Indian Ocean - South-East Asian Marine Turtle Memorandum of Understanding

Projects in the IOSEA region receiving MTCF grants from 2005-2011

14 May 2012

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service logo The United States’ Marine Turtle Conservation Act of 2004 was signed into law on 2 July 2004. The act established a funding mechanism to assist in the conservation of marine turtles and their nesting habitats in foreign countries. In addition to funds appropriated by the United States’ Government, the Marine Turtle Conservation Fund – which is managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service – has successfully leveraged additional resources for turtle conservation from an array of domestic and international partners.

From 2005-2011, the MTCF has provided grants to support projects in the Indian Ocean – South-East Asia region totaling some USD 1.98 million. This represents approximately 26% of the total MTCF funding made available for international marine turtle conservation projects in all regions. Projects in 16 countries (almost all of them IOSEA Signatory States) have benefited from the programme. Since its inception, nearly 200 grants have been allocated worldwide, including 39 in 2011. IOSEA itself has been awarded three grants to support the organisation of meetings of IOSEA Signatory States; as well as a grant towards the first phase of the IOSEA Technical Support and Capacity Building Programme.

The following table, consisting of content found on the MTCF website, summarises all of the projects that have been funded in the IOSEA region since 2007. (Click here to view a similar table for the years 2005 and 2006.) Hopefully, this presentation will encourage more applications to be submitted from countries that have yet to benefit from the programme.

For more information on the Multinational Species Conservation Funds, including details of application procedures, please visit the US Fish and Wildlife Service website, at:

http://www.fws.gov/international/DIC/species/marine_turtles/marine_turtle.html

The twice-yearly deadline for receipt of applications is: 1 April and 1 October.

Projects in the IOSEA region receiving MTCF grants from 2007-2011

COUNTRY	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Australia	Population studies to support conservation and management of hawksbill populations in the Indian Ocean
Bangladesh		Community-based Sea Turtle Conservation Project in Cox's Bazar	Community Based Sea Turtle Conservation Project in Cox’s Bazar		Community-based sea turtle research and conservation project in Bangladesh
Cambodia				Rapid assessment to determine the status of marine turtle nesting in Cambodia	Marine turtle conservation and assessment in Cambodia
China		Sea Turtle Survey: Monitoring and Local Community Awareness Project
India		Developing a Conservation and Monitoring Network for Sea Turtles in India: A National Initiation Workshop	30th Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation	Community engagement for sea turtle conservation program- Nellore, India	Strengthening the network for monitoring and conservation of sea turtles in India
India			Building a Network for Conservation of Marine Turtles in India	Building and Strengthing Networks for Conservation of Marine Turtles in India	Towards long-term monitoring of olive ridley arribadas in Orissa, India
Indonesia	Monitoring and management of leatherback nesting at Jarnursba Medi and Warmon Beaches in the Bird’s Head Region – Papua, Indonesia	Monitoring and Evaluation of Hatching Success of Leatherback Nests at Jamursba Medi and Wermon Beaches in the Bird's Head Region at Papua	Monitoring and Evaluation of Hatching Success of Leatherback Nests at Jamursba Medi and Wermon Beaches – Papua, Indonesia	Conservation of the leatherback nesting population at Jamursba Medi and Wermon Beaches – Papua, Indonesia	Conservation of the leatherback nesting population at Jamursba Medi and Wermon Beaches – Papua, Indonesia
Indonesia	Protection of Leatherback Nests at Wermon Beach in the Bird’s head region-Papua, Indonesia.
Japan		Implementation of an Integrated Conservation Strategy for the Japanese Nesting Population of the Loggerhead Turtle	Implementation of an integrated conservation strategy for the Japanese nesting population of loggerhead turtle	Capacity Building and technical support for an MTCA funded project in Japan
Japan				Implementation of an integrated conservation strategy for the Japanese nesting population of loggerhead turtle
Oman	Strategic Development of Initiatives for Marine Turtle Conservation in Oman	Strategic Development of Initiatives for Marine Turtle Conservation in Oman	Strategic Development of Initiatives for Marine Turtle Conservation in Oman 2009-2010	Strategic development of initiatives for marine turtle conservation on Masirah Island, Oman 2010-2011	Strategic development of initiatives for marine turtle conservation on Masirah Island, Oman
Papua New Guinea			Capacity Building to Conserve Leatherback Sea Turtles in Papua New Guinea	Community-based conservation of leatherback turtles along the Huon Coast, in Papua New Guinea 2010-2011 season	Community-based conservation of leatherback turtles along the Huon Coast, Papua New Guinea 2011-2012
Sri Lanka				Community based in-situ marine turtle nest protection at Kosgoda Beach, southern Sri Lanka
Thailand		Support of the Indian Ocean - South East Asian (IOSEA) Marine Turtle Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Fifth Meeting of Signatory States	IOSEA Technical Support and Capacity Building Programme	Support of the Indian Ocean-South East Asian (IOSEA) Marine Turtle Memorandum of Understanding Sixth Meeting of Signatory States
United States of America	Support for Capacity Building and International Instruments for the Conservation of Marine Turtles and their Habitats	A Global Assessment of Arribada Olive Ridley Sea Turtles		Global Assessment of Arribada Olive Ridley Sea Turtles
United States of America		Support for Capacity Building and International Instruments for the Conservation of Marine Turtles and Their Habitats
Viet Nam	Community based marine turtle nesting beach conservation in Quang Tri Province, central coast of Vietnam.	Community-based Marine Turtle Nesting Beach Conservation in Vietnam: Pilot Sites for Hawksbill Turtles in Quang Tri Province	Community based marine turtle nesting beach conservation in Vietnam; Pilot conservation sites for hawksbill turtles in Bai Tu Long National Park and leatherbacks in Quang Tri Province	Community based marine turtle nesting beach conservation in Vietnam; Pilot sites for hawksbill turtles in Quang Ninh Province and leatherbacks in Quang Tri Province	Community based marine turtle nesting beach conservation in Vietnam; Pilot sites for hawksbill turtles in Quang Ninh Province and leatherbacks in Quang Tri Province
Yemen					Assessing the status and conservation needs for sea turtles in Yemen, initial steps to building a long-term sea turtle conservation program in Yemen

Grants Summary*	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Grants for projects in IOSEA region [Numbers of grants worldwide]	3 [7]	9[25]	6 [22]	10 [24]	9 [35]	11 [41]	9 [39]
USFWS funds (x 1000) for IOSEA region [% of Total MTCF Funding]	$25 [27%]	$190 [31%]	$162 [25%]	$389 [42%]	$414 [28%]	$431 [22%]	$365 [21%]
Total USFWS Funding ( x 1000)	$90	$622	$641	$920	$1,460	$1,921	$1,717

*Click on any YEAR to download from the USFWS website a summary of all projects funded that year.

This information serves to update an IOSEA Profile of the Month published in July 2009 and Message Board item published on 2 July 2010.

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