74 This nesting area benefits from a long-term survey by a local Non-Governmental Organization ‘Bwärä Tortues Marines’ (Fourniere et al. 2015; Barbier et al. 2023). An annual average of 253.3 ± 58.8, n = 17 nests have been reported since the initiation of the monitoring effort during the 2006-2007 season (Bardet 2023). The ‘Grand Lagon Sud’ nesting area (GLS) The GLS zone is a 314.500 ha marine protected provincial park at the southern end of the mainland’s lagoon (S22°00, E167°00), and is one of the six zones of New Caledonia to be listed as a UNESCO world heritage site since 2008 (Menu and Hebert 2006). This area is characterized by the presence of 35 coral reef islets, scattered over the park. All the data used in this study were collected from nine of these islets (Figure 18-D, Table 2 SI Appendix). This subset combines for 43% of the overall nesting activity reported annually in the GLS area (Bourgogne and Oremus 2020). The sandy beaches of the islets are composed of bright and coarse coral sand. The coastline vegetation is most of the time rich and abundant, providing additional shade on the beach tops. This area has benefited from an on-going monitoring program since 2016, which reports an annual estimate of 437 nests (95% Credible Interval = 328-582) (Bourgogne et al. 2024c). 3.2 Data acquisition All data acquisitions were conducted during seasonal surveys in the RP or the GLS nesting areas, over a seven nesting seasons-period extending from 2016-17 to 2022-23. To match the reproductive phenology of the C. caretta turtle in New Caledonia (Barbier et al. 2023; Bourgogne et al. 2024c), monitoring efforts occurred from early November to late March. 3.2.1 Satellite telemetry Satellite telemetry has been widely used to assess marine turtles’ fidelity to their breeding grounds (Stoneburner 1982; Witt et al. 2008; Tucker 2010; Casale and Ceriani 2019; Beal et al. 2022). Loggerhead females have been reported to nest several times during a single reproductive season: 2.91-3.97 nests.nesting season-1 in the South Pacific (Limpus 1985; Barbier et al. 2023). Here, we aimed to monitor intra-nesting period spatial dispersion to investigate the possibility that they could indifferently nest on both the RP and the GLS areas within the same season. Thirty individuals were fitted with Wildlife Computers SPOT-375 satellite tags (n = 17 on the RP site and n = 13 in the GLS area). All deployments occurred on nesting females encountered during beach monitoring patrols. They were held temporarily in a portable plywood corral to facilitate the transmitter attachment (Tucker 2010). A carapacial and painless fixation
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