seaturtle.org :
MTN :
ARCHIVES :
Sign In
Marine Turtle Newsletter 121:33-34, © 2008
MEETING REPORT
South Atlantic Sea Turtle Workshop, Praia do Forte, Brazil (5-12 May 2008)
Manjula Tiwari1 & Alan B. Bolten2
1NOAA-NMFS, Marine Turtle Research Program, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, La Jolla, California 92037 USA (E-mail: manjula.tiwari@noaa.gov);
2Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research and Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 USA (E-mail: abb@zoology.ufl.edu)
Our knowledge of sea turtles in the southern Atlantic is relatively poor compared to the northern Atlantic where research and conservation have been active and extensive over several decades (e.g., Bolten and Witherington 2003, Turtle Expert Working Group 2007). However, increased sea turtle work in recent years along the Atlantic coast of Africa and in countries south of Brazil now allows us to bring together researchers working on both sides of the Atlantic to address gaps in our knowledge of sea turtles in the southern Atlantic and establish transatlantic research collaborations. Therefore, the South Atlantic Sea Turtle Network was created and its first Workshop was held in Praia do Forte, Brazil, the headquarters of the Brazilian sea turtle program, Projeto TAMAR. An advisory committee composed of key researchers in the southern Atlantic region was assembled to develop an agenda and identify participants for the Workshop. This first Workshop focused only on loggerheads and leatherbacks and brought together 27 researchers working in or collaborating with projects in South America (Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina) and Atlantic Africa (Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Angola, and Namibia): Neca Marcovaldi, Gustave Lopez, Luciano Soares, Joca Thome, Paulo Barata, Bruno Giffoni, Eduardo Lima, Danielle Monteiro, Alexsandro Santos, Alejandro Fallabrino, Andres Domingo, Milagros Lopez-Mendilaharsu, Maria Noel Caraccio, Laura Prosdocimi, Diego Albareda, Gaëlle Bal, Miguel Morais, Rod Braby, Elena Abella-Pérez, Catalina Monzon, Peter Dutton, Angela Formia, Jacques Fretey, Michael Coyne, Eugenia Naro-Maciel, Manjula Tiwari, and Alan Bolten. Alain Gibudi and Samantha Petersen although unable to attend the Workshop, provided data for the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa, respectively.
The guiding framework for the South Atlantic Sea Turtle Network is to:
•start with a conceptual model of sea turtle life history/life cycle
•add geo-spatial/temporal data and relationships of various life stages
•quantify linkages/connectivity among populations (define metapopulation boundaries)
The objectives of this first Workshop, which were successfully achieved, were to:
•Coordinate, collaborate, and plan research so that individual projects can become part of a larger regional initiative, which would allow a new realm of assessment through metapopulation analyses.
•Map sea turtle distributions (nesting beaches, foraging grounds, developmental habitats, and migration corridors) and threats to sea turtle survival (bycatch areas, oil and gas exploration, shipping lanes, etc.) to synthesize our knowledge of loggerheads and leatherbacks in the southern Atlantic and identify gaps in our knowledge of distributions and threats.
•Identify and direct research priorities to determine connectivity.
•Identify funding for transatlantic collaborations for nesting beach and in-water studies.
•Build capacity and assist African researchers
This workshop was the first in a series of workshops to catalyze transatlantic collaborations that will allow us to better understand and manage sea turtles in the southern Atlantic.
Acknowledgements: Our thanks to Neca Marcovaldi, Luciano Soares, and Gustave Lopez for all their help with organizing this Workshop and Projeto TAMAR for hosting the Workshop. We also thank Mayra Rocha França and Paulo Roberto Fleury for assistance with translations. We thank the Hotel Iberostar (Praia do Forte) for the support and services provided throughout the Workshop. Finally, many thanks to all of the participants for their contributions and excellent discussions.
BOLTEN, A.B. & B.E. WITHERINGTON. 2003. Loggerhead Sea Turtles. Smithsonian Books, Washington, D.C. 319 pp.
TURTLE EXPERT WORKING GROUP. 2007. An assessment of the leatherback turtle population in the Atlantic Ocean. U.S. Department of Commerce NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-SEFSC.