or a census of Wright’s Gardenia, another critically endangered plant species endemic to the island. Although hard work, these activities provide you with practical experience in the field of conservation and gives you the satisfaction of a job well done when returning from a long day in the forest. A highlight of my time thus far on Aride has been a training course involving GPS tagging of seabirds under the GOS-UNDP-GEF Outer Islands Project. Presented by WildWings Bird Managements’ Chris Freare and Christine Larose, we were instructed on their tried and tested method for tagging birds with GPS loggers. After first having a go at fitting fake tags on dummy birds, we were given the opportunity to try our hand at the real thing. We quickly realized that working with live animals are considerably more challenging (and painful if they get hold of a finger), but nevertheless we persevered and by the end of the week we all managed to fit tags under the accepted maximum handling time of 10 minutes. We were also interested to see the result of our labors when a tagged Brown Noddy was recaptured and the GPS data of its movements downloaded to reveal the feeding areas used by the bird. Through this information, we were told, it becomes possible to protect endangered bird species by creating Marine Protected Areas (MPA’s) around their prominent feeding zones. ![]() You may find that some birds are just as eager to have a look at you. Pictured are Fairy Terns coming down for a closer inspection.
Personally my time on Aride has achieved its goals in affirming my future career aspirations. I came to Aride unsure about which path I would take with my Biological Sciences degree, but the rewarding work I have experienced on Aride has ensured it will remain in environmental conservation. *Willem Malherbe is a MSc graduate in Fisheries Sciences from South Africa. In recognition of the World Endangered Species Day 2017, the Silhouette Community participated on 10th May in a lively presentation forum with ICS and Dr Rachel Bristol on one of the island’s unique and Critically Endangered species, the Seychelles Sheath-tailed Bat. With a population of less than 100 bats, found only on Silhouette and Mahe in Seychelles, the Seychelles Sheath-tailed Bat, Sousouri Bannann in Creole, is also an Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (or EDGE) species, unique and different from all other bats and well deserving of research and conservation efforts. As an insectivorous bat, Sousouri Bannann help to keep nocturnal beetle, moth, midge and mosquito populations in check without the use of harmful pesticides. During the forum, ICS and Dr. Rachel Bristol showed a presentation and short movie to everyone about the Sousouri Bannann. Then, community members shared their memories of the bats, which were once far more numerous in Seychelles and previously also found on Praslin and La Digue. Threats and possible solutions to their decline were discussed and the community expressed their enthusiasm for being involved as citizen scientists in conservation efforts going forward. We in Seychelles recognise our role as global guardians of some amazing, endemic species. ICS in collaboration with UNDP, GEF Small Grants Programme, Government of Seychelles and the Silhouette Foundation is dedicated to conservation actions to protect these species and their habitats. Current conservation efforts for Sousouri Bannann focus on locating and protecting roosts and foraging grounds, monitoring and community awareness raising, and further study to better understand best practice in caring for this species.
ICS would like to thank the Islands Development Company and the Silhouette Community for participating to this event and helping to organize it! The success of this event shows how important it is to involve members from the community in conservation efforts. We encourage everyone interested to learn more about Sousouri Bannann and Silhouette to visit our Conservation Centre and enjoy the beauty of the island. Francois Baguette En Avril 2017, Marilou Bio et la « Island Conservation Society (ICS), Fondation pour la protection des iles en français, ont entamé un partenariat de 2 ans afin d’améliorer la protection des tortues marines aux Seychelles.
Cette belle histoire commença par la visite de Mr Benjamin Aïach, le président de Marilou Bio, au Centre pour la Conservation de ICS situé sur l’ile Silhouette aux Seychelles. Apres avoir discuté longuement avec les rangers travaillant sur l’ile, Mr Aïach a été impressionné par le travail qu’ICS accomplissait pour assurer le suivi et la protection des tortues marines vivant dans le parc marin entourant l’ile de Silhouette. Désireux de se joindre à l’aventure, Mr Aïach proposa donc d’aider ICS via un partenariat avec sa marque, Marilou Bio, qui fut finalisé quelques mois plus tard. Marilou Bio est une nouvelle marque de cosmétique bio créée par la société AB Cosmetic. Son but est de démocratiser les produits bios, souvent perçus comme trop chers ou réservés à une élite, et de les rendre accessibles à tous. Tous leurs produits ont été certifiés par le label ECOCERT et Marilou Bio adhère à la charte COSMEBIO. Cela se traduit par des produits dont la majorité des ingrédients végétaux de la formule sont issus de l’agriculture biologique et avec des emballages biodégradables ou recyclables. La donation offerte par Marilou Bio aidera à préserver les tortues marines et l’environnement marin entourant l’ile Silhouette en permettant aux rangers de les protéger plus efficacement et de suivre leurs mouvements via l’utilisation de tags spéciaux en titane. La Fondation pour la protection des Iles est ravie par ce nouveau partenariat et espère que cette collaboration entre une ONG et le secteur privé servira comme exemple pour le futur et permettra de sensibiliser le public à l’importance de la préservation de la nature dans le monde entier. Francois Baguette In April 2017, Marilou Bio and the Island Conservation Society (ICS) embarked upon a 2 years partnership to improve the sea turtle protection in Seychelles.
