Nesting biology and conservation of the olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidocheyls olivacea) in Brazil, 1991/1992 to 2002/2003

This article presents biological data and an assessment of the conservation of the olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) population nesting in the States of Sergipe and Bahia, north-eastern Brazil, between 1991/1992 and 2002/2003. Projeto TAMAR-IBAMA (the Brazilian Sea Turtle Conservation Programme) maintains seven field stations in that region to monitor nesting activity over 339 km of beach. An increasing trend was observed in the estimated number of nests per nesting season: from 252 nests in 1991/1992 to 2606 in 2002/2003, an approximately 10-fold increase in 11 years. The available data and biological knowledge suggest that TAMAR's conservation efforts may have contributed to the significant increase in olive ridley nesting in Sergipe and Bahia; that increase is not only of regional importance, but also of significance at the western Atlantic level.