A Caribbean juvenile hawksbill aggregation: lessons learned from a 6-year study in the Dominican Republic

Abstract

Despite the ongoing exploitation and poor conservation status of hawksbills in the Caribbean, few long-term studies have focused on their foraging grounds. In 1996, a multi-year tagging and monitoring project was initiated in the Dominican Republic through the collaboration of researchers from the Mona Island Hawksbill Research Project and the Dominican NGO Grupo Jaragua. Surveys were conducted at Jaragua National Park and Cabo Rojo, where several foraging habitats were identified. Although the six-year duration does not qualify as a long-term study for sea turtles, the project remains one of the few multi-year efforts in the region focused on hawksbill foraging areas. The high density of hawksbills in the study area allowed researchers to monitor a relatively large number of individuals. The use of consistent methodologies over time and comparability with other regional studies enabled the team to draw meaningful conclusions about hawksbill ecology. Previous findings from the project have been published, and this report presents updated information on turtle residency, growth, population trends, and key lessons learned.