Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a pervasive issue that affects economic, social, regulatory and environmental systems in all ocean basins. Research on the ecological impacts of IUU fishing has been relatively underrepresented, with minimal investigation into how IUU fishing may negatively affect populations of marine megafauna, such as sea turtles.

Hawksbill sea turtle is one of the two important marine turtles, breeding and nesting regularly in the Iran beaches of the Persian Gulf. Hawksbill turtles are critically endangered and there is very little information regarding their Indian Northwest population. Thirty eight nests of Eretmochelys imbricata were monitored during the nesting season in Nakhiloo Island. Half of the nests were transferred into a protected hatchery site, in which there were no risk of predation and high-tide inundation. All nests were closely monitored during the incubation period.

All of the world’s seven species of marine turtle are threatened by a multitude of anthropogenic pressures across all stages of their life history. The Calamian Islands, Palawan, Philippines provide important foraging and nesting grounds for four species: green turtles (Chelonia mydas), hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata), loggerheads (Caretta caretta), and leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea).

We analyzed 88 control region sequences of green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) from around Hainan Island in the South China Sea. These sequences had a length of 489 bp and revealed 8 mtDNA haplotypes of which four haplotypes (CMC1, CMC4, CMC7, and CMC8) had not been discovered before. Haplotype diversity (h) and nucleotide diversity (π) were 0.45 ± 0.054 and 0.0035 ± 0.0014, respectively. Neighbor-Joining tree based on control region sequences revealed that genetic relationship between green sea turtles from the South China Sea and from Japan Sea were very close.

CMS Technical Series No.35
CMS Raptors MOU Technical Publication No.5

Vultures are a distinctive and important components of biodiversity. They also provide critical ecosystem services by cleaning up carcasses and other organic waste in the environment, which has huge ramifications in preventing the spread of diseases in both wild and domestic animals, and pathogenic risks to humans.

Including a management and monitoring system to conserve the species

CMS Raptors MOU Technical Publication No.2

CMS Technical Series No.31

In 2010 and 2015 mass die-off events have been observed in Saiga antelope of the Ural and Betpak-Dala populations in Kazakhstan. In intervening years, smaller die-offs of hundreds to a few thousands of animals have also been observed. These are the first such reported incidents after the dramatic decline in numbers in the 1990s, which led to the current status of a critically endangered species. Only a few thousand animals were left in 2003. Hunting of Saiga antelopes is forbidden and the species is protected by international conventions.