Welcome to the IOSEA Marine Turtle MoU Website!

The Vezo of Southwest Madagascar have hunted marine turtles for generations, yet few studies have assessed the impact of the exploitation of these remarkable animals in this region. This is almost certainly due to the secretive nature of this fishery and the wariness the Vezo display with people from outside their community.

ReefDoctor (RD), a UK NGO, has been working in the Bay of Ranobe, Southwest Madagascar for the last 12 years, and is committed to assessing all aspects of marine research, especially the multi-species fishery on which the Vezo are reliant for their survival. The close relationship RD has developed with the community over this time has given us a unique opportunity tackle cultural sensitive issues such as the exploitation of marine turtles.  More »

Marina Antonopoulou of EWS-WWF has kindly provided the following update on a satellite-tracking project on hawksbill turtles of the Gulf region. This well-designed study conducted over the past three years should yield more interesting insights into hawksbill turtle migration and behaviour as the data are analysed in the coming months.

The Marine Turtle Conservation Project, being carried out by Emirates Wildlife Society in association with WWF (EWS-WWF), was developed to collect data on feeding grounds of hawksbill turtles in the Gulf region, using satellite tracking technology to acquire data remotely from a large number of turtles deployed over a number of years. The project duration, with roughly equal proportions of nesting females tagged over three years, was put in place to eliminate the possibility of a ‘non-normal’ year and ensure the data was representative of the normal behavior patterns of hawksbill turtles in the Gulf. The sample size (a total of 75) was a compromise between costs, logistics and the need for sufficient scientific data to support hypotheses and management decisions in a rapidly growing economic region. More »

WWF has been conducting important work on climate change impacts on marine turtles and their habitats, and has recently updated its comprehensive website on this subject. Although WWF's efforts in this area have so far focused on the Wider Caribbean region, the available resources and approaches will be of interest to practitioners in the IOSEA region as well.

The note on the following page, prepared by Dr Marianne Fish, provides a good introduction to the topic. Readers are also encouraged to consult this web link for more information: http://www.panda.org/lac/marineturtles/act. Additionally, a link is made at the end of the note to a recent WWF "webinar" that includes an informative PowerPoint presentation. More »

A dedicated page on the IOSEA website contains all current information about the ongoing development of the Network of Sites of Importance for Marine Turtles in the IOSEA region.

The 'Guidance Paper' prepared for the IOSEA Site Network notes that: "A complementary, parallel process is envisaged whereby a master list of priority candidate sites will be drawn up to help guide Signatory States in their site nomination considerations".

This parallel process includes a number of steps which are currently in progress: a) to develop an initial indicative list of sites that experts think may fulfill the agreed evaluation criteria; b) to gather enough information about those sites to be able to test them against the criteria; and c) based on the results of running the candidate sites through the criteria, to publish an initial list of priority sites for consideration by Signatory States. This exercise does not detract from, and is not a substitute for, the formal nomination of by sites by IOSEA Focal Points. Indeed, a number of Focal Points have contacted the Secretariat to indicate that they are actively considering the nomination of sites.

In recent months the Secretariat has solicited suggestions of potential candidate sites from members of the IOSEA Advisory Committee and other experts. This exercise has generated a list of about 80 potential candidate sites or areas in some 34 countries around the IOSEA region. The preliminary list is now being circulated more widely within the IOSEA constituency with a view to refining and rounding out the list of suggested candidate sites. More »

In October 2011, the French Ministry of Ecology published a remarkably comprehensive report on France’s implementation of the IOSEA Marine Turtle Memorandum of Understanding, using the IOSEA Online Reporting Facility to capture the information.

This detailed report is a wonderful example of how a country, with sufficient resources, can fulfill its commitments to sea turtle conservation under IOSEA. Not only does the report describe a tremendous number of activities carried out in several French territories in the southwest Indian Ocean (e.g. La Réunion, Mayotte, Tromelin, Iles Eparses etc.), it gives a candid account of where measures have not been fully implemented in some instances and where additional work is envisaged.

The French report is also a good illustration of how the IOSEA Conservation and Management Plan offers a useful framework for consolidating and presenting the full breadth of a country’s efforts for the benefit of sea turtles and their habitats. Anyone who reads the entire report is sure to come away with a clear understanding of France's turtle conservation programme in the Southwest Indian Ocean. The guidance it provides in terms of practical experience and reporting of implementation progress should be valuable to other IOSEA Signatory States. More »