About the MTN

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Editors:		Managing Editor:
Kelly R. Stewart The Ocean Foundation c/o Marine Mammal and Turtle Division Southwest Fisheries Science Center NOAA-National Marine Fisheries Service 8901 La Jolla Shores Dr La Jollo, CA 92037 USA	Matthew H. Godfrey NC Sea Turtle Project NC Wildlife Resources Commission 1507 Ann Street Beaufort, NC 28516 USA	Michael Coyne SEATURTLE.ORG 1 Southampton Place Durham, NC 27705 USA

Founding Editor:
Nicholas Mrosovsky University of Toronto, Canada

Editorial Board:
Brendan J. Godley & Annette C. Broderick (Editors Emeriti) University of Exeter in Cornwall, UK		George H. Balazs National Marine Fisheries Service, Hawaii, USA
Alan B. Bolten University of Florida, USA	Robert P. van Dam Chelonia, Inc. Puerto Rico, USA	Angela Formia University of Florence, Italy
Colin Limpus Queensland Turtle Research Project, Australia	Nicholas J. Pilcher Marine Research Foundation, Malaysia	Kartik Shanker Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Manjula Tiwari National Marine Fisheries Service, La Jolla, USA	Jeanette Wyneken Florida Atlantic University

Aims and Policies

1. to provide a forum for exchange of information about all aspects of marine turtle biology and conservation, and
2. to alert interested people to particular threats to marine turtles, as they arise.

The Newsletter is supported entirely by donations. SEATURTLE.ORG receives and administers funds on behalf of the Newsletter (donations are tax-deductible) and provides the Editors with quarterly accounting. The Newsletter publishes manuscripts that deal largely or exclusively with marine turtles, including the results of original research and habitat surveys, advances in field and laboratory technique, book reviews, informal status reports from research, conservation and/or management programs, and contributions on any aspect of the legal or scientific status of sea turtles, or on conservation philosophy.

Each issue features "Recent Papers" as well as citations for technical reports and academic theses (primarily undertaken by the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research). Meetings, symposia and workshops are announced, as are paid and volunteer research and/or conservation positions, academic study programs, and training opportunities throughout the world. In addition to the exchange of technical information, the Newsletter provides a means of alerting the global research and conservation community to serious threats facing remaining sea turtle stocks that demand swift and informed action by readers.

History and Circulation

As scientists and managers around the world struggled to design and implement research and conservation programmes with limited knowledge of the biology of these long-lived marine creatures, there was no doubt that survival prospects would be enhanced by the international and timely sharing of ideas and methodologies. Dr. Mrosovsky designed the Newsletter to be an informal publication to serve the needs of a growing sea turtle research community. He opened the charter issue with these remarks: "Efforts are going on all over the world to save marine turtles from extinction. Marine turtles are widely distributed and their migrations take them across international boundaries. These facts complicate both arriving at an understanding of their biology and devising the necessary measures for their conservation. Given this situation, the authorities at IUCN and the members of the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group felt that better communication between workers in different parts of the world was needed."

The Newsletter was a great success, and as the list of recipients grew so did the list of discussion topics. By the end of the decade, a mere 16 issues later, readers had been alerted to problems confronting turtles in Malaysia, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, the USA, India, South Africa, México, Suriname, Senegal, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Ascension Island, Réunion Island, Oman, the Cape Verde Islands, and elsewhere. Incidental catch and drowning, tagging (including flipper tagging, carapace notching and tattooing), tag loss, international trade, sonic and radio tracking, the artificial incubation of sea turtle eggs, the effect of temperature on hatchling sex, growth rate and maturation, diet, captive raising of sea turtles, and the critical status of the Kemp's ridley turtle in the Gulf of Mexico had been among the issues discussed. By 1980, recipients included colleagues in 70 countries. The Newsletter was supported by donations, and was printed and distributed quarterly from Toronto.

In August 1984, an Index to past issues was compiled illustrating the depth and breadth of the Newsletter's coverage of contemporary issues, research and survey results, and conservation techniques. Circulation had climbed to more than 800, with readers in some 80 countries. Letter-writing campaigns initiated by the Newsletter had provided significant support to conservation causes in Mexico, India and Ascension Island. Many topics first aired in the Newsletter had been taken up by other media, spreading the news about the dire circumstances facing many of the world's remaining sea turtle populations. In 1984, Dr. Nat Frazer became the Newsletter's second Editor. He noted in his opening editorial that, "Under [Dr. Mrosovsky's] editorship, the MTN became a source document of inestimable value to all who study sea turtles -- so much so that it is difficult to believe that anyone could ever hope to maintain a current understanding of sea turtle biology and conservation without regularly reading the MTN."

From 1988 until 1997, husband and wife team Dr. Scott and Dr. Karen Eckert took the helm, continuing to foster the growth of the MTN. Today the Newsletter reaches thousands of marine resource managers, policy-makers, scientists, conservationists, students and educators, libraries, and interested individuals in 114 nations and territories around the world.

After two decades of uninterrupted publication, the Newsletter is an esteemed venue for the exchange of information regarding sea turtles and their global status. The Newsletter has expanded its format and routinely features debate on relevant subjects of global import, summarises advances in basic and applied research, evaluates new techniques (e.g., genetic analysis, satellite telemetry, PIT tagging), and announces key legal decisions (e.g., accessions to CITES or other relevant treaties, changes to the national or international regulatory framework, trade sanctions, prominent settlements and rulings, arrests and convictions).

Since 1998, the production of the MTN has been undertaken by Dr. Annette Broderick and Dr. Brendan Godley. The first major step made by these editors was to recruit Michael Coyne as On-Line Co-ordinator so that current and back issues of the MTN could both be accessed via the internet. In addition, subscriptions, donations and articles are all dealt with electronically. The MTN then took on a new format and style in an effort to reduce both space, cost and allow the use of more sophisticated graphics.

For more information on how to make a donation to aid the production of the Marine Turtle Newsletter:

https://seaturtle.org/mtn/donate.shtml