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We would also like to take this opportunity to highlight the important work of two of the past Regional Vice Chairs who will not be continuing in these roles: Dimitris Margaritoulis and J Nichols. We both thank and commend Dimitris for his many years of leadership of the MTSG Mediterranean Region. Dimitris has been an invaluable asset to the MTSG, and has been critical in unifying this diverse region and creating one of the best examples of MTSG regional membership. We are confident that Dimitris’ successor, and former Co-Chair, Paolo Casale, will carry on this excellent work as the sole Vice Chair for the Mediterranean. Although Dimitris will no longer serve as Regional Vice Chair, he will be continuing as an MTSG member and intends to stay fully engaged in MTSG issues.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank J Nichols for his years of work as the MTSG Regional Vice Co-Chair for the East Pacific region. J has been an important leader throughout the East Pacific region, and has had a tremendous impact in building capacity of turtle researchers and conservationists throughout the region. J has also been a valuable asset to the MTSG’s global efforts, as a knowledgeable spokesperson for the East Pacific region in various global forums. Although leaving the Vice Chair role, J will continue on as an active MTSG member.

MTSG Regions and Regional Vice Chairs (July 2009)

Over the coming weeks, the Co-Chairs will review membership recommendations in conjunction with the newly-appointed Regional Vice Chairs, and general member invites will be sent out prior to the end of August.

Workshop on Sea Turtle Take in Southeast Asia
From 1st to 3rd June 2009, MTSG members in SE Asia (Nick Pilcher, Chan Eng Heng, Kevin Hiew and Romy Trono) co-hosted a meeting in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia, to start addressing the direct capture of turtles in the region. As reported at the last two MTSG meetings, critically endangered marine turtles from South East Asia are being targeted by foreign vessels originating from Hainan, China, and (to a lesser degree) from Vietnam. These boats leave port with the express purpose of catching marine turtles, a practice which is illegal both in their home country and in the waters of countries in which they fish. The last half a decade has seen such a noteworthy increase that we need to look much more closely to determine the severity of this practice. How much poaching goes unrecorded or undetected? How severe are the impacts to turtle populations? What drives this trade, and how can it be curtailed?

Given the need to make significant and urgent inroads into curbing this illegal trade, the MTSG felt it proper to support the workshop, which, with the help of Prof. Shi Haitao from Hainan and China MTSG member Wang Yamin, brought together key players from Hainan along with key conservationists and government agencies from Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines (the countries most targeted by the direct capture industry). The meeting was co-sponsored by the MTSG, Universiti Terengganu Malaysia, the Terengganu State Government, CI Philippines and the WWF Coral Triangle Initiative.

The workshop set out to document in a collective manner the cases of apprehensions of foreign vessels and fishermen involved in the illegal direct capture of marine turtles in South East Asian waters, and to document the cases of apprehensions of vessels and fishermen in their home countries. The scene was set through presentations on biology of marine turtles to demonstrate that direct capture of adult and subadult marine turtles can cause a rapid collapse of turtle populations in SE Asia, and on the declining trend of marine turtles in the region and the efforts undertaken to arrest the decline. Of interest were all the presentations by the Hainanese participants, which highlighted laws and regulations pertaining to sea turtles in China, conservation efforts by local NGOs, public awareness programmes and status of sea turtle populations. Ensuing discussion sessions focused on enforcement issues, market drivers and trends, and fishery community participation. A final set of recommendations on moving forward from here was put together, and a follow-up trip to Hainan is already on the cards for Nick, Chan, Kevin and Romy. The formal workshop report will be released shortly and we will keep MTSG informed of actions and progress.