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Meta-analysis of movements in Atlantic leatherback turtles during nesting season : conservation implications

Despite decades of conservation efforts on the nesting beaches, the critical status of leatherback turtles shows that their survival predominantly depends on our ability to reduce at-sea mortality. Although areas where leatherbacks meet fisheries have been identified during the long distance movements between two consecutive nesting seasons, hotspots of lethal interactions are still poorly defined within the nesting season, when individuals concentrate close to land. Here we report movements of satellite-tracked gravid leatherback turtles during the nesting season in Western Central Africa, South America and Caribbean Sea, accounting for about 70% of the world population. We show that during, and at the end of, the nesting season leatherback turtles have the propensity to remain over the continental shelf, yet sometimes perform extended movements and may even nest in neighbouring countries. Leatherbacks exploit coastal commercial fishing grounds and face substantial accidental capture by regional coastal fisheries (e.g. at least 10% in French Guiana). This emphasises the need for regional conservation strategies to be developed at the ocean scale, both at sea and on land, to ensure the survival of the last leatherback turtles.