Lots to report on this month, even though
unrelated Convention on Migratory Species (CMS)
work and meetings have absorbed a fair amount of
the Coordinator's time in recent weeks.
We’re pleased to be able to publish as the
Profile
of the Month for March an interesting article
by Dr M.R. Boopendranath and colleagues from
India’s Central Institute of Fisheries Technology
(CIFT), which outlines the successes and ongoing
challenges in the development of indigenous TED
technology in that country.
Maung Maung Lwin, Myanmar Focal Point, and
other colleagues from the Department of Fisheries
were in Thailand at the end of February to attend
the annual SEASTAR2000 symposium in Phuket.
Afterwards, they travelled with the Coordinator to
see the turtle conservation facilities run by the
Thai Department of Marine Resources and
Conservation on Koh Mannai, in the Gulf of
Thailand. Mohammad Al-Zibdah also travelled from
Jordan to participate in the SEASTAR meeting, and
many other faces familiar to IOSEA were present.
US Focal Point Alexis Gutierrez is planning
to set up another conference call for members of
the IOSEA Site Network Working Group, hopefully
during the week of 15 March. The group is
presently reviewing terms of reference drafted by
the secretariat for a small consultancy to
develop a paper that will facilitate the group’s
considerations.
A number of initiatives in the framework of
the IOSEA Capacity-Building and Technical Support
programme are starting to take shape, with plans
for training in Myanmar in Octrober/November (led
by Dr Colin Limpus); the suggestion of combining a
national workshop in Mozambique with support
offered by Dr. Mark Hamann, in November; and an
outline prepared by Dr. Jeff Miller of training
modules that will be offered shortly to
colleagues in Eritrea to consider. Support for
Madagascar (led by Dr. Jack Frazier) and
Mauritius (led by Dr. Kartik Shanker) is also in
the cards.
Reports from Jerome Bourjea (Ifremer -
France) suggest that the marine turtle component
of the Southwest Indian Ocean Fisheries Project
is moving to the “front burner” in several
circles. A sub-regional training course is to be
organised in La Réunion some time between April
and August 2010.
The Secretariat’s recent letter to
Signatory States inviting offers to host the Sixth
Meeting of the Signatory States towards the end
of 2010 or early 2011 has attracted interest from
a number of members. A deadline of 31 March has
been set for receipt of expressions of interest.
The Coordinator will travel on short notice
this week to Melaka, Malaysia, to participate in a
region planning workshop on “Research and
Management of Sea Turtles in Foraging Habitat in
the Southeast Asian Waters” organised under the
auspices of SEAFDEC.
The big event on many people’s calendar at
the end of next month is the 30th Annual Sea
Turtle Symposium in Goa, India, presided over
this year by Kartik Shanker (also a member of the
IOSEA Advisory Committee). Many interesting
side-events will be organised in the margins
including, hopefully, an informal gathering to
discuss IOSEA business.
Last, but not least, we would like to thank
the Governments of France, Mauritius, Oman and
Thailand whose voluntary contributions to the
IOSEA Trust Fund have materialised in recent
weeks; and to recognise also the Government of
Mozambique which has pledged to make a
contribution in the course of 2010.
| 
Bycatch is one of many threats to
large marine vertebrates that reach late maturity
and have low reproductive rates, among which
figure marine turtles. Marine turtles are often
found entangled or hooked in the fishing gear, and
in some cases still alive when captured. However
their mortality following their release back to
sea by fishermen is not well determined.
The following report is from the
Centre for Advanced Research in Natural Resources
& Management (CARINAM) which has been
conducting a survey on the status of critically
endangered turtles of Bangladesh. 
In 2000, countries bordering the
Western Indian Ocean requested assistance in the
management of the living resources and associated
habitats of their shared marine ecosystems. In
response, the World Bank initiated under the
Global Environmental Facility (GEF) the
development of a multi-national fisheries
management and development programme called the
South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Project
(SWIOFP). 
A first-ever gathering of turtle
practitioners from French territories all around
the world was organised in Paris at the Muséum
national d’Histoire naturelle (National Museum of
Natural History) from 20-22 January, under the
banner « Bilan et perspectives des programmes de
recherche et de conservation
».
