Proceedings of the Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia 24-25 March 2015, Karachi, Pakistan

Organized by: IUCN Pakistan

These Proceedings are made possible with support from the American people, delivered through U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

Contents

Introduction 02

1. Paper 1: IOTC-IOSEA: Turtle-fisheries Interactions in the Indian Ocean South East Asia Region 05

2. Paper 2: Innoviation on the design of a Turtle Excluder Device (TED) for implementation on the monsoon Shirmp Trawl in Kemaman, Terengganu, Malaysia 21

3. Paper 3: TED trial monitoring and estimation of sea turtles mortality along the Coast of Pakistan 33

4. Paper 4: Turtle Mortality in Fishing Operations in Pakistan 52

5. Paper 5: Sea turtle conservation & monitoring status in Bangladesh 66

6. Paper 6: Management of Sea Turtle Hatcheries in Sri Lanka 81

7. Paper 7: Beyond Baseline: Rethinking Priorities for Turtle Conservation in Sindh 88

8. Paper 8: Marine Turtle Conservation in Pakistan with special reference to measures taken by Sindh Wildlife Department 94

9. Paper 9: Community based marine turtle conservation in Viet Nam: Long-term effort needed 105 10. Paper 10: Twenty Years of Community Based Sea Turtle Conservation in Rekawa Sanctuary, Sri Lanka 114

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Introduction

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) organized a 2-day Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation on 24 – 25March 2015 at PC Hotel Karachi. The symposium was held under the USAID Small Grants and Ambassador Funds Program (SGAFP) funded ‘Saving the Endangered Sea Turtles on Coastal areas of Pakistan’ being implemented by IUCN Pakistan.

The two day symposium was attended by marine conservation experts from different regional countries including, Abu Dhabi, Bangladesh, Germany, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan, besides the representatives from US Consulate Karachi, Ministry of Climate Change, Islamabad, Marine Fisheries Department, Pakistan Maritime Security Agency, Sindh Wildlife Department (SWD), Sindh Fisheries Department, Balochistan Forest & Wildlife Department, Sindh Coastal Development Authority, World Wide Fund For Nature Pakistan, Private Sector Organisations, Academia, IUCN Pakistan, including IUCN Global Vice President and Regional Councilor West Asia, Regional Director IUCN Asia, Bangkok and several other government and civil society organisations belonging to Balochistan and Sindh provinces.

The inaugural session of the symposium was held on 24 March 2015 under the Chairmanship of Mr. Arif Ahmed Khan, Secretary, Ministry of Climate Change Islamabad. Welcoming the delegates Mr. Mahmood Akhtar Cheema, Country Representative, IUCN Pakistan provided an overview of the IUCN’s partnership with USAID under SGAFP as the pioneering engagement. He mentioned that turtle conservation was one of the first initiatives of IUCN Pakistan carried out during mid-eighties. He appreciated SGAFP and project partners’ support during project implementation.

Syed Ghulam Qadir Shah, National Coordinator MFF Program IUCN Pakistan gave a presentation on USAID Sea Turtle Project and briefed the participants about the project objectives and achievements, and explained how the project has contributed to the overall sea turtle conservation plan by creating awareness, building capacity of local communities and contributing to implementation of national and international policies related to sea turtle conservation. He explained that six out of seven sea turtle species are found in the Indian Ocean and South-East Asian region, of which four inhabit the coastal waters of Pakistan. All these six species have been categorized as vulnerable, endangered or critically-endangered under the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species.

This was followed by screening of a documentary on sea turtles produced under the project.

Sharing his views on the occasion, Mr. Shaukat Hussain, Director General Marine Fisheries Department appreciated the IUCN efforts in improving the knowledge and skills of fishermen concerning TED in shrimp trawling nets through demonstrations and training. He specifically mentioned about the visit of inspection team of US State Department from 18-20 November, 2014 to assess the turtle conservation programme being implemented in Pakistan. The inspection team has recommended certifying Pakistan to continue its export of shrimp to U.S. He said that the seafood needs to be harvested in a manner not harmful to sea turtles.

Ms. Aban Marker Kabraji, Regional Director, IUCN Asia said “Turtles are an integral component of a coastal ecosystem and livelihoods”. She mentioned that sea turtle conservation programme is one of the longest run initiatives of the Sindh government which have remained continued since seventies without a break. She said that sea turtles were an indicator species of the health of an ocean because of its functional importance in marine ecosystems. IUCN and its members have supported the

2 Proceedings - Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia provincial government’s efforts through strategic planning, capacity building and creating awareness about the importance of conserving sea turtles.

She said conservation and development can go together and cited the example of Dhamra Port in India, where the IUCN helped the TATA Group to join hands with turtle conservationists in coming up with a strategy to protect sea turtles when the port was being built. This initiative reminds that you can build a sea port but also conserve the population of turtles i.e. you can achieve a balance between development and the environment. But, in the case of Pakistan, highest turtle mortalities are being witnessed during fishing operations. The high mortalities are causing depletion of marine turtle populations across the world.”

Mr. Arif Ahmed Khan, the federal secretary of Ministry of Climate Change, highlighted the importance of “respecting other species on earth” and described how the survival of threatened and seemingly insignificant species was essential for the overall health of the planet. He underscored the role of the ministry of climate change, which under its mandate, should bring experts together to discuss and deliberate on environmental issues. He said the private sector, being a potential partner and also the beneficiary, needed to come forward and take steps to ensure that international obligations were met so that the export of seafood remained uninterrupted and marine life was not threatened.

The closing of symposium was organized on 25 March 2015 which was chaired by Dr. Sikandar Mandhro, Provincial Minster of Law, Parliamentary Affairs, Environment and Sindh Coastal Development Authority and attended by Mr. Alexander Orr, Economic Officer, US Consulate Karachi, Syed Mahmood Nasir, Inspector General of Forests, Ministry of Climate Change, Mr. Malik Amin Aslam, IUCN Global Vice President and Regional Councilor West Asia, Ms. Aban Marker Kabraji, Regional Director IUCN Asia, Bangkok and representatives of various government and civil society organisations belonging to Balochistan and Sindh provinces and media.

The closing ceremony started with a welcome address by Mr. Mahmood Akhtar Cheema, Country Representative, IUCN Pakistan.

This was followed by a symposium summary and regional perspective of threats facing sea turtles by Dr Nicolas Pilcher, Co-Chair, IUCN Turtle Specialist Group. He emphasized on regional collaboration and learning by quoting examples of successful implementation of TED programme in Malaysia and community based sea turtle conservation in Sri Lanka. He said problems were not the same everywhere; therefore, there is not one solution that is applicable to all countries. The solutions need to be custom-tailored for issues at hand in each country. He stressed on cross pollination of conservation ideas through communication, maintaining links and contacts, knowledge sharing and case studies.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Alexander Orr appreciated and congratulated IUCN Pakistan on the successful implementation of the USAID-SGFAP funded sea turtle conservation project. He stated that sea turtle conservation was a regulatory requirement under US law. It is essential that any export of shrimp to US from TED registered nation complies with US regulations. He stated that a two member inspection delegation from US consisting of Mr. Jack Forester and Mr. Stephen Wilger visited Pakistan during November 2014 to monitor compliance of these regulations, and trained officials of Marine Fisheries Department and fisherfolks in installation of TED. As per recommendations of the inspection team Pakistan has been certified to export shrimp to U.S. Mr. Alexander also briefly mentioned about USAID grant priorities to support economic development in Pakistan.

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Speaking during the closing session, Ms. Aban Marker Kabraji termed the symposium a good way of sharing regional experience and networking for nature conservation. She mentioned that IUCN was working on several regional initiatives related to mangrove conservation, trans-boundary collaboration in water management and aspired for a regional partnership on species conservation. Turtle is an apt representation of the trans-boundary and geographically contiguous work of the Asia region through its migratory nature. She appreciated USAID-SGAFP support to IUCN for wildlife conservation in Pakistan and hoped that this partnership would flourish in future.

In his remarks, Mr. Malik Amin Aslam, IUCN Global Vice President shared that Pakistan’s sea territory has expanded by an additional 50,000 square kilometers, so this gives more area for our conservation work.

Dr. Sikandar Mandhro, the chief Guest at the closing session appreciated the role of IUCN in organisation of regional symposium and inviting experts from different regional countries to discuss and debate on environmental issues. He viewed that such events were important to bridge gaps in knowledge and conservation practices and are helpful in guiding conservation policies and priorities.

The closing session ended with vote of thanks offered by Mr. Mahmood Akhtar Cheema, Country Representative, IUCN Pakistan to the chief guest, representative of US Consulate Karachi international and national delegates, representatives of various government and non-government organisations, private sector, media and IUCN.

A briefing was organized for media in which it was highlighted that a number of major threats to sea turtles exist but simultaneous conservation efforts have also been underway. Many causes of sea turtle trapping go unreported and the actual numbers of mortality could be in thousands and therefore it needs to be addressed as priority issue.

The social, economic, environmental and cultural values of the wildlife were highlighted. It was emphasised that coordination and adoption of integrated approach and regional collaboration was essential to achieve conservation goals. The regional symposium was considered as a way forward to make further efforts to ensure achievement of strategic pursuits. It was felt that the first step is always the most difficult one, but the first step has been taken with the successful completion of this project and the two day symposium with good recommendations for future implementation.

The media was also briefed on the recent decision of Sindh High Court against a wildlife trafficker in which the court bound federal and provincial governments to take strict measures for stopping the smuggling of freshwater turtles and other species.

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Paper 1: IOTC-IOSEA: Turtle-fisheries interactions in the Indian Ocean South East Asia Region

By: Clara Nobbe Coordinator/CMS Advisor IOSEA Marine Turtle MoU Secretariat, Germany

Memorandum of Understanding on the Distr. GENERAL Conservation and Management of Marine MT-IOSEA/SS.7/Doc. 10.4 Turtles andtheir Habitats of the Indian Ocean Agenda item 8c and South-East Asia 2 August 2014

SEVENTH MEETING OF THE SIGNATORY STATES Bonn, Germany, 8-11 September 2014

Insights into Indian Ocean Fisheries-Turtle Interaction

1. In April 2013, the IOSEA Secretariat prepared a systematic analysis11 of national reports submitted by member States of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission to the 15th meeting of the IOTC Scientific Committee, held in Seychelles in December 2012 (Annex 1). The review sought to assess the reports’ potential contribution to the understanding of marine turtle bycatch in the Indian Ocean and the efficacy of by-catch mitigation measures undertaken by IOTC members.

2. The national reports provided to the IOTC Scientific Committee generally include much information of interest and relevance to marine turtle conservation. The information on fleet size and distribution could be used as starting point for more in-depth investigation of overlaps and interactions with marine turtle populations. The usefulness of these reports will be further enhanced as more IOTC members make a concerted effort to include up-to-date and comprehensive information, in enough detail to allow impartial observers to assess the extent to which the provisions of IOTC Resolution 12/04 (largely focussing on mitigation of marine turtle bycatch) are being met. The national reports submitted by many of the same countries under their reporting commitments to IOSEA often provide complementary information on their fisheries as well as bycatch mitigation measures.

