For as long as the IOSEA website has been tracking news headlines, marine turtles of the Indian state of Orissa have probably been featured more frequently than any other single issue over the past several years. More specifically, a search of the IOSEA archives for “Dhamra port” using the built-in search tool yields dozens of stories, dating back to 2004, about this controversial development project.  More »

During the "sustainable development week", 1-7 April 2008, Kélonia held a training session for eight eco-guides from the Departmental Collective of Mayotte and one from Iranja Lodge, a hotel resort in the south of Nosy Be in Madagascar.  More »

The oceanic islands of Mauritius and its outer islands are nesting sites for green sea turtles. In the 1800’s, the Dutch reported great numbers of turtle nesting in Mauritius but due to the exploitation by man and the loss of favourable habitats on the coasts for nesting, very few turtles exist in the waters around Mauritius today. In October 2007, after an apparent absence of 31 years, a green sea turtle was observed laying eggs at Gris Gris, a sublime and beautiful beach in the south of the country. More »

The report of the first meeting of the Western Indian Ocean - Marine Turtle Task Force (WIO-MTTF), circulated widely by e-mail earlier this month, is now available for downloading.

As reported in the IOSEA Feature Story of 3 March 2008, the Task Force was successfully convened for the first time in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in late February, under the chairmanship of Dr Ronel Nel (South Africa). More »

Second, we’re happy to announce that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, administrator of US Marine Turtle Conservation Act, has just confirmed a grant of USD 40,000 towards the cost of holding the Fifth Meeting of IOSEA Signatory States in 2008. WWF and the Government of Australia have also confirmed their willingness to make significant financial contributions to the organisation of the SS5 meeting.

Regarding the latter, it is expected that discussions with a potential host government for SS5 will be concluded very soon, so that an announcement of the date and venue for the meeting can be made during the course of this month.

So far, two organisations have expressed interest in preparing alternative language versions of the informative IOSEA DVD: “Sea Turtles – Our Ocean Ambassadors”. As these offers materialise, it’s hoped that work on French and Malay versions can begin in the weeks ahead. Also, arrangements are being pursued to broadcast the DVD even more widely across the Asia-Pacific region, using the services of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. Stay tuned…

The popular “Useful Contacts” list on the IOSEA website has been thoroughly reviewed and revised, after correcting a technical problem that had prevented us from uploading the database. This application has a great built-in search tool, which allows users to search for organisations by category, country, and sub-region. If you would like to modify an existing entry or add a new organisation, please send an e-mail to the Secretariat.