73 nesting turtle population. Both beaches, only separated by a high rocky spit, will hereafter be referred to as RP area. It is included in a marine protected area registered under the natural reserve status (decree 33-1993/APS, 1993, and 293-99/PS, 1999), that is part of a larger zone of ecological importance, the ‘Zone Côtière Ouest’, listed as a UNESCO world heritage site since 2008 (Menu and Hebert 2006). Figure 18. Geographical location of the study area. A: New Caledonia, South West Pacific. B: Bourail and the ‘Grand Lagon Sud’, Southern Province of New Caledonia. C: The 'Roche Percée' beach, commune of Bourail, west coast of the mainland. D: Prospected coral reef islands in the ‘Grand Lagon Sud’ provincial park, off the southern end of the mainland. Land is shown in light grey and shallow reefs are shown in blue (shapefile source: Millenium Coral Reef Mapping Project (Andréfouët et al. 2009)). Purple dots represent the nesting beaches where the loggerhead turtle encounters occurred.
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