3. The attached paper responds in part to the request of the Sixth Meeting of the Signatory States to begin an investigation of indirect take of marine turtles in legal fisheries occurring in the IOSEA region. A parallel request addressed to the Advisory Committee to provide guidance on minimum data

1 IOSEA Profile of the Month for April 2013: http://ioseaturtles.org/pom_detail.php?id=127. The three annexes to that report are not reproduced here, but are available online. Namely, Annex 1: Spreadsheet summarising information relevant to marine turtle bycatch mitigation contained in IOTC national reports (2012); Annex 2: Summary of relevant information extracted from the IOSEA Online Reporting Facility (http://ioseaturtles.org/report.php), pertaining to countries that are members of both IOSEA and IOTC; and Annex 3: List of acronyms and abbreviations.

Proceedings - Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia 5 requirements in relation to turtle by-catch is worth revisiting, in the light of a recently expressed wish of IOTC to collaborate with IOSEA in this area.

4. Annex 2 contains a separate article22 prepared by the IOSEA Secretariat summarising the marine turtle-related discussions which took place at the 16th IOTC Scientific Committee meeting (Busan, December 2013). In particular, the Scientific Committee recommended (in para. 53 of its report) collaboration with IOSEA to improve data collection and to offer specialised training to increase post- release survival rates of marine turtles:

. “The development of standards using the IOTC guidelines for the implementation of the Regional Observer Scheme should be undertaken, as it is considered the best way to collect reliable data related to marine turtle bycatch in the IOTC area of competence. . The Chair of the WPDCS [Working Party on Data Collection and Statistics] [should] work with the IOSEA MoU Secretariat, which has already developed regional standards for data collection (sic), and revise the observer data collection forms and observer reporting template as appropriate, as well as current recording and reporting requirements through IOTC Resolutions, to ensure that the IOTC has the means to collect quantitative and qualitative data on marine turtle bycatch. . [IOTC member States are encouraged] to use IOSEA expertise and facilities to train observers and crew to increase post-release survival rates of marine turtles.”

5. The attached analysis and summary of IOTC deliberations are thought to provide useful guidance to Signatory States with a view to taking IOSEA’s involvement in by-catch mitigation efforts to a new level. Discussions at the Meeting should strive to focus on new initiatives that are realistically achievable in the inter-sessional period.

Action requested:

Signatory States are invited to review the attached analysis of IOTC national reports and the summary of relevant IOTC Scientific Committee discussions, with a view to formulating specific follow-up actions to be directed to the Signatory States, Advisory Committee, and Secretariat. In particular, the Advisory Committee might again be tasked with providing advice on minimum data collection requirements and, to the extent possible (i.e. subject to available finance and in-house expertise), to participate in planned IOTC training programmes on bycatch mitigation.

2Marine turtle discussions at the 16th IOTC Scientific Committee meeting. (Reproduction of article prepared by the IOSEA Secretariat and featured on the IOSEA website on 28 March 2014).

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Annex 1

IOTC / IOSEA reports give insights into Indian Ocean fisheries-turtle interactions

Introduction

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) is the main regional fisheries management organisation mandated to manage tuna and tuna-like species in the Indian Ocean and adjacent seas. While its primary objective is to assure the conservation and optimum utilisation of fish stocks, the IOTC has paid increasing attention in recent years to the impacts of its fisheries on other marine species, such as marine turtles, seabirds and sharks. IOSEA and IOTC have developed a good working relationship, which has included collaboration in the production of regular status reports on marine turtles, the development of turtle ID cards for fishermen and, most recently, co-funding of the production of a region-wide Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) for marine turtles.

Membership of IOTC is open to coastal countries and to countries or regional economic integration organisations that are fishing for tuna in the Indian Ocean. There is a substantial overlap in the respective memberships of IOTC and IOSEA. Indeed, twenty-three of the 31 IOTC Contracting Parties and two Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties (collectively known as CPCs) are also signatories to IOSEA. Many are also members of the Convention on Migratory Species, the parent organisation of IOSEA. This might help to explain, in part, why IOTC has been receptive to substantive discussions about fisheries interactions with non-target migratory species.

The annual meeting of the IOTC Scientific Committee includes on its agenda a presentation and review of national reports submitted by CPCs.31 These reports cover such topics as: background/general fishery information, fleet structure, catch and effort by species and gear, recreational fishery, ecosystem and bycatch issues, national data collection and processing systems, national research programmes, and implementation of IOTC recommendations and resolutions relevant to the Scientific Committee.

These reports are a rich source of information on fisheries potentially interacting with marine turtles in the Indian Ocean, as well as on monitoring programmes and bycatch mitigation measures that may have been implemented by IOTC members. They include, for example, data on the size and coverage of longline and purse seine fleets, as well as trends in fishing effort and shifts in the geographic distribution of fishing fleets. Such information could eventually be useful in helping to identify areas where marine turtles may be more or less prone to interactions with fisheries. The reports also contain information that may be used to assess the extent of compliance with various IOTC resolutions and recommendations pertaining to mitigation of marine turtle bycatch.

Incidentally, the reports also contain some data on the incidence of turtle bycatch, however this aspect is generally incomplete and based on very limited observation and reporting. Indeed, the IOTC Scientific Committee has expressed concern in the past “that the lack of data from Contracting Parties

1 Available at: http://www.iotc.org/English/meetings/sc/doc_meeting_SC15.php. The designation of geographical entities in this report does not imply the expression of any opinion concerning the legal status of any country, territory or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Proceedings - Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia 7 and cooperating non-contracting Parties (CPCs) on the interactions and mortality of marine turtles from fisheries under the mandate of the IOTC undermines the ability to estimate levels of turtle bycatch and consequently IOTC’s capacity to respond and manage adverse effects of fishing on marine turtles”.

Until now, the IOTC national reports have never been analysed systematically from the standpoint of assessing their potential contribution to the understanding of marine turtle bycatch in the Indian Ocean and of the efficacy of bycatch mitigation measures undertaken by IOTC members. The following analysisdoes just that, by compiling and summarising information from all of the national reports submitted to the 15th Scientific Committee meeting held in Seychelles in December 2012.

IOTC frame of reference for mitigation of marine turtle bycatch

IOTC Resolution 12/04 (adopted in April 2012) requires IOTC Contracting Parties and Co-operating non-Contracting Parties to take various measures in order to mitigate the impact of their fisheries on the six species of marine turtles that are present in the Indian Ocean. The requirements of CPCs with regard to fishing vessels registered on the IOTC Record of Fishing Vessels can be summarised as follows: - To require fishermen to bring aboard, if practicable, any captured marine turtle that is comatose or inactive, and foster its recovery before safely returning it to the water; and to release marine turtles observed entangled in fishing gear;

- To ensure that fishermen are aware of and use proper mitigation, identification, handling and de- hooking techniques and keep on board all necessary equipment for the release of marine turtles. More specifically, CPCs are to ensure that longline vessel operators carry line-cutters and de-hookers; that purse seine vessel operators avoid encirclement of marine turtles and use dip nets to handle them; and they are encouraged to adopt designs for Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) that reduce the incidence of entanglement of marine turtles; and - To collect, and provide to the IOTC Secretariat, all data on their vessels’ interactions with marine turtles, through the use of a logbook system and an observer programme.

CPCs are also requested to undertake research trials with a view to improving mitigation methods in several areas that have shown potential (e.g. use of circle hooks and whole finfish bait, alternative gear design and handling techniques) and to report the results of these trials to the Scientific Committee. Furthermore, CPCs are encouraged to collaborate with IOSEA, to apply the FAO Guidelines to Reduce Sea Turtle Mortality in Fishing Operations, and to support developing countries in their implementation of these guidelines.

In fact, the provisions of Resolution 12/04 are broadly shared by its predecessor from 2009, Resolution 09/06, with the introduction of some additional elements. For instance, the new resolution clarifies that it applies to all fishing vessels on the IOTC Record of Fishing Vessels, and reinforces the need for CPCs to report annually to the IOTC Secretariat all interactions and mortality of marine turtles in fisheries under the IOTC mandate. As noted above, the latest resolution also calls for the development of improved FAD designs to reduce the incidence of entanglement of marine turtles; and its provisions on safe handling of accidentally captured marine turtles now apply to all species, not only hard shelled turtles. Similarly, IOTC Recommendation 05/08, dating back to 2005, also included specific guidelines in relation to safe handling, purse seine and longline operations, and data collection.

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Thus, while it might seem reasonable to excuse IOTC CPCs for any incompleteness in their reports submitted in December 2012 – given that much of their content relates to a resolution adopted earlier that same year – CPCs have in fact been encouraged to improve and report on their implementation of marine turtle bycatch mitigation measures as long ago as 2005.

Methodology

Available 2012 IOTC national reports were reviewed in order to identify actions taken so far by CPCs in accordance with IOTC Resolution 12/04, regarding marine turtle interactions with tuna fisheries operating in the IOTC convention area. In total, 24 reports were reviewed, corresponding to all IOTC CPCs, except: Eritrea, Guinea, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu and Yemen, which did not submit a report to the IOTC Secretariat; Belize and Sudan, whose submitted reports were not available on the IOTC website; and Senegal, which has not conducted any fishing activities in the IOTC area of competence since 2007. Incidentally, the reports of Comoros and Philippines were found to provide very little information regarding their implementation of the provisions of IOTC Resolution 12/04.

All of the relevant information gleaned from the IOTC national reports is summarised in a large Excel spreadsheet (Annex 1: available online at http://ioseaturtles.org/pom_detail.php?id=127). In due course, consideration may be given to transforming the contents of the spreadsheet into an online database, to make it easier to search for particular topics of interest.

Supplementary information from IOSEA national reports submitted to the IOSEA Secretariat by countries that are members of both IOSEA and the IOTC has allowed for further enrichment of the analysis. For instance, IOSEA reports often provide complementary information concerning small- scale fisheries operating in the IOTC convention area but not targeting tuna, such as shrimp trawling and pole-and-line fisheries; occurrence of illegal fishing; subjective assessments of the degree of interaction of each fishery with marine turtles; details of results of ongoing research trials; eventual use, monitoring and recovery of FADs; details of existing net retention and recycling schemes; and national regulations on spatial and temporal control of fishing etc. This complementary information is mentioned in various places in the text, and is summarised for each country in Annex 2.

I. Fleet structure and trends in fishing effort

Out of the 24 reports reviewed, 21 CPCs reported having a longline fishery operating in the IOTC area. It is not possible, from the limited information currently available, to draw any conclusion about the overall impact of this fishery on marine turtles in the Indian Ocean. However, a report by Varghese et al (2010) submitted to the IOTC Working Party on Ecosystems and Bycatch in 2010 is particularly informative in its description of the impact on marine turtles of the longline fishery in Indian waters.