The story began with the visit of Mr Benjamin Aïach, General Manager of Marilou Bio to the ICS Conservation Centre on Silhouette Island. While discussing with rangers their conservation work on the island, Mr Aïach was particularly impressed by the dedication of ICS staff in monitoring and protecting sea turtles living in the Marine Park around Silhouette Island. Keen to join this adventure, Mr Aïach proposed to help ICS by initiating a partnership with his new brand, Marilou Bio. This was finalized a few months later. Marilou Bio is a new brand of bio-cosmetics created by the company AB Cosmetic. Its goal is to promote bio-cosmetics and make them accessible to everyone. Their products are certified with the label “Ecocert” which means that the vast majority of vegetable ingredients come from biological agriculture and the packaging is biodegradable or recyclable. The contribution offered by Marilou Bio will help preserving sea turtles by allowing the conservation rangers to protect them more efficiently and follow their movements using special titanium tags. The Island Conservation Society is delighted with this new partnership and hopes that collaboration between an NGO and the private sector will serve as a model on how to fund increased awareness about the critical importance of preserving nature all over the world. by Teesha Baboorun - ICS CEPF Project Leader ([email protected]) The first days of March 2017 were very fruitful and very exciting ones for the Silhouette ICS team. Accompanied by Dr. Bruno Senterre, Francois and Teesha conducted the first biodiversity survey mission under the CEPF grant in the unique forest of Silhouette. On the first day Dr Bruno Senterre, a well-known botanist, helped the ICS Silhouette team to plan the expedition and brief the team on the work to be done: to improve the distribution data of Key Biodiversity species on Silhouette Island. We set off the second day early morning to the trail of Anse Mondon. For the second part of the exploration, we followed the Rivière Machabée to reach Mare Aux Cochons, the only high altitude wetland on Silhouette. On our way we got the chance to identify various rare species like Polyscias sechellarum var. sechellarum (Bois papaye) or Nepenthes pervillei (Pitcher plant) and took samples for the Silhouette Herbarium. We spent the night in a swamp forest on the slopes of the highest peak of the island: Mont Dauban. During the night, we heard the calls of different species of Sooglossid frogs all around our camp site, namely the Sooglossus pipilodryas (found on Silhouette only); the Sooglossus gardineri, Sooglossus sechellensis and Nesomantis thomasseti which can be found on Silhouette and Mahé. The Sooglossidae are tiny frogs: the smallest species (Sooglossus gardeneri) believed to be the tiniest frog in the world, measures just about 9-12 mm long. The next day was the most fruitful, leading to the first sighting of Asplenium petiolulatum on Silhouette Island! This species of fern is very rare in Seychelles and is now known from 4 individuals only. We also got the chance to see different key species as the Trilepisium gymnandrum (Critically Endangered; known from less than 50 individuals) and Colea seychellarum (Endangered). Our next Biodiversity survey will take place in July 2017 and focus on the Mont Pot-à-Eau and Grand Congoman pristine forest. The fight to save the fragile Seychelles Magpie-robin (SMR) population on Aride has received a huge boost with the donation of £7,500 from the Noble Caledonia Trust. Funds will be used to implement an action plan that has been developed by SMR Office Licia Calabrese and approved by the ICS Science Committee.
The main objective of the plan is to identify the factors most likely to have contributed to the decline of the SMR population on Aride, and undertake both immediate and longer term actions to address these and reverse this trend. Despite Aride being identified as a suitable island for the translocation of SMR, the population is prone to higher mortality rates compared to the source population and to other islands where transfers occurred and where populations are now thriving. There could be numerous causes of population decline and the aim of this project is to identify them and their impact on the Aride SMR population. In particular during the period 2013-2016 when the population went from 32 individuals in 5 territories to 9 individuals in 3 territories. Management measures to prevent any further loss and to increase the number of birds will also be investigated and put into place in order to bring the Aride SMR population back from the brink of extinction. More details of the SMR story, published on Noble Caledonia's own website, can be found here: Saving the Seychelles Magpie-robin on Aride Island ICS Ranger Chris Narty has reported a European Turtle Dove at Alphonse. Seychelles Bird Records Committee has accepted 11 previous records of this species, including 3 from ICS staff at Aride, 1 from ICS Desroches and one from ICS Alphonse.
Above: Eurasian Hobby; below Northern Wheatear
All photos by Pep Nogués. The first vagrants to Seychelles to be reported in 2017 come from Pep Nogués & Ari Fernandez at Alphonse. These are a Eurasian Hobby Falco subbuteo on New Year's Day and a Northern Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe on 4th January. Seychelles Bird Records Committee has accepted 29 previous records of Eurasian Hobby and 74 records of Northern Wheatear. |
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