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Marine Turtle Newsletter 75:16-17, © 1996

Report of the Sea Turtle Convention Negotiations

Angela Somma
NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, Office Protected Resources (F/PR), 1335 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910-3226 USA

The fourth round of negotiations of the "Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles" held in Salvador, Brazil, 3-5 September 1996, resulted in the successful conclusion of the Convention. Representatives from the United States, Brazil, México, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Bahamas, Dominica, and St. Lucia participated in the negotiations.

The Convention establishes national sea turtle conservation programs in the signatory countries. In ratifying the Convention, each signatory will agree to implement broad measures for the conservation of sea turtles, including prohibiting intentional take (except for subsistence take as allowed under the Convention) and domestic or international sale, promoting conservation and habitat restoration, and promoting efforts to enhance sea turtle populations. In addition, all commercial shrimp trawl vessels operating in the waters regulated by the Parties will use turtle exclude devices (TEDs) to reduce the incidental capture of sea turtles. Some exceptions to this requirement are allowed under the Convention and are discussed below.

The following outstanding issues from the previous round of negotiations were resolved to U. S. satisfaction:

• The use of trade measures: All Parties will act in accordance with the provisions of the World Trade Organization (WTO), as established at Marrakesh in 1994.
• Subsistence take of sea turtles: Parties may allow exceptions to the prohibition of intentional takes if such takes are for subsistence needs. The Party allowing such takes must consider the recommendations of the Consultative Committee and must develop a management plan that includes limits on levels of intentional takes.
• Geographic scope of the Convention: The geographic scope of the Convention restricting it to 35 North latitude to 35 South latitude was removed. The Convention now applies to all land and water areas of the Americas.
• Exceptions to the use of TEDs: Parties may claim an exemption from the use of TEDs on their shrimp trawl vessels if they are exclusively using other trawl gear that has been demonstrated not to pose a risk of incidental capture and mortality to sea turtles, or are operating under conditions where there is no likelihood of interactions with sea turtles. Parties claiming such exemptions will have to provide documented scientific evidence to the other Parties.

Other changes to the text of the Convention were made, as well. They include revisions to the list of recommended TEDs, an additional annex on the protection of sea turtle habitat, the creation of a Scientific Committee and a mechanism for countries outside the Western Hemisphere to negotiate complementary protocols.

• Recommended list of TEDs: The list of allowable TEDs was removed and replaced with the provision that the Parties will develop an initial list at their first meeting. Until that meeting, each Party will determine which TEDs to require.
• Annex on habitat protection: This annex encourages Parties to conduct environmental assessments of marine and coastal development activities, manage and regulate the use of beaches and coastal dunes in nesting areas, and establish protected areas where sea turtles nest or regularly occur.
• Scientific Committee: This Committee will analyze scientific information and provide recommendations on scientific and technical matters. The Convention also creates a Consultative Committee to examine annual reports to be submitted by the Parties.
• Complementary Protocols: The Convention calls upon Parties to negotiate with nonParty States a complementary protocol consistent with the objectives of the Convention. Any interested State can ratify a complementary protocol. The Convention itself is open only to States in the Americas or with territories in the Americas.

The Convention will be open for signature from 1 December 1996 through 31 December 1998 and will come into force after eight countries ratify it.

Editor's Note: We welcome informed opinions and analyses concerning the Convention, and we hope that other persons active in Government delegations or non-government advocacy groups will share their perspectives on this new legal instrument with our readers. Convention text will be excerpted in an upcoming issue of the MTN.