Résumé
In the early nineteen's, marine turtles populations decreased to a critical level. This situation was followed by a fully protection policy of the species living in the French West Indies (FWI) in 1991 (Guadeloupe archipelago) and 1993 (Martinique). Recent studies throughout the Caribbean showed an increase in turtle populations. However, they did not reach a sustainable status yet. The green turtle, Chelonia mydas, and the hawksbill turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata, are the main species living in the FWI waters. They are respectively classified as critically endangered and endangered. The aim of the study is to correlate benthic community structure with marine turtle abundance or presence. Two life history stages can be observed: the feeding turtles and the nesting ones. The turtles present in the FWI most part of the time are juveniles or feeding turtles which migrate once every two to three years to nest. The present study, focusing mainly on the resident species, has two objectives: 1) define experimental sites to follow the evolution of the local populations versus time and 2) define experimental fishing sites to analyze small scale fisheries by-catch. Benthic communities (sea grass beds and coral reef) and their boundaries were visually analyzed using aerial photographs and validated with ground truthing campaigns. The data were transferred to GIS. The abundance of marine turtles was assessed by the Martinique Marine Turtle Network using the Ina-Scuba protocol. The protocol relies on visual observation of turtles by local dive centers throughout the year. Three parameters are recorded: species, time and location. Maps of benthic communities and turtle distribution were drawn from the results and compared to determine the major turtle feeding areas