The influence of factors that negatively affect nesting activity of sea turtles on Sint Maarten
Abstract
Seven species of turtles are present in a wide range of areas across the earth. The species that use
the beaches of Sint Maarten as nesting grounds are the Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas),
Leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) and Hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata).
Even with their protected status, populations are declining rapidly. This has a negative impact since
sea turtles have significant ecological, economic and social values. To prevent populations from
declining further, research is needed to create proper conservation strategies. This research focuses
on different factors that could hinder nesting activity and how they influence sea turtles on Sint
Maarten. These potential factors were researched in the literature and were determined to be
artificial lighting, dune scarps, coastal development, slope, distance from high tide line to beach line,
sargassum and human disturbances. Using a Spearman correlation test in SPSS, the correlation
between the presence of these factors and the total nesting activity that takes place was tested. The
test showed a moderate negative relation which was statistically significant
(rs = -.681, p = .044). This means that the number of factors that are present at each beach influence
the total nesting activity to some extent, but no strong correlation is present. These results indicate
that if more factors which could hinder the sea turtle nesting activity are present, less sea turtle
nesting activities take place on that beach on St. Maarten.