As far as purse seine is concerned, this gear type is reportedly used in nine CPCs. This fishing technique could have a direct as well as an indirect impact on marine turtles, since it is often used in combination with FADs. These can entangle turtles if they are not designed with “turtle-friendly” configuration and materials. A recent study based on a long-term dataset indicates that the rate of turtle mortality in the EU Indian Ocean purse seine fishery is actually rather low. However, that study did not consider FADs that are not observed, lost or abandoned, and which may go on to become “ghost nets” that trap turtles and other marine species indefinitely.

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Other fishing techniques – trawling, gillnets, ringnets, troll lines (with or without FAD), hand lines or harpoons – are used in the majority of the IOTC member countries, often as secondary / artisanal fisheries. The degree of their so-far-unquantified interaction with marine turtles should not be underestimated. For instance, shrimp trawl and gill net fisheries are often cited in IOSEA reports for having a relatively high impact on marine turtles.

Many of the IOTC reports provide interesting information on national trends in fishing effort, in terms of current fleet size and recent growth/contraction trends. Longline fishing effort, measured in terms of vessel numbers, has reportedly declined in recent years in 11 countries – substantially so in some cases (e.g. Australia, EU-Portugal, Japan, Republic of Korea) – while effort has apparently undergone a moderate increase in six countries (EU-Spain, Indonesia, Kenya, South Africa and Sri Lanka). For all of the CPCs involved in purse seining, effort in this fishery is reported to have declined in recent years. Reasons provided by CPCs to account for these declining trends include increased piracy in parts of the IOTC area, as well as higher operational costs associated with a general decrease in the target fish stock. Fishing effort of six CPCs was reported to have shifted geographically in recent years (mostly in 2011), suggesting a possible adaptation of the fisheries to those negative conditions.

It would be interesting to investigate more thoroughly the implications of these trends for marine turtle conservation. For instance, are smaller fleet sizes necessarily resulting in less turtle bycatch? Are the reported shifts in the geographic distribution of fishing effort positive, negative or inconsequential for marine turtle populations, in terms of the frequency of fisheries interactions with turtles? These and other questions could be explored more thoroughly if access to more detailed information on fishing effort and turtle distribution (including migration patterns) were made available.

II. Monitoring activities

Observer programme

Seventeen CPCs declared the existence of an observer programme designed for their fisheries. Although, unsurprisingly, none was reported to be specific to turtles, all of them include marine turtles in their scope. However, eight of the 17 concerned CPCs – namely China, Comoros, Kenya, Mauritius, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand – reportedly did not implement their programme in the year 2011, either due to piracy issues, lack of resources or decline in fishing effort; and the Islamic Republic of Iran also mentioned having some issues regarding the implementation of its observer programme.

Furthermore, one general reservation that may be stated regarding the implementation of existing national observer programmes is that data, sometimes still in the process of analysis, are currently unavailable for some key countries (e.g. China’s data for the years 2007, 2008 and 2009 are still to be recovered; and Japanese data for 2010 are under analysis). Moreover, it is important to note that observer coverage of the national programmes is very uneven across countries (e.g. 1.3% for Spain, 1.7% for Australia, 5% for Japan, between 9 and 13% for France, 16% for EU-Portugal, and a “target” of 30% for Madagascar). This lack of uniformity and relatively low coverage rate for some national fisheries makes it difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the available observer data.

More positively, many of the countries that have yet to implement an observer programme have stated their intention to do so, or are in the process of developing one (namely India, Malaysia, Maldives, and Oman). Moreover, South Africa is developing a new phase of its observer programme and Seychelles has just started to administer its newly designed programme in early 2013.

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The IOTC national reports offer some insights into the integrity of the programmes that are already operational. Only 9 countries (Australia, Comoros, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, EU-Portugal, Republic of Korea, Seychelles) mention training of their observers – while Sri Lanka, whose programme is under development, has requested assistance from the IOTC Secretariat. Of these countries, only three (Australia, China and Republic of Korea) provide additional information that might allow for a cursory indication of observer competence. For the latter, observers are reportedly recruited from among graduates of science colleges/universities. In the case of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the observers are crew members trained for the purpose of its programme. In general, the available information is insufficient to give confidence about the ability of observers, trained or otherwise, to correctly identify and handle incidentally caught turtles. Kenya’s national report to IOSEA mentions the incapacity of its observers to deal with faulty TEDs.

Logbook system and port sampling programme

All CPCs had implemented a national logbook system in the year 2011, except for Comoros, Philippines, United Kingdom (which no longer issues commercial licences) and Thailand (under development). In some cases, the onboard filling of logsheets by vessel operators is a licensing or unloading requirement, in China and Mauritius, respectively.

However, available data seem to be scarce even for several of those countries that have been implementing their logbook system in recent years. In most cases this situation is due to insufficient raw data, either because coverage of the programme was very limited (Indonesia, Japan), because of implementation delays (Malaysia) or, more commonly, because data were not correctly reported by cooperating vessels: Islamic Republic of Iran, Madagascar, Seychelles (for its recreational fishery), and Sri Lanka. But the limitation of available data is also, in the case of France, due to incomplete processing of recovered data because of unexpected technical and administrative problems.

CPCs seem aware of this issue and, to address it, several of them have recently reviewed their logsheets in accordance with IOTC requirements (India, Madagascar, Mozambique, Seychelles, and Republic of Korea). Additionally, Australia and France have implemented an electronic logbook system in 2013 and the Maldives and Korea are on the path to doing it.

With the exceptions of Japan, Madagascar, Maldives, Mozambique, Philippines, EU-Portugal, Republic of Korea, Seychelles and United Kingdom/BIOT, all CPCs implemented a port sampling programme in 2011, involving the collection of data such as catch, number of trips, days per trip, and operations by fishing ground. However, very little information was provided in CPC 2012 reports on the level of coverage of the programmes, and Oman declared having sometimes recorded some inaccurate data. In general, it is unclear whether any of these port sampling programmes might provide an opportunity to glean more information about the extent of marine turtle bycatch.

Reporting of turtle bycatch

According to the IOTC 2012 national reports, 14 CPCs currently apply a system of turtle bycatch monitoring to a portion of their fisheries. Such activities are organised either as part of their main observer programme (Australia), logbook system (China), other research projects carried out by specialized institutes (EU countries), or by NGOs (Seychelles). On the other hand, seven countries (Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Oman, Philippines, and Thailand) did not provide any data in their IOTC reports, suggesting no existing monitoring activities. The United Kingdom (BIOT) and

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Maldives declared no turtle bycatch in their waters due to the nature of their fisheries in 2011, without specifying whether monitoring had been implemented for that year or not.

Among the CPCs reporting on levels of turtle bycatch, Australia, China, Mozambique and Spain reported no interaction of their national fisheries with marine turtles in 2011, in the IOTC area. The number of incidentally caught turtles averaged about 12 in countries reporting incidental catch events in their territorial waters for that year (10 for Portugal, 14 for Japan, and 12 for South Africa).

Additional information is available from a study (Clermont et al 2012) that analysed EuropeanUnion purse seine fishery interactions with marine turtles in the Indian Ocean over a 15 year period. Based on available observer data, the average annual bycatch of marine turtles in fishing sets of EU purse seines operating in the Indian Ocean was estimated to be in the order of 250 animals. About 3/4 of these by-caught turtles were released alive, suggesting that the number of marine turtles killed in the EU purse seine fishery is in the order of 60 individuals per year. This finding is consistent with studies in other ocean basins showing very low rates of turtle mortality in purse seine operations. However, it is worthwhile noting that observations on sets do not take into account the phenomenon of “ghost fishing” occurring on floating devices (some of them being lost by owners) that do not end up in a fishing set.

In general, the levels of marine turtle bycatch recorded in CPC reports should be considered withgreat caution. The extent of monitoring and/or reporting of turtle bycatch in the IOTC area appears to be uneven among CPCs. Firstly, reporting of bycatch is not necessarily a requirement for all fisheries of a given CPC (for example, Japan clarifies that its observers are limited to longliners) and, in general, smaller vessels that cannot accommodate observers are usually excluded on practical grounds. India reports a sizeable longline fleet of some 294 vessels, but bycatch monitoring is undertaken on only four governmental tuna longline survey vessels. Under these circumstances, meaningful extrapolations are problematic.

Secondly, it is often difficult to differentiate between effectiveness of bycatch monitoring/ reporting and actual levels of bycatch where the quality of bycatch monitoring and reporting appears to vary greatly among CPCs. It is impossible to discern from the available reports whether the lackof mention of any bycatch (or a very low value) is a reflection of little or no “actual” turtle bycatch, poor reporting by vessel operators, and/or inadequate monitoring/reporting by authorities. For example, in Malaysia, although longline operators “were informed to record any interaction with turtles”, very few reports of bycatch appear to have been recorded. In contrast, some countries have submitted extensive documentation to various IOTC working groups which gives confidence that their estimates of low bycatch, in some fisheries, are scientifically justified.

Very few CPCs provide information on the fate of by-caught turtles in their IOTC, IOSEA or other reports. Some reports suggest that a high percentage of turtles may be released alive. For example, the study by Clermont et al (2012) indicates that 86% of the nearly 600 turtles caught in the EU purse seine fishery between 2003 and 2010 were released alive. A similarly high value, 88%, was reported for one of Australia’s eastern longline fisheries, based on a much smaller sample size (22 animals). The basis of Sri Lanka’s estimation that “over 95% of the turtles incidentally caught are returned safe to the sea” is not clear from its report submitted to IOTC. Other research conducted in Sri Lanka in late 1999/2000 suggests otherwise, at least in some localities (Marine Turtle By-Catch in Sri Lanka, 2002. Turtle Conservation Project)

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III. Turtle mitigation measures

Generally speaking, most CPCs have a general legal instrument in place that deals with protection of marine turtles from fishing activities, such as a ban on catching of turtles, spatial and temporal control of fishing, or marine protected areas that complement marine turtle conservation efforts.

Regulation of legal fisheries

Training of fishermen

IOTC Resolution 12/04 requires that all CPCs “ensure that fishermen are aware of” turtle mitigation methods. Regarding that provision, 13 countries so far (Australia, Comoros, France, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kenya, Mozambique, EU-Portugal, Republic of Korea, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Thailand) have developed programmes, in one form or another, intended to educate vessel operators about fishing techniques to avoid marine turtle bycatch and appropriate handling of by- caught turtles. However, there is little information available to judge the scope and effectiveness of these programmes, which seem to greatly vary from one CPC to another. Genuine training (e.g. through workshops, that go beyond simply handing out reading material) appears to have been provided in very few countries. Indonesia’s mention of training of crews in collaboration with WWF is noteworthy. China, France and the Republic of Korea report having produced and distributed identification cards intended to help fishermen accurately record turtle bycatch.

Use of mitigation techniques

Eleven CPCs reported having a legal framework requiring fishermen to help recover captured marine turtles and to release them at sea (Australia, China, Portugal, Indonesia, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, and Thailand). In addition, nine CPCs have adopted regulations that require fishermen to carry onboard line cutters and de-hookers (Australia, China, India, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, EU-Portugal, Republic of Korea, and South Africa). Furthermore, monitoring and recovery of FADs is reportedly carried out in four countries (Comoros, Indonesia, Madagascar and Malaysia).

