Abstract
Marine turtles, such as green (Chelonia mydas) and hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), face numerous threats across their habitats. While they nest in the Red Sea, limited knowledge exists about their inter-nesting habitats and post-breeding movements. The NEOM Islands support ~ 95% of all documented nesting in the northeastern Red Sea, are crucial for turtle conservation. This study tracked 17 turtles (11 hawksbills, six greens) using platform terminal transmitters during two nesting seasons on Shusha and Walah Islands. We identified inter-nesting areas, migratory pathways, and foraging grounds, with displacements to foraging areas ranging from 34.8 to 501.7 km. Six feeding grounds were identified, four within Saudi Arabia and two in Egyptian waters. Hawksbills used broader inter-nesting habitats, particularly reef systems, emphasizing the need for conservation strategies targeting both nesting beaches and adjacent reefs. Our findings highlight the shared migratory routes of NEOM turtles with other Red Sea rookeries and support the importance of NEOM’s feeding and migration habitats for long-term conservation. The establishment of NEOM as a nature reserve will further enhance protection efforts for these species.
Data availability
The data supporting this study’s findings are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request and with permission from NEOM.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the staff from Lotek Wireless Inc. for their support during this study. Authors would also like to thank Dr Natalie Wildermann (Marine Science Program at KAUST) for her advise during in the data analysis. Finally, we also want to express our gratitude to the staff of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) for their support to obtain our research authorizations.
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HBG: Validation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Supervision, Writing – Original Draft, Visualisation.AAW: Methodology, Investigation, Data curation, Review.MA: Conceptualisation, Investigation, Data curation, Writing – Review & Editing.AAB: Methodology, Investigation, Data curation, Review.EG: Conceptualisation, Methodology, Investigation, Data curation, Review.AK: Conceptualisation, Writing – Review & Editing, Project administration.BL: Conceptualisation, Writing – Review & Editing, Project administration.PM: Conceptualisation, Writing – Review & Editing, Project administration.AP: Investigation, Data curation, Review, Visualisation.AS: Methodology, Investigation, Data curation, Review.DP: Conceptualisation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – Review & Editing, Project administration.WC: Conceptualisation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – Review & Editing, Project administration.ROR: Original Research Concept and Design, Resources, Writing – Review & Editing, Supervision, Project management.
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The authors declare that they have a competing interest due to the work performed by KAUST Beacon Department personnel (as consultant service provider) with NEOM; however, this relationship did not influence the study design, data collection, analysis, or interpretation of the results.
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Barrios-Garrido, H., Alatawi, A., Alghrair, M. et al. Post-breeding dispersal of nesting marine turtles from the NEOM Islands, Saudi Arabia.
Sci Rep (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-31237-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-31237-1
Keywords
- Migratory pathways
- Critical habitats
- Habitat use
- Marine protected areas
- Red Sea
Source: Ecology - nature.com
