The IOSEA Marine Turtle Memorandum of Understanding is an intergovernmental agreement that aims to protect, conserve, replenish and recover marine turtles and their habitats of the Indian Ocean and South-East Asian region, working in partnership with other relevant actors and organisations.
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PROFILE OF THE MONTH |
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17 May 2013 |
Australia: Don’t leave traps behind
People using crab traps or nets have been reminded to take precautions to make sure they do not become a hazard for marine life, after a large Green Turtle was found dead in a trap. |
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MESSAGE BOARD |
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|  WWF has been conducting important work on climate change impacts on marine turtles and their habitats, and has recently updated its comprehensive website on this subject. Although WWF's efforts in this area have so far focused on the Wider Caribbean region, the available resources and approaches will be of interest to practitioners in the IOSEA region as well.
The note on the following page, prepared by Dr Marianne Fish, provides a good introduction to the topic. Readers are also encouraged to consult this web link for more information: http://www.panda.org/lac/marineturtles/act. Additionally, a link is made at the end of the note to a recent WWF "webinar" that includes an informative PowerPoint presentation. More »
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|  A dedicated page on the IOSEA website contains all current information about the ongoing development of the Network of Sites of Importance for Marine Turtles in the IOSEA region.
The 'Guidance Paper' prepared for the IOSEA Site Network notes that: "A complementary, parallel process is envisaged whereby a master list of priority candidate sites will be drawn up to help guide Signatory States in their site nomination considerations".
This parallel process includes a number of steps which are currently in progress: a) to develop an initial indicative list of sites that experts think may fulfill the agreed evaluation criteria; b) to gather enough information about those sites to be able to test them against the criteria; and c) based on the results of running the candidate sites through the criteria, to publish an initial list of priority sites for consideration by Signatory States. This exercise does not detract from, and is not a substitute for, the formal nomination of by sites by IOSEA Focal Points. Indeed, a number of Focal Points have contacted the Secretariat to indicate that they are actively considering the nomination of sites.
In recent months the Secretariat has solicited suggestions of potential candidate sites from members of the IOSEA Advisory Committee and other experts. This exercise has generated a list of about 80 potential candidate sites or areas in some 34 countries around the IOSEA region. The preliminary list is now being circulated more widely within the IOSEA constituency with a view to refining and rounding out the list of suggested candidate sites. More »
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|  In October 2011, the French Ministry of Ecology published a remarkably comprehensive report on France’s implementation of the IOSEA Marine Turtle Memorandum of Understanding, using the IOSEA Online Reporting Facility to capture the information.
This detailed report is a wonderful example of how a country, with sufficient resources, can fulfill its commitments to sea turtle conservation under IOSEA. Not only does the report describe a tremendous number of activities carried out in several French territories in the southwest Indian Ocean (e.g. La Réunion, Mayotte, Tromelin, Iles Eparses etc.), it gives a candid account of where measures have not been fully implemented in some instances and where additional work is envisaged.
The French report is also a good illustration of how the IOSEA Conservation and Management Plan offers a useful framework for consolidating and presenting the full breadth of a country’s efforts for the benefit of sea turtles and their habitats. Anyone who reads the entire report is sure to come away with a clear understanding of France's turtle conservation programme in the Southwest Indian Ocean. The guidance it provides in terms of practical experience and reporting of implementation progress should be valuable to other IOSEA Signatory States. More »
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|  Marinelife Alliance is a conservation and research organization working on behalf of marine life -- particularly sea turtles, cetaceans, coral reefs and water birds -- along the coast and marine waters of Bangladesh. As part of our sea turtle research we are conducting satellite tracking on sea turtles to explore their critical ecological requirements, which is needed to apply the conservation measures to save them.
All sea turtles are endangered throughout the world, including in Bangladesh. Most of the offshore scientific information about these rare animals is unknown to us. Each year thousands of sea turtles die as bycatch in Bangladesh marine waters. Sea turtles are highly migratory and they share international waters, including the maritime territory of many countries. This increases their chance of being caught by various types of fishing nets spread over the vast marine waters. More »
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|  Baltimore was in a celebratory mood when it hosted the 33rd Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation from 2-8 February 2013. Keeping to plan, the Baltimore Ravens football club won the NFL Superbowl XLVII in honour of the international gathering.
Adhering to a traditional formula, the symposium consisted of specialised workshops, oral presentation sessions, poster displays, and various other side meetings and events. The theme of the symposium was “connections”, which aptly describes one of the symposium’s important functions of bringing people together from all corners of the globe. More »
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