Bonn, 16 June 2021 - On the occasion of  World Sea Turtle Day 2021, “TurtleNet”, an interactive atlas that shows nesting, courtship, feeding and migration routes of marine turtles has been launched.

The new online Marine Turtle Breeding and Migration Atlas, developed by Queensland’s Department of Environment and Science (DES) in collaboration with the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), brings together decades of Australian and global data.

The interactive atlas will help to advance the turtle conservation efforts of CMS and its Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation and Management of Marine Turtles and their Habitats of the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia. The IOSEA Marine Turtle MOU, as it is known in short, puts in place a framework through which States, territories, inter- and non-governmental stakeholders of the Indian Ocean and South-East Asian region, as well as other concerned States, can work together to conserve marine turtle populations and their habitats. This year, the IOSEA Marine Turtle MOU celebrates its 20th Anniversary.

TurtleNet can be used by school children, community groups, interested locals, and scientists to create maps and graphs of population trends, and view videos showing the route of tracked turtles. They can see where turtles nest or forage near them, where marine parks protect key breeding sites, and how ‘their’ turtles move across the globe.