However, while most of the CPCs have provided information on their legal framework for mitigation of turtle bycatch (either to IOTC or to IOSEA), the extent to which these national regulations are effectively monitored and enforced is ambiguous. Although most of the CPCs have adopted regulations requiring fishermen to “keep on board all necessary equipment for the release of marine turtles” (IOTC resolution 12/04, para. 6), it is less clear whether vessel operators effectively “use proper mitigation, identification, handling and de-hooking techniques”. Similarly, no information is provided on whether fisheries have effectively adapted their fishing practices in accordance with IOTC Resolution 12/04, which encourages the use of whole finfish bait for longliners and avoidance of marine turtle encirclement by purse seiners.

While it is beyond the intended scope of IOTC reporting, some CPCs mention there – or in their reports to IOSEA – their programmes requiring the use of Turtle Excluder Devices (e.g. Australia, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mozambique, Philippines). However, in most cases, little or no information is provided on their effective use by fishing fleets.

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National Plans of Action

Only three countries (Australia, Kenya and Malaysia) report having a national plan for marine turtle conservation in place, and those plans are, in some cases, overdue for review. It is known from other sources that a number of countries – including France, Indonesia and India – are in the process of developing their national plans. Although not directly related to bycatch mitigation, a few CPCs (e.g. France, Malaysia, and Oman) report having opened turtle conservation centres for educational purposes, and many other countries are known to have similar centres.

Illegal fishing

The national reports submitted to IOSEA provide supplementary information about the perceived impact of illegal fishing on marine turtles in the IOTC convention area. Indeed, 13 IOSEA members have reported such activities in their territories, potentially affecting marine turtle populations. Apart from poaching directly targeted at marine turtles (e.g. harpooning in Kenya and Seychelles, and illegal inshore fishing in the United Kingdom/BIOT), accidental harming of turtles commonly occurs in some CPCs (e.g. through the illegal use of explosive for fishing in Indonesia).

IOSEA national reports also document the fact that non-reported bycatch of turtles in illegal fisheries occurs in many CPCs, significant examples of which are the large-meshed bottom gill-net fishery intended to catch stingrays in Malaysia, illegal purse seine fishery in Mozambique, set gill net fishery in Philippines, as well as the use of FADs in commercial ski-boat line-fishery to attract pelagic fish in South Africa. Aside from IOTC, it is urgent that countries take necessary measures to address these issues by enforcing their domestic regulations more effectively in order to improve the scope and impact of their legislation.

Incidentally, no mention is made in the reports of IOTC CPCs of the ramifications of IUU fishing, in terms of the potential extent of bycatch of non-target species, including marine turtles.

IV. Research initiated by governments

IOTC Resolution 12/04 calls on CPCs to undertake research on a variety of mitigation techniques and to report the results of trials to the Scientific Committee. Until now, only a small number of countries have reported activities undertaken in this regard. However, it is known from IOSEA reports that Australia is currently quantifying the ecological and economic value of short soak time for gillnets, developing and trialling set mesh nets with break-away panels, and has reported a reduction of marine turtle interactions with its longline fishery as a result of the use of circle hooks. The impact of such hooks is also being investigated by Malaysia, Philippines, and Republic of Korea. Similarly, EU- Portugal has undertaken research trials on the use of whole finfish bait; and alternative FADs are being designed in France and Madagascar, and trialled in Mozambique. South Africa reportedly introduced on an experimental basis grids that exclude turtles.

It is likely that more research is being conducted than is being reported, either through IOTC or IOSEA channels. Given the value and cost-effectiveness of sharing the results of successful – and even unsuccessful – research trials, more attention should be paid to documenting the work that has been undertaken.

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V. Quality of data provided

Overall, the IOTC national reports reveal considerable variability, in terms of the regulation, practical application and enforcement of turtle mitigation measures. Some countries, such as Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, are apparently more active in this area, whereas data relative to turtle mitigation efforts were found to be scarce or sometimes inexistent in the IOTC reports of Comoros, Indonesia, Japan, Oman, Philippines, and EU-Spain. Yet, most if not all of these countries are thought to be confronted with turtle-bycatch issues.

Generally speaking, the level of detail in the national reports is often insufficient to distinguish between the mere existence of a regulation (for instance, a requirement for vessels to carry line cutters and de- hookers on board, for appropriate handling of turtles) and effective implementation of that regulation. The latter implies a certain degree of training of crews (repeated occasionally, as crews can change), periodic feedback, and monitoring of compliance. Going forward, logbooks should include information on the interventions made in sufficient detail to provide feedback on their efficacy (i.e. on the animal’s fate: dead/alive; released with/without hook; released with/without obvious injury etc.). Ideally observer data would be even more specific, giving an indication of species and possibly include basic morphometric measurements.

It is sometimes unclear whether the primary fishing gears described in reports relate only to national fleets, or to all fleets (including foreign vessels) operating within a county’s EEZ. Similarly, licensing information provided by a member country sometimes does not specify whether it concerns only tuna fishing operators or any fishing gear operating in the IOTC convention area.

Conclusion

Despite these shortcomings, the national reports provided to the IOTC Scientific Committee include much information of interest and relevance to marine turtle conservation. The information on fleet size and distribution could be used as starting point for more in-depth investigation of overlaps and interactions with marine turtle populations. The usefulness of these reports will be further enhanced as more IOTC members make a concerted effort to include up-to-date and comprehensive information, in enough detail to allow impartial observers to assess the extent to which the provisions of IOTC Resolution 12/04 are being met.

As mentioned in the introduction, the national reports submitted by many of the same countries, as part of their reporting commitments to IOSEA, often provide complementary information on their fisheries and bycatch mitigation measures. In the interest of presenting a fuller picture of these efforts, Annex 2 to this report summarises the highlights of this additional information source.

Douglas Hykle, Pishum Migraine IOSEA Secretariat April 2013

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Annex 2

Marine turtle discussions at the 16th IOTC Scientific Committee meeting (28 March 2014 )

The IOSEA Secretariat has reported on several occasions in the past on the work of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) which, apart from being responsible for the management of tuna and tuna- like species in the Indian Ocean, takes an active interest in bycatch of non-target species including marine turtles. The Commission receives advice from its Scientific Committee which meets annually to review the national reports of IOTC members (known as CPCs: Contracting Parties and Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties), assess the status of target and non-target species, review implementation of various measures, and make technical recommendations to the Commission. The Sixteenth Session of the IOTC Scientific Committee (SC) was held in Busan, Republic of Korea, from 2 to 6 December 2013. The full report of the meeting is available for downloading from the newly-revised IOTC website: www.iotc.org. As a service to IOSEA readers, we summarise here the main points of the lengthy (312-page) meeting report related to marine turtles. Where appropriate, specific paragraphs of the report are referenced in parentheses.

Executive Summary for Marine Turtles

Appendix XXX of the SC report provides a summary of the status of the six species of marine turtles found in the Indian Ocean, and includes rudimentary management advice: Status. “No assessment has been undertaken by the IOTC WPEB for marine turtles due to the lack of data being submitted by CPCs. However, the current International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) threat status for each of the marine turtle species reported as caught in IOTC fisheries to date is provided in Table 1. It is important to note that a number of international global environmental accords (e.g. Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)), as well as numerous fisheries agreements obligate States to provide protection for these species. While the status of marine turtles is affected by a range of factors such as degradation of nesting beaches and targeted harvesting of eggs and turtles, the level of mortality of marine turtles due to capture by gillnets is likely to be substantial as shown by the Ecological Risk Assessment undertaken in 2012/13, and an order of magnitude higher than longline and purse seine gears for which mitigation measures are in place.”

Outlook.“Resolution 12/04 On the conservation of marine turtles includes an annual evaluation requirement by the Scientific Committee. However, given the lack of reporting of marine turtle interactions by CPCs to date, such an evaluation cannot not be undertaken. Unless IOTC CPCs become compliant with the data collection and reporting requirements for marine turtles, the WPEB and the SC will continue to be unable to address this issue.

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Notwithstanding this, it is acknowledged that the impact on marine turtle populations from fishing for tuna and tuna-like species may increase if fishing pressure increases, or if the status of the marine turtle populations worsens due to other factors such as an increase in fishing pressure from other fisheries or anthropological or climatic impacts. The following should be noted:

• The available evidence indicates considerable risk to marine turtles in the Indian Ocean

• The primary source of data that drive the ability of the WPEB to determination (sic) a status for the Indian Ocean, total interactions by fishing vessels, is highly uncertain and should be addressed as a matter of priority. • Current reported interactions are known to be a severe underestimate: 39 interactions reported in 2010 by 3 CPCs. • The Ecological Risk Assessment conducted by Nel et al. (2013) concluded that, from the limited data received on longlining and purse seining, the former posed the greater apparent risk to marine turtles. The ERA estimated that ~3,500 marine turtles are caught by longliners annually, followed by ~250 turtles p.a. in purse seine operations. Two separate approaches to estimate gillnet impacts on sea turtles, based on very limited data, calculated that ~ 52,425 turtles p.a. or 11,400 – 47,500 turtles p.a. are caught in gillnets (with a mean of the two methods being 29,488 turtles p.a.) Anecdotal/published studies reported values of >5000 - 16 000 turtles p.a. for each of just India, Sri Lanka and Madagascar. Of these reports, green turtles are under the greatest pressure from gillnet fishing, constituting 50-88% of catches. Loggerhead, hawksbill and olive ridley turtles are caught in varying proportions depending on the region.

• Maintaining or increasing fishing effort in the Indian Ocean without appropriate mitigation measures in place, will likely result in further declines in biomass.

• That appropriate mechanisms are developed by the Compliance Committee to ensure CPCs comply with their data collection and reporting requirements for marine turtles.”

Supporting information for the outlook includes reference to the Conservation and Management Measures adopted by the Commission (in the form of relevant resolutions), information on the biology and ecology of each marine turtle species of marine turtles (including range and stock structure, longevity, age of maturity, spawning season and size), a summary of information available on the interactions between marine turtles and selected fisheries for tuna and tuna-like species in the Indian Ocean, a list of available assessments of the status of certain marine turtle species, and a list of literature cited.

