MTN 101:38-39 The Second Reunion of Mediterranean Sea Turtle Specialists in Kuala Lumpur

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The Second Reunion of Mediterranean Sea Turtle Specialists in Kuala Lumpur

Dimitris Margaritoulis
IUCN’s MTSG Regional Chair for Mediterranean and NE Atlantic, P.O.Box 51154, GR-14510 KIFISSIA, Greece (E-mail: margaritoulis@archelon.gr)

The Mediterranean is an almost closed sea hosting important populations of loggerhead and green turtles. It is surrounded by 21 countries featuring a diversity of cultures, religions and languages. Although important steps have been made, through official channels, in coordinating sea turtle conservation among states, very little contact has been established among individual researchers and conservationists working on sea turtles in the region. The International Sea Turtle Symposia provide an excellent opportunity for improving such communication. Following a suggestion of Annette Broderick, a first gathering was organized in Philadelphia (February 2001), with support of the then Symposium President Jim Spotila, where about 30 people attended and, with a little help of Mediterranean wine, they came to know and talk to each other. The following year (April 2002) at the Symposium in Miami a proper meeting was organized, featuring an agenda of 8 important items (Margaritoulis & Glen 2002).

At this year’s Symposium (March 2003, Kuala Lumpur), 32 people (incl. 8 observers) attended the Mediterranean Reunion. The minutes of the meeting, drafted by Brendan Godley, have been posted in the regional listserver MedTurtle. (If you are not a MedTurtle subscriber and would like to see the minutes, please, contact DM). A brief overview of the main discussions are presented below:

Next Regional Conference. After the successful First Mediterranean Sea Turtle Conference (Rome, October 2001), a proposal of Turkey to host the second regional conference in autumn 2004 was announced and approved. However, the opinions of the three International Conventions, expected to finance the conference, are to be solicited.

Rescue Centres. A vision for a regional network of Rescue Centres and the main design considerations for these specialized facilities were presented by Flegra Bentivegna. Several points were raised from participants as the criteria for severity of injuries to keep turtles in centers, when to release rehabilitated turtles, criteria for euthanasia, importance in facilitating education and research, need for associated stranding networks, need for training initiatives and specialist information exchange. A final point was that Rescue Centres should not be viewed as compensating for mortalities caused by fishing activities.

Standardization of Tagging. It was decided that tag manufacturers should be contacted to help in redirecting tag orders to national focal points with the aim to reduce tag code redundancy. A team to achieve this task by 1 July 2003, comprised of Paolo Casale (coordinator), Yakup Kaska, Sara Pont and Alan Rees, was created.

European Marine Turtle Project (EMTP). An overview of the recently completed joint project by France, Greece, Italy and Spain (co-funded by EU) assessing turtle bycatch in European Mediterranean fisheries was presented by Luc Laurent. The project report can be found, thanks to Michael Coyne of seaturtle.org, at: <https://seaturtle.org/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=171>.

A New Joint Project. Taking advantage of the results of the EMTP project, a new joint project among Croatia, France, Greece, Italy and Spain, to reduce turtle mortalities in European Mediterranean fisheries, was presented by Paolo Casale. The project will seek funding through the European Union.

A Cooperative Monitoring Programme at Sea. The value of long-term monitoring projects at sea, which would provide an assessment of the relative abundance, was presented by Paolo Casale and had a positive response from several participants. A working group, comprising of Paolo Casale (coordinator), Carlos Carreras, Bojan Lazar, Aliki Panagopoulou, Sara Pont, and Jesus Tomas, was created to prepare a more detailed proposal and relevant data sheets by 1 July 2003.

Adoption of a Resolution. A resolution on the need to focus the FAO Technical Consultation on the issue of incidental turtle captures by fisheries worldwide was presented and agreed.

Assessing the Genetic Structure of Loggerhead Populations. A collaborative project to assess the genetic structure of loggerhead populations was presented by Carlos Carreras and has secured samples from nesting beaches in Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Libya and Turkey.

Research and Conservation Priorities. To make best use of available resources and focus on specific regional targets the necessity to prepare Research and Conservation Priorities for the next 5 years was decided. Two working groups were created, one for Research, comprising of Luc Laurent & Bojan Lazar (coordinators), Flegra Bentivegna, Sandra Hochscheid, Jesus Tomas and Oguz Turkozan, and one for Conservation, comprising of Aliki Panagopoulou (coordinator), Paolo Casale, Hasibe Kusetogulary, and one person from DHKD (Turkey). The groups will prepare draft proposals by 1 July 2003 and then seek and accept comments through MedTurtle.

Evaluating the meeting’s results, it is evident that regional cooperation is on course. Important collaborations and joint projects have started to bloom. It is expected that this momentum will continue and an equally successful regional meeting will be organized at the next International Symposium (spring 2004).

Acknowledgements: I thank all participants for their active involvement, especially all subject proposers for preparation and presentation of agenda items, Brendan Godley for drafting the minutes, Michael Coyne for soliciting participants’ details, Jack Frazier and Sally Bache for assisting with the resolution, and Alan Rees for technical assistance.

MARGARITOULIS, D., & F. GLEN. 2002. Short report on the meeting of Mediterranean specialists (Miami, USA, 3 April 2002). Marine Turtle Newsletter 98:13-14.