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By Ioane Burese
The Department of Fisheries and Forest in partnership with the World Wide Fund will revitalise the conservation and co-ordination for Fiji's sea turtles.
A government statement says Fiji is home to five species of sea turtles, however, they are also critically endangered, because of poaching, pollution, coastal development and from being caught in fishing nets.
Resorts in Fiji have developed conservation programs to assist in increasing the turtle population and to persuade local villagers to stop killing them for their meat.
A workshop designed to re-activate the Fiji Sea Turtle and Cetacean Committee has begun and will discuss issues how they can further implement policies to protect turtles.
The FSTC was established in 2007, with the objective of implementing the Fiji Sea Turtle Recovery Plan.
Committee members include various government departments, NGOs, and academic institutions.
The committee is also lobbying for the turtle moratorium extension in Fiji to 2018. Research activities have also been co-ordinated in flipper tagging, satellite tagging , nesting and foraging ground surveys.
The group is also proposing to strengthen partnership with other organisations, revise the FSTRP and the whale action plan.
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