IOTC Conservation and Management Measures (pertaining to marine turtles)

IOTC Resolution 12/04 (on the Conservation of Marine Turtles), in effect since August 2012, is the primary instrument describing how IOTC CPCs are supposed to manage fisheries interactions with marine turtles. The Scientific Committee’s comments and recommendations with regard to implementation of this resolution – which tend to repeat previous exhortations – are indicative of a slow rate of uptake of its provisions:

“The SC noted that the lack of data from CPCs on interactions and mortalities of marine turtles in the Indian Ocean is a substantial concern, resulting in an inability of the WPEB to estimate levels of

Proceedings - Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia 17 marine turtle bycatch. There is an urgent need to quantify the effects of fisheries for tuna and tuna-like species in the Indian Ocean on marine turtle species, and it is clear that little progress on obtaining and reporting data on interactions with marine turtles has been made. This data is necessary to allow the IOTC to respond and manage the adverse effects on marine turtles, and other bycatch species. (para 49) The Committee agreed that an Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) for marine turtles – jointly sponsored by IOTC and IOSEA, and carried out in 2012-2013 – “be kept under review, and that consideration be given to updating it periodically in light of newly received data and other information”. (para 50)

The SC also recommended that Resolution 12/04 be tweaked to require CPCs to report annually on the total estimated level of incidental catches of marine turtles, by species (which is not presently the case); and that Resolution 10/02 (Mandatory statistical [reporting] requirements) be revised in order to make the reporting requirements coherent with IOTC Resolutions 12/04 and 13/03. (paras 51 & 52)

Proposed management advice

Many of the Scientific Committee’s recommendations to the Commission concern issues that have been discussed previously in that forum or by the subsidiary Working Party on Ecosystems and Bycatch (WPEB). The Committee repeated the following recommendations regarding the main fisheries interacting with marine turtles in the Indian Ocean (para 53):

“Gillnet: The absence of data for marine turtles, fishing effort, spatial deployment and bycatch in the IOTC area of competence makes it difficult to provide management advice for gillnets. However, possible mitigation measures to avoid marine turtle mortality in gillnets would be possible and, thus, the group suggested that research in gillnet mitigation measures (e.g. using lights on gillnets) will be considered as a research priority. Moreover, improvements in data collection and reporting of marine turtle interactions with gillnets, and research on the effect of gear types (i.e. net construction and colour, mesh size, soak times, light deterrents) are necessary.”

With respect to gillnets, in particular, the SC reiterated its previous recommendation that “the Commission consider allocating funds to support a regional review of the current and historical data available for gillnet fleets operating in the Indian Ocean. As an essential contribution to this review, scientists from all CPCs having gillnet fleets in the Indian Ocean, in particular those from I.R. Iran, Oman, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, should collate the known information on bycatch in their gillnet fisheries, including sharks, marine turtles and marine mammals…” The SC recommended hiring a consultant for 30 days to assist CPCs with this task. (para 38)

At the same time, the SC recommended that “the Commission allocate funds in its 2014 and 2015 budgets for the IOTC Secretariat to facilitate training for CPCs having gillnet fleets on bycatch mitigation methods, species identification, and data collection methods”. The budget estimate for workshops in I.R. Iran/Oman and Sri Lanka amounted to USD 25,000. (para 39)

“Longline: Current information suggests inconsistent spatial catches (i.e. high catches in few sets) and by gear/fishery. The most important mitigation measures relevant for longline fisheries are to:

1. Encourage the use of circle hooks, whilst developing further research into their effectiveness using a multiple species approach. 2. Release live animals after careful dehooking/disentangling/line cutting …”

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Purse seine: All FAD-directed purse seine fisheries should rapidly change to only use ecological FADs [i.e. improved FAD designs to reduce the incidence of entanglement of bycatch species, using biodegradable material as much as possible] based on the principles outlined in Annex III of Resolution 13/08 (Procedures on a fish aggregating devices (FADs) management plan).

Review of national reports from CPCs

The national reports of IOTC CPCs generally contain interesting information on fishing fleets, including details of fleet size, trends in effort, and gear type; as well as occasional information on implementation of logbook and observer programmes, and data collection on bycatch species. However the only specific reference to marine turtles among the reports submitted in 2013 is contained in an abstract of the Seychelles report, which noted an absence of marine turtle interactions reported by the Seychelles longline fleets – evidently because the Seychelles industrial longline fleets target mainly bigeye tuna at depth, and the semi-industrial fleet targets swordfish at night.

Implementation of the IOTC regional observer scheme (ROS)

Since 2010, the IOTC has had in place a Regional Observer Scheme which is currently governed by the provisions of Resolution 11/04. That the scheme has yet to live up to expectations is reflected in the following statement of the SC, which makes reference to the potential usefulness of observer data in relation to marine turtles: “The SC expressed its strong concern regarding the low level of reporting to the IOTC Secretariat of both the observer trip reports and the list of accredited observers since the start of the ROS in July 2010. Such a low level of implementation and reporting is detrimental to the work of the SC, in particular regarding the estimation of incidental catches of non-targeted species, as requested by the Commission. In particular, the SC noted that the IOTC Regional Observe Programme could be a significant source of potential data for marine turtles (e.g. sex and species composition, etc.) for some longline and gillnet fisheries.” (para 175)

The Committee recommended collaboration with IOSEA to improve data collection and offer specialised training to increase post-release survival rates of marine turtles (para 53): “1. The development of standards using the IOTC guidelines for the implementation of the Regional Observer Scheme should be undertaken, as it is considered the best way to collect reliable data related to marine turtle bycatch in the IOTC area of competence.

2. The Chair of the WPDCS to work with the IOSEA MoU Secretariat, which has already developed regional standards for data collection (sic), and revise the observer data collection forms and observer reporting template as appropriate, as well as current recording and reporting requirements through IOTC Resolutions, to ensure that the IOTC has the means to collect quantitative and qualitative data on marine turtle bycatch.

3. Encourage CPCs to use IOSEA expertise and facilities to train observers and crew to increase post-release survival rates of marine turtles.”

Implementation of FAO Guidelines to reduce marine turtle mortality

The Scientific Committee meeting provides an opportunity to take stock of the state of implementation of the FAO guidelines to reduce marine turtle mortality in fishing operations. As noted in Appendix VI of the SC meeting report, only six CPCs (Australia, European Union, Maldives, Mauritius,

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Mozambique, and the United Kingdom) mention the measures in place – in most cases, regulations – aimed at mitigating marine turtle-fisheries interactions in the Indian Ocean. In most, if not all, cases it is not possible discern from the short descriptions the degree of actual compliance with these domestic regulations or the extent of monitoring carried out to ensure compliance.

Arrangements for future meetings of the WPEB and Scientific Committee

Incidentally, the SC agreed that the Working Party on Ecosystems and Bycatch (WPEB) “should be maintained as a single working party for the next few years, to deal with sharks every year, as well as other issues, especially ecosystem related matters, and bycatch groups in alternate years or as required by the Commission.” (para 58) This was one of three options under consideration. In practical terms, the decision means that marine turtles are likely to receive less attention by the WPEB (and SC) than has been the case in recent years.

The 10th Working Party on Ecosystems and Bycatch (WPEB) will take place from 27-31 October 2014 (venue still to be confirmed); while the next (17th) meeting of the IOTC Scientific Committee will be held from 16-20 December 2014 in Victoria, Seychelles.

The full Report of the Sixteenth Session of the IOTC Scientific Committee (2013) can be accessed online from the IOTC website.

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Paper 2: Innoviation on the design of a Turtle Excluder Device (TED) for implementation on the monsoon Shirmp Trawl in Kemaman, Terengganu, Malaysia

By: SYED ABDULLAH BIN SYED ABDUL KADIR & NAZUKI BIN SULONG Turtle and Marine Endangered Species Research Center, Department of Fisheries Malaysia Rantau Abang, Terengganu Tel: 609 8458169, Fax: 609 8458017 Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

Abstract

We undertake this study on the use of turtle excluder device (TED) using two models. The first model (Model A) is the original super shooter TED model designed by National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA), Panama City, United State of America (USA). The second model (Model D) is an innovative product following the fundamental principles of the first model. Model D was later tested by NOAA which found this design to be greatly effective in releasing captured sea turtles caught in trawl net and is deemed superior to the performance of Model A. TED Model D when tested was also acceptable to the local monsoon shrimp trawl fishermen. Thus, following the recommendations from NOAA scientists, TED studies of the two models were conducted in Kemaman coastal waters during the monsoon season covering three periods: (i) November 2011 - February 2012, (ii) November 2012 - February 2013 and (iii) November 2013 - February 2014.

A study on TED Model A was conducted in November 2011 – February 2012 using six boats of which three boats were fitted with TED while the other three were without TED. This first study clearly showed trawls fitted with TED Model A were not able to catch high value commercial fish especially as ray fishes. Subsequently, following numerous recommendations by the fishermen, TED Model D was developed and tested during November 2013 to February 2014. This involved the participation of 12 boats, of which six boats were fitted with TED Model D while the other six were without TED. Boats fitted with TED Model D undertook a total of 39 tows with each tow a duration of two hours. Similarly, boats not fitted with TED likewise undertook the same number of tows with each tow the same duration of time. The study area for both models is the coastal waters of Kemaman, two nautical miles from shore, of depth varying between 11 and 13 meters, within the geographical grids 4o 14.121’N, 03o 20.352E and 4o 10.592’N, 103o 20.315E. The objectives of this study were to convince the monsoon shrimp trawl fishermen that usage of TED (i) significantly reduce sea turtle mortality trapped in their nets, (ii) will not reduce their income, and (iii)helps to increase the quality of their catch. The study clearly showed the average total catch on prawn species was higher at 9.1 kg/haul for boats fitted with TED compared with 7.3 kg/haul for those without TED. Average catch on commercial fish was also quite high at 4.4 kg/haul (TED) compared with 3.9 kg/haul (without TED). Ray catch was also significantly higher at 2.5 kg/haul (TED) compared with 1.6 kg/haul (without TED). Trash fish showed some mark reduction at 24.8 kg/haul (TED) compare with 28.5kg/haul (without TED). Surprisingly, even the average fuel consumption of boats fitted with TED was lower than those without TED with values of 17.5 l/haul (TED) compared with 19.9 l/haul (without TED). The study had clearly showed that use of the innovative TED Model D (i) resulted in no turtle being caught in the

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trawl net, (ii) will not affect the total income of fishermen, (iii) Significant reduce the catch of trash fish, and (iv) contribute towards the conservation of fishery resources.

1.0 Introduction

1.1 The importance of using TED on Monsoon Shrimp Trawl One of the major threats to marine turtles in the marine environment is incidental capture, injury, and mortality during fishing operations. To address interactions between marine turtles and trawl fishing gear, NOAA Fisheries worked cooperatively with the commercial shrimp trawl industry to develop turtle excluder devices, or TEDs. In Terengganu one of the traditional fishing gear called monsoon season net trawl which was permitted to conduct fishing operation below 5 nautical miles from the shore. In addition the Geliga nesting beach which located at Kemaman, Terengganu district was recognized as the highest nesting population of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in Peninsular Malaysia with average annual nesting between 1000 to 1300 nests/year. The landing of green turtles at Geliga nesting beach occurred throughout the year in which 50 to 70 nestings were occurred during monsoon season from November to February. Prior to the nesting behavior of green turtles in Geliga nesting beach, Department of Fisheries Malaysia had conducted the study on the use of turtle excluder device (TED) in monsoon shrimp trawl on Kemaman, Fishermen. The overall objective of this study is to reduce sea turtle mortality as by-catch in monsoon shrimp trawl and not affect the catch and income of fishermen.

