Barclays Bank of Seychelles is supporting an innovative programme being implemented by the Marine Conservation Society of Seychelles (MCSS) in association with the Ministry of Environment and the Wildlife Clubs of Seychelles.

To date there is no information on the movement patterns of the nesting turtle populations on the developed islands of Seychelles, nor where they go to forage between nesting seasons. Two turtles nesting on the beaches on the south of Mahe will be fitted with satellite tracking tags that will record their movement patterns and diving habits over the course of three months. More »

New monitoring programme in Pulau Banyak, Aceh

A local NGO Yayasan Pulau Banyak has recently started a monitoring programme in Pulau Bangkaru (West Sumatra, Indonesia) in response to an urgent need to identify the current status of the sea turtle populations in Northwest Sumatra. There is a lack of recent information on leatherback populations nesting in Sumatra. Green and hawksbill turtle populations are also data deficient.

The Pulau Banyak sea turtle conservation programme will provide significant baseline information for combined international sea turtle conservation actions through a tagging and beach patrol programme. Inconel tags will be applied to all turtles, whereas and PIT tags will be used only on leatherbacks. More »

UNEP/WCMC hosts Knowledge Management project partners

For the last several years, IOSEA has led the way among multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) with its innovative online reporting system <http://www.ioseaturtles.org/report.php> aimed at providing member States and other partners with timely information needed for policy and decision-making.

Over this time, IOSEA Coordinator Douglas Hykle has participated alongside other MEAs in a UNEP-administered initiative known as the Knowledge Management project. Other partners include the secretariats of CBD, CITES, Ramsar and CMS/AEWA; as well as the UNEP/World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC). As the first phase of the project drew to a close, the participating organisations met at UNEP/WCMC’s headquarters in Cambridge, UK, from 7-9 March 2008, to review progress to date and to discuss future plans. More »

Full steam ahead for the WIO - Marine Turtle Task Force

Marine turtle conservation efforts in the Western Indian Ocean received a boost last week with the convening of the inaugural meeting of the WIO – Marine Turtle Task Force in Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania, from 27-29 February.

The organisation of the meeting represented a win-win partnership between the Nairobi Convention, WWF-Tanzania and the IOSEA MoU Secretariat. The Nairobi Convention offered a political framework for convening the Task Force, WWF hosted the meeting and provided most of the financial support, and IOSEA prepared all of the substantive inputs - making extensive use of information contained in the Online Reporting Facility. More »

Why do the Olive Ridleys play truant? (30 Mar)

Queensland's turtle population faces human threats (27 Mar)

Turtle group given funds for satellite research (27 Mar)

Plastic threat to sea life 'exaggerated' (27 Mar)

Australian species: increasing climate threat (26 Mar)

Isotope analysis reveals turtles' foraging area (25 Mar)

Company acts to protect endangered namesake (25 Mar)

Air Deccan plans flight to Orissa’s Bhitarkanika (24 Mar)

Bangladesh: ''St Martin's not safe for turtles'' (24 Mar)

Malaysia: union of development and environment (23 Mar)

Australian corals adapting to climate change (21 Mar)

Over 5,000 turtles killed in Orissa since '07 (20 Mar)

'Turtle eggs are no Viagra' (20 Mar)

Indian poachers turn protectors of Olive Ridley (20 Mar)

Crackdowns on wildlife trade on the rise in SEA (19 Mar)

Solomon Islands turtle monitoring and tagging (18 Mar)

Thailand: Warcraft reef to bring back marine life (18 Mar)

Turtle tagged in Palau found in Japan (18 Mar)

Australia: Ghost nets get vets in a flap (17 Mar)

Coral monitoring system suggested (16 Mar)

Sea turtles fall prey to plastic waste in Australia (15 Mar)

High Court seeks report on steps taken by Govt (14 Mar)

Tech companies do their share to save sea turtles (13 Mar)

Indian experts keep tabs on Olive Ridleys (13 Mar)

UNDP takes stock of marine fishermen's woes (12 Mar)

Arroyo earmarks 5 billion pesos for conservation (12 Mar)

Concerns over Australian turtle nesting beach (12 Mar)

Sentencing delayed in Guam turtle case (11 Mar)

Pakistan's mega project occupies huge land (9 Mar)

Qatar University pitches in to save Hawksbills (6 Mar)

Turtles begin mass nesting in Orissa (5 Mar)

Queensland scientist heads international turtle group (5 Mar)

Corals suffer as acid builds (4 Mar)

Divers help reduce starfish threat to coral reefs (4 Mar)

Fiji: Tagging turtles for a wedding (3 Mar)

Bahrain: Outrage at plan to destroy reef (2 Mar)

Illegal fishing returns to Tayabas Bay, Philippines (2 Mar)

Malaysia: Focus on turtles (2 Mar)