A task force to promote activities to monitor, analyse and protect sea turtles in the Maldivian Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. This is the aim of an agreement signed by the University of Milan-Bicocca and by ABA - Animal Welfare Association, which will combine the veterinary expertise of the ABA association with the marine ecology expertise of the MaRHE Center, the Milan university’s outstanding research centre located in the Maldives, which is equipped with large equipment and state-of-the-art laboratories.
The task force will be led by Paolo Galli, Professor of Ecology at the university’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and director of the MaRHE Centre, and veterinarian Giordano Nardini, President of the ABA Association and one of the world’s leading experts in caring for sea turtles.
The collaboration between Milan-Bicocca and ABA has just begun. Initially, it will focus on a search for molecular markers of stress in sea turtles: by analysing a small blood sample of turtles recovered from the beach or the ocean, the team of researchers and veterinarians will be able to assess the health status of the specimens. In each case, analysis will be carried out using state-of-the-art tools that display biochemical and haematological parameters for individual samples.
The collected data will enable researchers to gain insights into the health conditions of specimens living in previously little-studied free-ranging populations. The presence of infectious diseases or trauma caused, for example, by impact with boats, captive confinement or fishing activities will also be assessed. All the information collected will feed into a database, which will be expanded each time to form a sort of census of aquatic reptiles.
At a later stage, studies will focus on breeding time, with monitoring operations at nesting sites. The task force will involve not only researchers from the MaRHE Centre, but also students from the Master’s degree course in Marine Sciences at the University of Milan-Bicocca. The Milanese university’s marine ecology expertise will be crucial in studying behaviour, breeding sites, and the reduction of mortality caused by professional fishing.
Another goal of the agreement is to set out responsible behaviour guidelines for the local community and tourists, who not only come into contact with turtles in the Indian Ocean, but also with animals such as sharks, whales and dolphins. These guidelines cover both respect for the environment (e.g. not leaving plastic waste in the sea, which turtles can easily mistake for food) and respect for the habitat and habits of local fauna (e.g. not disturbing nesting sites or hatching cycles).
“I am very proud of this new collaboration aimed at the protection, monitoring and care of sea turtles in the Maldivian Archipelago,” comments Paolo Galli. The research and preservation work will begin in the Faafu Atoll and then move, partly thanks to the close network of collaborations we have with the Resorts, to all the Maldivian Atolls. We also plan to involve university students enrolled in Marine Science, Environmental Science, and Biology in these activities.”
“The agreement signed between the Animal Welfare Association and Bicocca University with the MaRHE Centre,” remarks Giordano Nardini, “is an important milestone in the field of turtle conservation worldwide: very little scientific information and data are available for the Indian Ocean and particularly in the Maldivian Archipelago. We expect to obtain the first epidemiological data on the health condition of the turtles within a year and to be able to proceed, if necessary, to treat and operate on the first turtles. Given the structure of the Maldives, which consists of around 1,200 small islands that are difficult to reach, we will seek to provide a veterinary telemedicine service.”