1.2 Concept of TED TEDs are extremely simple device and whenever anything large enough gets to a certain part of the trawl net, a trapdoor opens, freeing the large animal (Figure 1). Shrimp are not large enough to open the trapdoor, so they remain in the net. Thus TED will allow sea turtles to escape instead of getting entangled in the cod end without affecting the catch of shrimp and commercial fish. The device has an oval shape metal frame with 1 meter diameter complete with vertical bars. The gaps between the bars is between four to six inches when installed vertically onto the oval frame. The device will be fitted onto the neck of the shrimp trawl where a section of the trawl net acts as a trapdoor opening. Whenever a sea turtle is captured in the trawl and it strikes the vertical bars, it will be ejected out of the net through the trapdoor opening.

Location of TED Code end

Trawl

4 “ net o 55 TED

Angle heering of Metal grid(Galvanise) TED on Trawl net

How the turtles save their self TED

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Front side Back side (go to code end)

Valve (Turtle will be escape through the valve) Figure 1: The diagram showed the location to fit TED on shrim trawl and how the turtle can exclude from the net.

2.0 Innovation on original super shooter TED model (Model A)

The study on the used of original super shooter TED model (Model A) was conducted on monsoon shrimp trawl of Kemaman waters since in November 2011 to February 2012, from November 2012 to February 2013 and from November 2013 to February 2014. Six unit boats of monsoon shrimp trawl were deployed for conducting the study inwhich 3 units used TED and 3 units without TED. During that period some modification on Model A had been made according the suggestion from the fishermen. Some innovation on model A was made in which the horizontal bars were change to curve bars and the distances between bars are 4 inches. This new model which called D has brought to NOAA Fisheries USA in June 2013 for testing the efficiency to exclude sea turtles from the net. The detail on innovation process of TED super shooter design is shown in figure 2.

Original super shooter TED Model (Model A) Model (A)

Model (b) – Georgia (2012) - Shape – Round - Size - 1.0m x 0.8 m - Valve -Bottom side - Material – Aluminium 1.0 m o 4” - Angle of heeling - 55 - Cost/uniqie- RM650 Model (b) - Metal grid – 4” - Modification – Catch ray 4” Model (c) 4”

- Metal grid – 4” - Modification – Catch ray & commercial fish 0.8 m -

Model (D)

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Model (d) Georgia (2013/2014) - Shape – longitudinal - Size – 0.8m x 0.6m - Valve -Bottom side

- Material – Aluminium 0.6 m - Metal grid – 4” o 4” - Angle of heeling - 55 - Modification – Catch ray

- Suitable to zone A boat 4” - Recognition by USA Fisheries Dept. - 0.8

Figure 2: The innovation from the original super shooter TED Model to innovation model of TED (Model D)

The innovation on super shooter TED Model (Model D) was received a good support from monsoon shrimp trawl of Kemaman fishermen. The oval shape of TED Model D is really suitable to fit on monsoon shrimp trawl and enhance the efficiency for catching prawn and fish as well to reduce catch on trash fish. .

Figure 3a: Original design of TED Super Figure 3b: Innovation of super shooter TED model Shooter by NOAA Fisheries (Model D) for catching ray

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3.0 Testing the new design of TED at NOAA Fisheries, USA

In June 2013 The Model D of TED was tested by the Scientist from National Atmospheric and Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Panama City, United States of America. A total of 25 sea turtles which age between 2 to 3 years were tested on efficiency for excluding sea turtle from the trawl net. The result showed that 100% out of 25 sea turtles were successful exclude from the trawl net below three minutes. This indicates that the TED Malaysia smile design is highly efficient to exclude se turtle from the net. The NOAA Fisheries of USA had recognized the TED Malaysia smile design can be used on monsoon shrimp trawl in Malaysia. Then the study on the used of TED Malaysia Smile design on monsoon shrimp trawls were conducted on February 2014.

Figure 4a and 4b: The innovation Model TED (Model D) had brought to NOAA Fisheries Laboratories in Panama City, USA for minor modification and conduct testing the effectiveness for excluding sea turtles which trapped in trawl net.

3.0 Study on the effectiveness of TED Model D

3.1 Objectives of the study are: I. To determine the effectiveness on the use of Turtle Excluder Device (TED) to reduce sea turtle mortality whenever caught in monsoon shrimp trawls. II. To determine the effects of using TED in monsoon shrimp trawl on the catch of shrimp, commercial fish and trash fish. III. To determine the effects of using TED on fuel consumption (diesel).

3.2 Study site This study was conducted on monsoon shrimp trawl fishermen in Kemaman waters of Terenggani state which are involved 12 unit boats. Kemaman waters were chosen because the Geliga nesting beach which is located in Kemaman is the highest nesting population of green turtle (Chelonia mydas) in Peninsular Malaysia with the average annual nesting between 1000 to 1300 net/year (Annual Sea Turtle Statistics of Department of Fisheries Malaysia Vol. 1, 2000-2012). In addition the nesting of green turtles at Geliga rookeries occurred throughout the year even during monsoon season from November to March. As the monsoon shrimp trawl is allowed to conduct fishing

Proceedings - Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia 25

operation below 5 nautical miles from the shore, the use of TED on this particular fishing gear is very essential to reduce sea turtle mortality. The area of study sites in which the operation of monsoon shrimp trawl in Kemaman waters is showed in figure 5.

Figure 5: The study site on the use of Model D on monsoon trawlers in Kemaman, Terengganu which below 5 nautical miles from the shore.

3.3 Fitting the TED on shrimp trawl The TED will be fitted onto the neck of the shrimp trawl in front of the cod-end and acts as a valve. Whenever a sea turtle is captured in the trawl and it strikes the vertical bars, it will be ejected out of the net through the trapdoor opening. The position on fitting TED is shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: The position of fitting the TED on shrimp trawl

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Figure 7 : Fitting TED on monsoon shrimp trawl.

Figure 8: The fishermen tested the shrimp trawl that fitted with TED

3.4 Determining the effects of using TED in monsoon shrimp trawl on the catch of shrimp, commercial fish, trash fish and fuel consumption. This study was involved 6 boats of monsoon shrimp trawls which use TED and 6 boats which without TED. This study was conducted in February 2014 in Kemaman waters below 5 nautical miles from the shore. 6 boats of monsoon shrimp trawl which use TED towing parallel with 6 boats without using TED and the duration of towing in two hours. The catch of shrimp, commercial fish, ray fish and trash fish from each boat that used TED and without TED were weighted and recorded. In order to compare the fuel consumption from the boat which used TED and without TED; the amount of fuel in the tank of each boat that used TED and without TED will be recorded before and after fishing operation. A total of 38 towing/hauls were successful being conducted for boats using TED and the boat without TED. The catch of shrimp, commercial fish, ray fish, trash fish and fuel consumption from the boat that used TED and without TED were compiled into Microsoft excel and analyzed.

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4.0 RESULTS A total of 38 hauls which involved 6 boats of monsoon shrimp trawls that use TED and 6 boats without using TED were conducted in Kemaman waters in February 2014. The duration of towing for the boat using TED and the boat without TED is same for two hours. The results indicated that the average catch of prawn increase by 1.3 kg/haul or 14.3 % by using TED. This indicated that by using of TED on shrimp trawl will not decrease the catch of prawn. Similar results occurred on commercial fish whereby the average catch is increased by 0.5 kg/haul or 5 % by using TED. Significant different showed on the catch of trash fish whereby the catch from the boat that used TED is decreased by 3.7 kg/haul or 13 %.

Comparation on everage catch 'of prawn, commercial fish , ray and trash fish by using TED and without TED

35.0 30.0 28.5 24.8 25.0 GUNA TED 20.0 15.0 9.1 10.0 7.8 4.4 3.9 5.0 2.6 1.5 0.0 Prawn Commercial fish Trash Fish Ray

Figure 9: Comparison of average catch of prawn, commercial fish, trash fish and rays by using TED and without TED.

The results indicated that the use of TED on monsoon shrimp trawl will reduce the by catch of trash fish and will contribute to conservation and rehabilition of fish resource.

Comparation on fuel consumption of using TED and without TED

25 19.9 GUNA TED 20 17.5 TAK GUNA TED

15

10

5

0 Fuel Consumption

Figure 10: Comparation on fuel consumption between the boat that use TED and without TED.

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The fuel (diesel) consumption from the boat that used TED is decreased by 2.4 liter/haul or 12 % compared with the boat that used TED. This indicated the boat that used TED is more economical in terms of fuel consumption. The quality of catch from the boat that used TED is better than the catch obtained from the boat without using TED. The catch of prawn and commercial fishes from the boat that used TED is very clean and fresh compared to the catch from the boat whitout using TED. This fact is due to less debris entering the code-end of the boat that used TED. The TED device located in front of the code-end of the net will allow some debris released from the net.

A comparison of the quality of catch between the boat that used TED and that which did not are shown in figure 11, 12 and 13.

Figure 11: Catch from the boat used TED Figure 12: Catch from the boat without (more quality, clean, less debris) using TED (less quality, more debris and trash fish

Figure 13: Prawn that catch from the boat use TED is more quality and clean

5.0 The Effectiveness of Using TED Model D

The coat of one unit of TED Model D is RM500 and it can be used for two or three year. a) The study has shown that the use of innovation TED Model D on monsoon shrimp trawlers did not reduce the catch of fishermen. Instead the catch of shrimp, commercial fish and stingrays fish was increased by using TED Model D compared with shrimp trawlers not using TED.

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b) The use of TED Model D also increased the income of fishermen. Shrimp catches have increased by 1.3 kg / haul, commercial fish has also increased by 0.5 kg / haul and catch of stingrays was increased by 1.1.kg/haul. Every day fishermen will carry out three times fishing trawls and the duraton of each fishing trawl is between two to three hours. Average market price for shrimp during the monsoon season (November to February) is between RM20.00/kg and RM60.00/kg. Similarly, the price of commercial fish is between RM5.00/kg to RM15.00/kg and rays price is between RM10.00/kg and RM20.00/kg. This shows that the daily income for each fishermen of monsoon shrimp trawl which use TED Model D will increase between RM105.00/day and RM285.00/day.

c) The use of TED Model D on monsoon shrimp trawlers has reduced diesel consumption by 2.4 l / haul compared with the boat without TED. The cost of diesel is RM1.20/liter and the fishermen will do fishing in average 3 times per day. This demonstrates the use of TED Model D will reduce the cost of diesel comsumption of each boat by RM8.64/day.

d). The use of TED Model D on monsoon shrimp trawlers has also reduced the catch of trash fish by 3.7 kg/haul and the the fishermen will do fishing on average 3 times a day. Thus the use of TED Model D will reduce the catch of trash fish by 11.1kg/day.

e) The use of TED Model D on monsoon shrimp trawler has reduced the amount of debris and and trash fish that trapped in the code-end of the net. Hence, the lack of garbage and trash fish caught in code-end results in the catch of cleaner and better quality shrimp and fish.

6.0 Long-term Significance on the use of TED Model D

1) The use of TED Model D on the monsoon shrimp trawl will reduce sea turtle mortality. Thus the use of TED model D will increase the sea turtles population in that paricular area and country.

