seaturtle.org : MTN : ARCHIVES : Sign In
Membership
Each triennium the IUCN body is disbanded, only to be reappointed from the top down following the election of new officers and chairpersons. That means that following the World Conservation Congress, the MTSG was officially disbanded, and we await news of our own reappointment before we embark on a membership reappointment process for the Group. The IUCN Council was elected during the Members’ Session following the Congress forum, and they in-turn elected the Chairs of IUCN’s six Commissions. David Brackett, SSC Chair for two terms, was replaced by Dr. Holly Dublin, who has chaired the African Elephant Specialist Group for many years, and who will now chair the SSC from her base in Nairobi. Holly’s job is to appoint Chairs to each of the Specialist Groups, based on the recommendations from the outgoing Chairs. As soon as we hear from her we will be in touch with past MTSG members to renew their affiliation. One change that will take place this time around comes in the form of a set of Terms of Reference for members, Task Force Leaders and Regional Vice Chairs, which we hope will provide members with a clearer understanding of their powers and responsibilities as members of the MTSG. We reiterate then, that until such a time, the MTSG is disbanded and new members will only be considered once they have been invited by the Co-Chairs and have accepted the Terms of Reference.
The Species Survival Commission Meeting
The SSC meeting was spread over three days, with the first day taken up by the Executive Committee meeting and the Steering Committee meeting. The MTSG leaders sat as observers through the Steering Committee meeting to get a better feel for how the Commission itself operates and how the MTSG fits into the greater IUCN picture. It was clear in the meeting that the evolution of the
Commission is resulting in positive steps for the conservation of the planet’s flora and fauna. On the second day the SSC hosted several presentations on the newly developed Species Information System (SIS) – a computerized system into which species status, threats, and distribution data can be entered and then shared and accessed across the globe. Phase I of this system was used on a trial basis in the recent Global Amphibian Assessment with great results, and
Phase II is under development, and hopefully will be available to all members by 2006. During the meeting, the MTSG made a short presentation of our recent activities and future intentions, which was welcomed by the participants. Important highlights of this talk included our views on the limited suitability of the Red List system for marine turtles at a global scale (see the articles in MTN 106 by Nicholas Mrosovsky and Jeff Seminoff). Following this, we further indicated that as Co-Chairs we are not willing to endorse unrealistic assessments if species status and data do not clearly warrant and justify the listing. As an invited speaker, Rod also made a presentation during the SSC Training Workshop on fundraising philosophy and tactics, which prompted a lengthy question and answer session.
High Seas Fisheries Forum
On behalf of the MTSG, Nick was one of the three key presenters during a discussion forum on high seas fisheries, alongside other presentations on bycatch discards from the trawler industry and the bycatch problem with birds, particularly petrels and albatrosses. The presentation reviewed the problem of marine turtle bycatch in longline fisheries, and a great deal of thanks goes out to Alan Bolten and Todd Steiner who provided much of the information used during this presentation. The three talks were followed by numerous questions
from an invited panel, sparking debate and provoking thought for tackling this global issue. One important thing to come out of this talk was that among us (Rod, Nick and Brian) we decided that the MTSG should take the lead in bringing together technical specialists from each of the major animal Specialist Groups affected by longliners, namely the Cetacean, Shark, Seabird and Marine Turtle SGs to investigate options for joint research and prevent overlap or even deleterious impacts of bycatch mitigation measures on other
important species. This meeting idea is now becoming a reality, with dates penciled in for the last week of September 2005 and Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia (Borneo) as the venue. Several Fishery Management Organizations and WWF have agreed to participate and provide funding to support the event.
MTSG Members Meeting
Taking advantage of the large number of MTSG and turtle-related folk present at the Congress, we managed to schedule and hold a short MTSG meeting which provided an opportunity for several people to learn more about what we do, how we operate and how we fit into the greater IUCN picture. The meeting was attended by Ali Al-Kiyumi (Oman), María José Barragan (Ecuador), Randall Arauz and Noah Anderson (Costa Rica), Todd Steiner, Robert Ovetz, Laura Fandino and Perran Ross (USA), B.C. Choudhury (India), María Marine Turtle Newsletter No. 107, 2005 - Page 16 Elena Ibarra Martín, Roberto Pérez Rivero and Juan Mario Suarez (Cuba), Herilala Randriamahazo (Madagascar), and of course, Rod, Brian and Nick. We managed a short round of introductions, followed by a short overview of the history of the MTSG and its recent developments. Perran was kind enough to provide a glimpse of how the MTSG functions within the structure of the IUCN, and we managed to touch on issues ranging from the Red List process, to the [limited] advocacy role MTSG can play within the constraints of the larger IUCN picture, but how the MTSG can support other advocacy groups as it deems appropriate. Rod also gave a short rundown on the SWoT initiative (State of the World’s Sea Turtles) and how it ties into the MTSG’s mission.
The end result was a much greater understanding for those present,about where the MTSG and its members fit within the greater conservation scheme of IUCN, and how the work of our members is of tremendous value and importance when contributing to global causes. We plan on holding these ad hoc meetings as-and-how on our travels throughout the world, and hope to raise the profile of the MTSG through greater awareness among our individual members.
Red List Process
Another outcome of our time in Bangkok was the opportunity to discuss the Red List process and applicability with Craig Hilton-Taylor (IUCN Red List Program Officer) and several of the IUCN staff, including the incoming SSC Chair, Holly Dublin, and have a greater understanding of how we can make our assessments be as realistic as possible. We intend to continue with Global Assessments, as this is the requirement of the current Red List process, but we also plan to develop more realistic regional assessments for each species along the way. Rod and Nick both got to chat with David Morgan, the new Chief of the Scientific Support Unit to CITES, and we all agreed to work closely from now on regarding CITES-related issues.
We believe that the entire Congress was beneficial to us as Chairs in learning more about how the process works and making friends along the way. We feel that the partnerships we have made with other groups for the MTSG to begin working collaboratively on the longline issue, for instance, were extremely valuable. Having had the chance to spend significant amount of time with the incoming SSC Chair was also helpful, and we look forward to translating much of
this success into a more streamlined and effective MTSG.