| Date |
Title |
 12 May 2011 |
Sea turtle activities supported by the US National Marine Fisheries Service in the IOSEA region |
| Intro : The Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO) of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) manages and promotes programs that support both domestic and international conservation and management of living marine resources in federal waters of the U.S. Pacific Islands Region. Under the authority of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), PIRO’s Protected Resources Division (PRD) works to protect and recover species of sea turtles, monk seals, whales, and dolphins by working with numerous partners and stakeholders.
To conserve these species, PRD conducts analyses of human impacts, recommends mitigation techniques to minimize or eliminate negative impacts, builds local capacity through training and technical assistance, and responds to sick or injured animals. To bolster recovery efforts of shared sea turtle stocks between the Pacific Islands Region and IOSEA region specifically, PIRO has supported a number of projects to reduce mortality of protected species in fisheries, provide training for national fishery observer programs, and support efforts to fill information gaps to advance demographic studies. |
| 3 May 2011 |
Surfrider Foundation Spring Clean-up - La Réunion |
| Intro : On the occasion of the 15th edition of the emblematic event of Surfrider Foundation Europe “Ocean Initiatives”, Kelonia organised the clean up of the beach of “La Pointe des Châteaux” on March 24th. This beach is part of rehabilitation programme, since 1999, aimed at restoring the original vegetation against invasive species such as the filaos (Casuarina equisetifolia) and a thorny thick bush locally known as “kéké” (Acacia farnesiana). It is hoped this rehabilitation programme will promote the return of nesting marine turtles to Reunion Island. |
| 26 Apr 2011 |
Reflections on the 31st Annual Sea Turtle Symposium |
| Intro : The Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation returned to the United States for the first time since 2007. Hosted in San Diego, California, from 10-16 April 2011, and presided over by Jeffrey Seminoff, the theme of the symposium was “The Next Generation of Research and Conservation”.
As usual, a wide range of regional and thematic workshops held before and during the main symposium offered a great opportunity to liaise with other participants and to explore a variety of issues in more depth. The ‘Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia’ regional meeting co-hosted by Rahayu Zulfiki and Lalith Ekanayake on the morning of 11 April was well attended. And, for the very first time, a separate East Asia regional meeting, organised during a lunch break, brought together participants from China, Japan, and Republic of Korea. |
| 7 Apr 2011 |
Marine turtles up in the heights |
| Intro : Each year, Kelonia - the observatory of marine turtles, receives several thousand school children for public awareness activities and participation in programmes for protection of marine turtles. The educational department of Kelonia proposes a variety of guided tours and activities for school children focusing on the biology of marine turtles, threats to these animals and ways to protect them.
The French educational system funds schools under the Artistic and Cultural Class Project. It is an opportunity for teachers to ask specialists to share their experiences and knowledge working on marine turtles. High transportation costs may prevent classes from coming more than once to Kelonia. Therefore, since the beginning of the 2008/09 academic year, Kelonia has prepared an educational toolkit that was specifically conceived to perform clssroom interventions and to offer complete guided tours in case of a long term project. That way, the teachers can extend the project with oher interventions on more specific subjects later on, at the offices of Kelonia. |
| 7 Feb 2011 |
Report of the 2nd Workshop on Marine Turtle Conservation in Mozambique |
| Intro : In 2006, WWF-Mozambique in collaboration with other partners organized the 1st Workshop on Marine Turtle Conservation in Mozambique. Both national and international specialists attended the gathering, which reviewed the state of knowledge on marine turtles in the country and also discussed a Strategy and Plan of Action for marine turtle conservation in Mozambique.
Four years later, and with several projects and activities being conducted or completed, the 2nd Workshop on Marine Turtle Conservation in Mozambique was in order. On behalf of the Grupo de Trabalho Tartarugas Marinhas de Moçambique (GTT), the organization of the Workshop was led by the Associacao para Investigacao Costeira e Marinha (AICM) in partnership with Centro Terra Viva (CTV) and WWF – Mozambique. |
| 31 Jan 2011 |
Conservation of Green Turtles at Daran Beach, Jiwani, Pakistan |
| Intro : Syed Ali Hasnain and Umer Waqas, from WWF-Pakistan, were among the authors of an interesting paper published recently in the Pakistan Journal of Zoology, describing an important nesting beach for green turtles in that country. They have kindly agreed for IOSEA to present a summary of their paper here and they will respond directly to any further requests from readers.
Pakistan has a coastline of 1,050 km, bordering India to the east and Iran to the west, out of which approximately 800 km is in Balochistan province. Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) nest on Ormara beach, Pasni, Astola Island and Jiwani in the district of Makran, while the Olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) nests occasionally along this coast. |
| 24 Jan 2011 |
Compendium of measures to address the impacts of species bycatch in tuna RFMOs |
| Intro : ‘A Compendium of Conservation and Management Measures to address the impacts of species bycatch in tuna RFMOs’ has been developed by HSI, WWF, TRAFFIC, and the Sea Turtle Conservancy, with the input of many other NGOs.
Alexia Wellbelove, of Humane Society International, provides this brief introduction to the document, which arose following the Kobe II Bycatch workshop (Brisbane, June 2010), attended by HSI and other conservation organisations: \"At this meeting we felt that a more coordinated approach from NGOs would be helpful, and therefore coordinated our interventions at the meeting. However we were also keen that we continue that coordination beyond that meeting, so that effective bycatch measures can be put in place in each of the RFMOs and progress be made as soon as possible. As a result, a ‘compendium’ of conservation and management measures (CMMs) has been produced for each taxon, including sea turtles. The covering statement further outlines the rationale behind the document.\" |
| 19 Jan 2011 |
Turtles Live! ... from the Southwest Indian Ocean |
| Intro : As part of the development of scientific recommendations to underpin a conservation plan for marine turtles in French territories in the Southwest Indian Ocean, it is important to better understand the oceanic movements of these species. Over the period 2010-2011, it is expected that more than 120 Argos transmitters will be deployed on nesting turtles and turtles caught accidentally by drifting longlines or by tuna purse seiners in the region.
Jérôme Bourjea, working in Ifremer\'s laboratory in La Réunion, has kindly provided an update on the current status of this ambitious satellite tracking project. |
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