2) The successful use of TED Model D on monsoon shrimp trawl of Kemaman fishermen will inspire all monsoon shrimp trawl fishermen in Malaysia to use the device in future as well as to other trawlers in commenwealth countries.

2) The use of TED model D can enhance the awareness of fishermen communities for protecting and conserving sea turtles.

3) The use of TED Model D on the monsoon shrimp trawl reduced the by-catch of trash fish. Consequently the use of this device will increase fishery resources in future. This indicated that the use of TED will increase the fishery resources in commonwealth countries.

4) The use of TED model D will increase the daily income of fishermen due to higher catch on shrimp, commercial fish and and ray fish. Consequently this will eradicate the level of poverty in particular communities, country and commonwelth countries.

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5) The use of TED model D was proven to reduce fuel consumption of the monsoon shrimp trawl. Less capital will be needed to do fishing and will increase daily income and eradicate poverty in fishermen community of commonwealth countries.

6) The successful use of TED model D will inspire the other commonwealth countries to use TED in their shrimp trawl and will enhace the amount of shrimp to export to United States of America.

7) The use of TED will help to conserve marine ecosystems by reducing the catch of trash fish and sea turtle mortality.

7.0 Transferable Lesson Learned 1) The fishermen will acccept to use new technology or device as the technology or device will benefit them and the marine ecosystem.

2) The methods for installation TED must be appropriate and suitable to the fishing gear in order not to affect the catches of fishermen.

3) Fishermen will cooperate with scientists if they are given an explanation and description of any innovation or technology to be used.

4) The TED model D is unique and only suitable to use on monsoon shrimp trawl of Kemaman and Malaysia. The new model of TED might be needed to produce for other shrimp trawls.

5) The great support from authorised agency such as Department of Fisheries Malaysia is highly needed for the success on transfering the innovation or technology to fishermen community.

6) Fishermen honored to be given the opportunity to contribute experience to enhance the efforts for conserving and protecting the marine environment and endangered marine species.

8.0 Conslusion

The use of TED Model D has proved to the monsoon shrimp trawl fishermen of Kemaman, Terengganu that the catch of shrimp and commercial fish is not affecting and reducing the catch of trash fish. The use of this model also had reduced the fuel consumption and the cost of fishing operation. Consequently this model has received a very good response from monsoon trawl fishermen of Kemaman district, Terengganu, Malaysia and they are willing to use this device in future. The successful use of TED Model D in Kemaman monsoon shrimp trawl fishermen will inspire the Department of Fishseries Malaysia to encourage the whole monsoon trawl fishermen for using this device. Thus Malaysia can be an example for other commonwealth countries on the use of TED for conserving marine resources and protecting marine endangered species such as sea turtles.

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References

Broadhurst, M.K., 2000. Modifications to reduce bycatch in prawn trawls: a review and framework for development. Rev. Fish Biol. Fish. 10, 27–60.

Broadhurst, M.K., Kennelly, S.J., Gray, C.A., 2002. Optimal positioning and design of behavioural-type by-catch reduction devices involving squaremesh panels in penaeid prawl-trawl codends. Mar. Freshwater Res. 53, 813–823.

Campbell, M., 1998. Industry trials of TEDs in the Northern Prawn Fishery. Prof. Fisherman 19, 12–14.

Campbell, M., 1999. Another year of TED and BRD tests in the Northern Prawn Fishery. Prof. Fisherman 20, 18–20.

Courtney, A.J., Tonks, M.L., Campbell, M.J., Roy, D.P., Gaddes, S.W., Kyne, P.M., O’Neill, M.F., 2006. Quantifying the effects of bycatch reduction devices in Queensland’s (Australia) shallow water eastern king prawn (Penaeus plebejus) trawl fishery. Fish. Res. 80, 136–147.

Day, G., Eayrs, S., 2001. NPF operators make gains in bycatch reduction but some problems remain. Prof. Fisherman 23 (4), 18–19.

Hall, S.J., Mainprize, B.M., 2005. Managing by-catch and discards: how much progress are we making and how can we do better. Fish Fish. 6, 134–155.

Hill, B.J.,Wassenberg, T.J., 1990. Fate of discards from prawn trawlers in Torres Strait. Aust. J. Mar. Freshwater Res. 41, 53–64.

Isaksen, B., Valdemarsen, J.W., Larsen, R.B., Karlsen, L., 1992. Reduction of fish by-catch in shrimp trawl using a rigid separator grid in the aft belly. Fish. Res. 13, 335–352.

Pender, P.J., Willing, R.S., Cann, B., 1992. NPF bycatch a valuable resource? Aust. Fish. 51 (2), 30–31.

Stobutzki, I.C., Miller, M.J., Heales, D.S., Brewer, D.T., 2002. Sustainability of elasmobranchs caught as bycatch in a tropical prawn (shrimp) trawl fishery. Fish. Bull. 100, 800–821.

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Paper 3: TED trial monitoring and estimation of sea turtles mortality along the Coast of Pakistan

By: Nicolas Pilcher4; Ghulam Qadir Shah and Babar Hussain5

Marine turtle populations in Pakistanare being been depleted through a number of pressures, notably harvests of eggs and adults and as bycatch in shrimp trawl fisheries. Trawl fisheries are considered one of the world’s greatest fisheries-related threats to sea turtles but Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) offer practical low-cost solutions allowing catch to be retained while turtles are excluded. Pakistan is a registered TED user nation with the US Department of State, but for many years implementation of TED regulations has been scarce.

We conducted an interview-based baseline survey to assess the current state of the fishery, the rate of turtle bycatch, recent and historic trends, and the uptake of TEDs. Over 300 respondents provided a robust first look at the impact of shrimp trawling on sea turtle populations.

The results depicted a clear reliance on shrimp fishing by a the majority of all respondents, who used trawl nets primarily but occasionally other gears such as seines, traps and hook and line. Fishers were generalists, targeting fish and shrimp, with nets being deployed throughout the day and night, but mostly at daybreak and dusk. Fishing operations were consistent with other countries, with trawl speeds of 2-4kn with nets 50ft long and 20-30ft wide. The key concern with nets was the use of extremely small mesh sizes (<1/2” stretched).

The majority (94%) of fishers reported encountering turtles on a frequent basis, with over half reporting interacting with more than one turtle in the last year. Green and Olive Ridley turtles made up the bulk of the bycatch, but loggerheads and even the occasional leatherback were reported. A worrying 14% also indicated they knew of purposeful turtle hunting. 85% of fishers reported catching at least one turtle in the past year, with 11% reporting catching between 2 an 10, and a worrying 14% indicating they had caught more then 10. While fishers report that the trend in captures is decreasing, this is likely linked to overall numbers of turtles rather than any change in practices.

Given a fishery fleet of 551 vessels operating out of Karachi, the potential bycatch of sea turtles ranges from 1817 to 2381 turtles in just the last year based on feedback from fishers. This is calculated based on 71.7% of fishers reporting catching at least one turtle (395 turtles), 12.7% of fishers catching 2 to 10 (141 to 705 potential turtle captures) and 15.5% reporting catching more than 10 turtles (at a conservative 15 turtles on average, this represents and additional 1281 turtles.

Nearly all fishers knew what TEDs were and reported that they had used them in the past, but most also reported having received little or no training, and encountering problems with the TED, and the lack of interest in participating in voluntary trials is reflective of the fear they have of catch loss.

Clearly there is a massive bycatch problem with the shrimp fishery that needs to be addressed. I suggest a diverse programme of trials and demonstrations, along with the development of a technical TED team, to reintroduce TEDs amongst fishers and save sea turtles in Pakistan.

4 Marine Research Foundation, Sabah, Malaysia

5 IUCN Pakistan, Karachi

Proceedings - Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia 33

1.0 Introduction and purpose

Marine turtles are some of the oldest surviving reptiles on the planet. Globally, there are seven species of marine turtle of which six species are found in the Indian Ocean – South East Asian Region. Four of these have been reported from coastal areas of Pakistan. The populations of the six species of marine turtles of the Asia region are listed as Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered on the IUCN - The World Conservation Union - Red List of Threatened Species™.

Sea turtles face a number of threats due to habitat degradation, unintentionalmortality through bycatch and lack of awareness. Given the overlap between their habitats and those of fishing areas, a large number of turtles get entrapped in fishing nets. High rates of mortality in fishing nets pose one of the most significant threats to turtle population globally, besides habitat degradation and hunting.

In Pakistan, sea turtle nests at Sandspit beach in Sindh province and a few beaches in Balochistan, such as Ormara (TaQ) and Daran.

The continental shelf of Pakistan is heavily used for commercial and artisanal fishing (Fig 1). The bycatch of turtles in fishing nets, habitat degradation and encroachment on sea turtle nesting beaches along with coastal pollution are some of the significant threats to marine turtles in coastal areas of Pakistan.

Figure 1: Distribution of Pakistan fishing areas.

Reportedly, a number of sea turtles are caught in trawl nets used for shrimp fishing in the coastal waters of Pakistan. However, no any serious attempt has been made to assess mortality of sea turtles along the coast of Pakistan. We conducted a baseline study to assess mortality of sea turtles in fishing operation in the coastal waters of Pakistan under the USIAD Ambassador Fund Small Grant

34 Proceedings - Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia funded ‘Saving the Endangered Sea Turtles on the Coast of Pakistan Project’ implemented by IUCN Pakistan during 2014-15. The establishment of this baseline has been first ever scientific attempt of its kind in Pakistanto assess sea turtle mortality in fishing operations in Pakistan, with primary focus on trawl fishery.

2.0 Methodology

The baseline survey was designed and conducted by combined efforts of international and local experts. The following methodology was adopted for the conduct of baseline survey. i. Design of Data Collection Tools:

For the conduct of the survey a comprehensive data collection tool was designed for the collection of information on non-target catches, in particular targeting the trawl fisheries which are believed to be one of the most significant causes of mortality in sea turtles in the world, including the Asian region. A questionnaire was developed which contained a set of 38 questions covering various aspects of the fishery such as type of fishing activity, type and size of nets used, location of trawling, distance from shore, trawling speed and number of hauls/day, trip duration, peak season of trawling, type of marine animals caught in trawl, frequency of marine animals caught in trawl nets and experience related to use of TEDs in trawls. The questionnaire was supplemented by a set of maps of the coastal area of Pakistan to record in a spatial manner the trawling locations and those of any marine animals caught during fishing operations. An Urdu translation of the questionnaire was finalised to facilitate implementation of the questionnaire. A colored pictorial turtle species identification guide was given to each enumerator to facilitate in identification of turtle species encountered. ii. Training of enumerators and data collection:

Eight enumerators were trained and engaged in data collection by international and local turtle experts. The enumerators included students from Karachi University, interested persons from the local community, and officers from the Marine Fisheries Department. Each enumerator was assigned a specific location for data collection to avoid duplication. The data was collected from the foloowing coastal locations: Korangi Fish Harbour, Ibrahim Hyderi, Karachi Fish Harbour and Baba Bhit Island.The data was collected under the supervision of the project staff from October 1 to October 10, 2014. In all, 313 interview-based questionnaires were completed by respondents in the field. iii. Data sheets:

In order to analyse the data, a custom-tailored spread sheet was created in Excel to enter the field data and calculate various statistics. The data was entered under supervision of project staff through the support of an intern engaged for the purpose. iv. GIS maps

The data on locations of trawling and interaction with marine animals which were identified on maps by each respondent were transcribed using the Google Earth software to create GIS-based maps of known areas of trawling along the coast of Pakistan. A GIS expert at IUCN provided technical support in transcribing field into GIS based maps.

