Lots
to report on this month, even though
unrelated Convention on Migratory Species
(CMS) work and meetings have absorbed
a fair amount of the Coordinator's time
in recent weeks.
We’re
pleased to be able to publish as the
Profile
of the Month for March an interesting article
by Dr M.R. Boopendranath and colleagues
from India’s Central Institute of
Fisheries Technology (CIFT), which
outlines the successes and ongoing challenges
in the development of indigenous TED
technology in that country.
Maung
Maung Lwin, Myanmar Focal Point, and
other colleagues from the Department
of Fisheries were in Thailand
at the end of February to attend the
annual SEASTAR2000 symposium in
Phuket. Afterwards, they travelled
with the Coordinator to see the turtle conservation
facilities run by the Thai Department
of Marine Resources and Conservation
on Koh Mannai, in the Gulf of
Thailand. Mohammad Al-Zibdah also travelled
from Jordan to participate in
the SEASTAR meeting, and many other
faces familiar to IOSEA were present.
US Focal Point Alexis Gutierrez is planning to set up another conference call for members of the IOSEA Site Network Working Group, hopefully during the week of 15 March. The group is presently reviewing terms of reference drafted by the secretariat for a small consultancy to develop a paper that will facilitate the group’s considerations.
A number of initiatives in the framework of the IOSEA Capacity-Building and Technical Support programme are starting to take shape, with plans for training in Myanmar in Octrober/November (led by Dr Colin Limpus); the suggestion of combining a national workshop in Mozambique with support offered by Dr. Mark Hamann, in November; and an outline prepared by Dr. Jeff Miller of training modules that will be offered shortly to colleagues in Eritrea to consider. Support for Madagascar (led by Dr. Jack Frazier) and Mauritius (led by Dr. Kartik Shanker) is also in the cards.
Reports
from Jerome Bourjea (Ifremer - France)
suggest that the marine turtle component
of the Southwest Indian Ocean
Fisheries Project is moving to the “front
burner” in several circles. A
sub-regional training course is to
be organised in La Réunion some
time between April and August
2010.
The Secretariat’s recent letter to Signatory States inviting offers to host the Sixth Meeting of the Signatory States towards the end of 2010 or early 2011 has attracted interest from a number of members. A deadline of 31 March has been set for receipt of expressions of interest.
The Coordinator will travel on short notice this week to Melaka, Malaysia, to participate in a region planning workshop on “Research and Management of Sea Turtles in Foraging Habitat in the Southeast Asian Waters” organised under the auspices of SEAFDEC.
The
big event on many people’s calendar
at the end of next month is the 30th
Annual Sea Turtle Symposium in
Goa, India, presided over this year
by Kartik Shanker (also a member of
the IOSEA Advisory Committee). Many
interesting side-events will be organised
in the margins including, hopefully,
an informal gathering to discuss
IOSEA business.
Last, but not least, we would like to thank the Governments of France, Mauritius, Oman and Thailand whose voluntary contributions to the IOSEA Trust Fund have materialised in recent weeks; and to recognise also the Government of Mozambique which has pledged to make a contribution in the course of 2010.
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Bycatch is one of many threats to large marine vertebrates that reach late maturity and have low reproductive rates, among which figure marine turtles. Marine turtles are often found entangled or hooked in the fishing gear, and in some cases still alive when captured. However their mortality following their release back to sea by fishermen is not well determined. 
The following report is from the Centre for Advanced Research in Natural Resources & Management (CARINAM) which has been conducting a survey on the status of critically endangered turtles of Bangladesh. 
In 2000, countries bordering the Western Indian Ocean requested assistance in the management of the living resources and associated habitats of their shared marine ecosystems. In response, the World Bank initiated under the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) the development of a multi-national fisheries management and development programme called the South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Project (SWIOFP). 
A first-ever gathering of turtle practitioners from French territories all around the world was organised in Paris at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (National Museum of Natural History) from 20-22 January, under the banner « Bilan et perspectives des programmes de recherche et de conservation ».
