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Sea turtles appear as incidental by-catch in many fisheries, but it seems that growing demand for sustainably caught seafood could be helping to change the way these fisheries operate.
Awareness of environmental issues is a growing trend worldwide and, in many markets, fisheries that are able to demonstrate that they adhere to environmental best practice have a distinct advantage. By creating buyer demand and promoting responsible fishing, market incentive programmes like the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) are making it economically attractive to change the way the world’s oceans are fished. More » |
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The IOSEA Western Indian Ocean – Marine Turtle Task Force held its fourth meeting in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, from 4 to 7 December 2012, under the chairmanship of Dr. Ronel Nel. Much of the workshop focused on reviewing species and other site-based information contained in IOSEA national reports in order to identify candidate sites for potential inclusion in the IOSEA Site Network.
Experts attended from ten of the 11 countries that constitute the Western Indian Ocean IOSEA sub-region: Comoros, France, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, United Kingdom and United Republic of Tanzania. A representative from Somalia was unable to attend. More » |
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Cristina Louro, Executive Director of Centro Terra Viva - Mozambique has kindly provided for circulation the annual report of marine turtle monitoring and tagging for the 2011/12 season. The following text is taken from the executive summary.
The 2011/12 season recorded a total of 1122 nest, of which about 82% were recorded in the southern part of the country, from Cabo de São Sebastião to Ponta do Ouro, and the remaining 18% of the nests were recorded in the northern part of the country, between Vamizi and Rongui islands — Quirimbas National Park. The majority of these nests were recorded between Ponta do Ouro and Cabo de Santa Maria (75%) and in the Vamizi and Rongui Islands (17%) -- once again, demonstrating the importance of these two areas as marine turtle nesting sites in Mozambique.
In terms of the number of nests laid per species, C. caretta (loggerhead turtle) was dominant (845), followed by C. mydas (green turtle, 204) and D. coriacea (leatherback turtle, 61). The area from Ponta do Ouro to Cabo de Santa Maria recorded 784 nests of C. caretta and 56 nests of D. coriacea, while Vamizi and Rongui islands recorded a total of 192 C. mydas nests. More » |
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Dr George Hughes, retired CEO of Natal Parks Board and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, life-long turtle conservationist and friend of IOSEA, has recently published a memoir describing more than four decades of his personal experiences in conservation and research in South Africa and beyond.
Quoting from an introduction to the book\'s contents, “Between the Tides tells the remarkable story of the protection and conservation of sea turtles, as seen through the eyes of the author, whose interest in sea turtle research has taken him all over the world and involved him in exciting expeditions, scientific controversy, political unrest, the companionship of wonderful people, both scientific and conservationist, and survival by sheer luck.” More » |
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The East Asia (Hong Kong) office of TRAFFIC - the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network has recently published a report on the marine turtle trade in China and Japan. Its investigation is based mainly on confiscation and seizure records for the period 2000-2008, as well as wide-ranging market surveys conducted in 2009. Although the contents are somewhat dated, the 48-page report provides some useful insights into the international and domestic turtle trade involving these two countries, both of which share a long cultural association with this valuable commodity.
Hainan Province in southern China is highlighted as a pivotal location for illegal trade: the point of origin of a majority of illegal fishers, the place of landing of a majority of catches, and the main source for processing and distributing turtle products to mainland China. Evidence from limited enforcement actions and other information sources indicate that vessels operating from Hainan ply the waters of Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, directly targeting mostly green and hawksbill turtles. More » |
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