“Turtle watching” conservation guidelines: green turtle (Chelonia mydas) tourism in nearshore coastal environments

We propose a conservational opportunity for humans to ‘use’ the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) in a non-consumptive manner. Although the concept of a social safe-minimum standard analysis, as applied to the sustainability of tourism-dependent turtle watching, has focused on beach-nesting habitats, other tourist activities like diving and snorkelling also occur in shallow coastal habitats frequented by juvenile and adult turtles. When integrated over time, at a specific location, such tourism activities may compromise turtle physiology in a manner that limits conservation goals for the species and hence the tourism. We identify research insights that can be used to achieve a creatively managed tourism—one that allows tourists to observe turtles in their natural coastal habitat in a manner that is commensurate with functional turtle conservation. We propose management options loosely based on whale-watching: i.e. voluntary and/or mandatory regulations based on home-range studies that identify localized temporal and spatial patterns of habitat use exhibited by turtles. We recommend temporally- and spatially-dynamic stratified-random-design tours that exclude critical local (small-scale) habitat and include less-critical habitat on a randomized rotational basis. Practical guidelines for tour operators that are founded on turtle habitat-occupancy patterns may ensure expanded life-history conservation measures and sustainable turtle-watching tourism.