Flatback turtle tagging and hatching success studies at Cape Domett

PART 1. BIOLOGY Cape Domett, located in tropical Western Australia, has been known as a flatback turtle, Natator depressus, nesting site but its magnitude was previously underestimated. We assessed temporal abundance within a year (by visiting the beach every seven weeks between April 2006 and March 2007) to find turtles nested throughout the year with peak nesting occurring between August and September. Annual nesting abundance was estimated in the order of several thousand individuals (2582 3250) equating to one of the largest populations of flatback turtles globally. As Cape Domett is currently unassigned to a genetic management unit, we used size and scale morphology to group the Cape Domett population within the Northern Territory genetic management unit. Threats to eggs, hatchlings and adults were examined using observations of predation and measures of incubation success. We re-evaluated the importance of this major flatback turtle nesting site and give a detailed examination of flatback turtle nesting biology in north-western Australia. PART 2. MONITORING METHODOLOGY We used mathematical modelling of the available data and biology of the species to developed costeffective monitoring protocols for future monitoring of flatback turtles at Cape Domett.