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MTSG Member Survey: As an output from the Burning Issues 3 meeting of last August, an MTSG-wide survey was sent to every MTSG member on March 1 (plus as many as 2 individual reminders thereafter) and closed on April 9. The survey was generously implemented pro bono by a third-party professional research firm, CfMC Research Software, at the request of Mr. Peter Schireson of Schireson Associates. The purpose of the survey was to learn more about each other’s work, specifically what is and is not being done by our fellow members to address each of the five major hazards to sea turtles that were identified in the 2nd Burning Issues meeting. Of the 226 members with who were sent the survey, 175 (77%) completed it in full. An additional 18 members (8%) accessed or began the survey, but did not complete it, and 34 members (15%) did not access the survey. In addition to reviewing and analyzing the survey responses, we also hope to identify the reasons for non-responsiveness and address these issues for future surveys. We are grateful to all who participated in this study and to those who provided input and support in the development of the survey itself. At this time we are still awaiting the summary of responses from CfMC and will report on those as soon as they become available.

Lepidochelys olivacea Red List Assessment: Following initial review by the MTSG’s Assessment Steering Committee and selected MTSG members between October 2006 and February 2007, as well as an open discussion on issues related to the assessment at the MTSG Annual General Meeting in South Carolina on February 28, multiple revisions and drafts, and lastly a five-day member-wide review period from April 2 to April 7 followed by further revision, the Red List Assessment for Lepidochelys olivacea, with a proposed listing of Vulnerable (A2bd), was submitted to the IUCN Red List Office for consideration on April 11, 2007. Because the Red List status of this species (Endangered) is under petition, the assessment submitted by the MTSG on April 11 is treated as the MTSG’s justification of the Red List status of Lepidochelys olivacea. The petitioner also submitted a justification, and each is now being considered by the IUCN-SSC Biodiversity Assessments Standards and Petitions Working Group. Submission of these justifications represented Stage 7 in this petition (for more information on this process visit <http://www.redlist.org>). Immediately thereafter, the MTSG and the petitioner were each entitled to review the other party’s justification and provide a one-page addendum to their own justification. The addendum was submitted by the MTSG on May 3, 2007. These justifications are now under review by the IUCN Red List Office and the IUCN-SSC Biodiversity Assessments Standards and Petitions Working Group, and we are awaiting information regarding their decision and steps forward. We will share this information as soon as it becomes available. Many thanks to assessor Alberto Abreu and Pam Plotkin for their hard work in preparing this assessment, and to all others who provided input and support into this important process.

Eretmochelys imbricata Red List Assessment: We are pleased to report that the draft Red List assessment for the hawksbill turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata, has been completed by assessors Jeanne Mortimer and Marydele Donnelly, and was posted to the MTSG website (www.iucn-mtsg.org) and announced to the membership on June 26, 2007 for a two-month MTSG member-wide review period that will last until August 27, 2007. MTSG Members who wish to comment on this draft assessment should send their comments, be¬fore August 27, to assessors Jeanne Mortimer (mortimer@ufl.edu) and Marydele Donnelly (mdonnelly@cccturtle.org), with a copy to MTSG Red List focal point, Milani Chaloupka (m.chaloupka@uq.edu.au). If you have any difficulty accessing assessment files, please contact Brian Hutchinson (bhutchinson@conservation.org) for assistance.

Gahirmatha Turtles and Port Development: As you will recall from earlier reports, in December 2006 Nick Pilcher participated in a mission to the coast of Orissa, India, as part of an IUCN delega¬tion that had been invited by the TATA Steel company to provide an unbiased examination on the proposed development of a port at Gahirmatha. Slightly south of this proposed development is one of Orissa’s three olive ridley arribada sites. Shortly after their initial visit, the delegation provided a quick summary of that visit, which included a member from IUCN HQ Business and Biodiversity Sec¬tion and one of the representatives from the IUCN South East Asia office. The official report is now available at <http://www.dhamraport.com/download/dhamraport_iucnreport.pdf>. At present the Dhamra Port Company and IUCN are investigating ways in which IUCN may be able to provide input to further work related to the port, and we will keep you updated as this develops. Suffice it to say that the port development is a contentious issue, with a number of NGOs strongly opposing the development, and little agreement as to the scientific facts surrounding the issue. Our hope is that in the future we may be able to assemble a team with diverse backgrounds to further investigate this issue.