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v. Analysis of Data Data analysis followed standard protocols for determining significance and overall trends. These included a description of the involvement in fishing and importance of fishing to local communities, seasonality, types of fishing gear used and proportion of each, target catches, types of trawls and their dimensions, catch statistics in terms of volume and value, and trends in catches. Analysis also included a determination of the frequency of turtle encounters, trends in encounters over time, fate of turtle bycatch and species composition, and fisher experiences and attitudes toward turtle excluder devices.

3.0 Findings and discussion

The following summary of the baseline status on sea turtle bycatch and turtle excluder devices was extracted from slightly more than 300 interview data sets compiled by IUCN Pakistan during the Fall of 2014. The intention of the summary is to present, in graphical form alongside brief descriptions, the current state of knowledge and involvement of fishers in Pakistan.

Age Distribution Among Respondents All respondents were from 0.8 Sindh province and were 0.7 located in the vicinity of Karachi. All respondents were 0.6 male, and most were in their 0.5 prime working years (26-50 0.4 years of age). The demographics of the fishing 0.3 community appeared roughly 0.2 symmetrical, with an influx of 0.1 younger fishers in the younger age classes matched by a 0 roughly similar number of respondents of Proportion <15 15-25 26-50 51-75 >75 fishers in the older age-class. Age (years)

Importance of Fishing Fishing is the main and nearly 0.6 only source of income for these 0.5 Yes fishers, with the majority No depending on the fishery for all of their income sources. 0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1 respondents of Proportion 0

Main livelihood Only livelihood

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Fishing is conducted year-round except during June and July when fishing is prohibited and enforced by the Marine Security Agency.

Fishing Seasonality 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 Number of respondents J F M A M J J A S O N D Month

Nearly all fishing trawlers operating out of Karachi are large (>10m) with only a handful of smaller vessels. These are all inboard engine vessels, generally with crews of 4-8 people.

Boat Size & Engine Type 1 <2m 2-5m 5-10m >10m

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2 Proportion of respondents Proportion

0

Inboard Outboard Non Motorised

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While other fishing gears are used, the majority of respondents were from trawl vessels, as the study aimed to determine the impact of trawlers on marine wildlife. Some trawl fishers also used other gears during different seasons on occasions, including longlines, hook and line, traps, gill nets and seines.

Fishing Gear Usage 0.4 Only 0.4

0.3 Mostly

0.3

0.2

0.2

0.1

0.1

0.0 Proportion of respondents Proportion Longline Hook & Line Purse Seine Beach Seine Trap Gill Net Trawl

All fishing was done offshore, typically in waters 10-40m deep. No shrimp fishing was reported in the estuaries or other coastal habitats.

Fishing Location

Deep Coral

Seagrass

Fines Mangrove

Rocks Estuary

Unknown 100%

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Fishing operations targeted principally shrimp, but catches were generally mixed and fishers retained all fish and shrimp in the nets. Trawl fishing was not purposefully directed at fish, however.

Target Catch 0%

Fish 29% Squid Crabs

Shrimp 71% Mix

Fishers rarely deployed nets at night only, and only 7% of all fishers indicated they set nets only during the day. The fishery typically extends across the late evening and early morning.

Timing of Fishing Operations

7%

0%

Day

Night Both

93%

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Fishing boats often had more than one trawl net on board (~40%) which would require multiple TEDs to be installed to be compliant with TED regulations.

Use of Multiple Gears

41% Yes No 59%

Actual fishing operations are relatively common for trawl fishing. Soak times (how long the net is in the water) range from 1-5 hours with 3 being the norm. This is longer than a sea turtle can hold its breath. Nets are normally some 60-70ft long with a mouth opening stretching around 20ft. Mesh sizes are all small, retaining up to the smallest juvenile fish and shrimp (not sustainable in the long run as no juveniles replenish the population). Trawl speeds are standard at around 2-3kn, with the net being set and retrieved an average of 4 times per day (but ranging up to 30 times per day depending on clogging, catch quantities, etc.

Soak Water Mouth Mesh Trawl Sets / Days Length Time depth width size speed day out

Average 3.0 65.4 68.6 18.0 2.7 3.1 4.3 21.1

SD 0.81 41.56 50.62 11.83 1.42 1.45 1.16 6.79

Min 1 6 5 2 1 1 1 2

Max 5 200 200 50 8 10 8 30

n 313 313 313 312 312 313 313 313

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Catch Statistics - Quantity 0.3

0.25

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0 Proportion of respondents Proportion <2.5 2.5-5 5-10 10-20 20-50 >50

Catch Quantity (1,000s of kg)

Catch Statistics - Value 0.3

0.25

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0 Proportion of respondents Proportion <250 250-500 500-1000 1000-2000 2000-5000 >5000

Catch Quantity (1,000s of PKR)

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Catch Fate All catches are sold, either directly to market or via middlemen, and not catches are retained for personal use or barter.

Sol d

100%

Preservation Preferences Catches are temporarily preserved using ice until vessels are back in port, whereupon they are generally marketed.

Ice Frozen Smoking Dried Salted

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Respondents generally agreed that catches were either declining or not changing in quantity. Only a small proportion of respondents felt that catches were increasing over time. Interestingly a substantial proportion of respondents felt that catch quantities were not changing (~40%) which may be surprising given the high, dense levels of fishing over a relatively small area by hundreds of vessels.

Trend in Quantity of Catch 0.6

0.4

0.2

0 Increasing Decreasing No Change -0.2

Increasing Proportion of respondents Proportion -0.4 Decreasing No Change -0.6

In keeping with the trends in quantity, fishers responded nearly identically to the question on quality of the catch, which suggests there may have been a misunderstanding over the relevance of this question. The question aimed to determine if the actual landed quality of the product was changing over time, rather than the quality of the fishing experience.

Trend in Quality of Catch 0.6

0.4

0.2

0 Increasing Decreasing No Change -0.2

Increasing Proportion of respondents Proportion -0.4 Decreasing No Change -0.6

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Nearly every respondent (94%) Turtle Encounters indicated having come into contact with turtles at one point or another in their careers. This is a worryingly high 6% incidence rate highlighting the overlap between fisheries and turtle occurrence.

Yes No

94%

With regard to frequency of encounters, very few fishers indicated they had only seen or encountered a turtle once (<5%) with the majority indicating this had happened a few or several times in their lives. Of concern was that nearly 50% of fishers indicated they frequently came into contact with turtles, once again highlighting the overlap between fisheries and sea turtles off Karachi coast.

Turtle Encounter Frequency (in life) 0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1 Proportion of respondentss Proportion 0 Never Once Few Times Frequent Every Year

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Indeed, when investigating further and looking at the recent past, fishers indicated they came into contact with one to several turtles in just the last year. These encounter rates could be extrapolated fishery-wide to come up with a general sense of just how frequently sea turtles are interacting with the fishery fleets. While not all of the encounters are fatal, there is a likelihood that the majority does result in death and contribute to turtle population declines in Pakistan.

Turtle Encounter Frequency (in last year) 0.5 0.45 0.4 0.35 0.3 0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05 Proportion of respondentss Proportion 0 Never Once Several Monthly Weely Daily

The majority of fishers indicated they had encountered turtles as recently as the last fishing season. \

Encounter Frequency History 60

50

40

30

20

10

Proportion of respondents Proportion 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >=10 Years ago...

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Species Composition Turtle captures were primarily Green turtles followed by Olive Ridley 14% 1% turtles. It is likely there is some level of species misidentification given 1% reports of hawksbills which do not 22% Green inhabit the same waters, but of note is Hawksbill the reports of critically endangered leatherback encounters, which are Olive Ridley likely accurate given the distinctness of the body shape. Loggerhead

11% Leatherback Don't know 51%

Encounter Methods Most fishers indicated that they encountered turtles during fishery operations. A few noted that they saw them while on transit to and from 41% fishing grounds, but of interest was the substantial proportion (24%) who While fishing indicated they had seen them on In transit nesting on beaches, and the 14% who reported active hunting of turtles. 21% Laying eggs Of interest here is the lack of reports of strandings, given the number of Caught in nets fishers who indicated they had been on beaches where drowned turtles Hunted would strand. Stranded 24% 14%

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Turtles in Known Key Areas Most fishers indicated they did not know of any particular areas where turtles occurred regularly. However, 13% among the 30% who did, most indicated there were between 1 and 10 turtles in these areas, and only 5% indicated there were more than 10 1 14% turtles in the areas. These are still 2-10 high records of turtle presence, given fishers are not out to count turtles >10 specifically and see them only opportunistically. 5% None 68%

A worryingly large proportion (87%) of Numbers Caught (per boat) in the Last Year fishers reported catching turtles accidentally in their nets in the past 13% year. Of these, most reported catching one turtle, but a number claimed that these numbers could exceed ten turtles per boat per year. When these values are extrapolated 14% 1 fishery-wide, they could account for a massive mortality of sea turtles in 2-10 Pakistan. >10 Given a fishery fleet of 551 vessels 62% None operating out of Karachi, the potential 11% bycatch of sea turtles ranges from 1817 to 2381 turtles in just the last year based on feedback from fishers. This is calculated based on 71.7% of fishers reporting catching at least one turtle (395 turtles), 12.7% of fishers catching 2 to 10 (141 to 705 potential turtle captures) and 15.5% reporting catching more than 10 turtles (at a conservative 15 turtles on average, this represents and additional 1281 turtles.

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Additional Bycatch Records In addition to turtles, fishers also reported that dolphins and dugongs were occasionally caught in fishing operations, but the frequency of these encounters was considered low 32% compared to sea turtles. Of high interest from these findings are the 40% Humback reports of dugong encounters, which Bottlenose would need confirmation, but which suggest a few dugongs remain in Dugong Pakistan waters. Other

3% 25%

Respondents indicated that the number of turtle encounters decreased in the last year, which likely is reflective of a depleted turtle population offshore. Only a very small proportion of respondents indicated the trend in captures was increasing, and this is likely a vessel-specific response rather than a fishery-wide finding.

Trends in Turtle Encounters (last year) 0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1 Proportion or or respondents Proportion 0 Less More Same -0.1

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However, when looking at longer time frames of 5 and 10 years, it is apparent that substantial numbers of turtles have been taken in the fishery, with the bulk of fishers indicating they had caught 3- 10 or more turtles in the past 10 years.

Trends in Turtle Encounters (long-term) 0.5 0.45 Last five years 0.4 0.35 0.3 0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1

Proportion of respondents Proportion 0.05 0 0 1-2 3-10 >10 Years Ago

With regards to turtle excluder devices, most fishers acknowledged they knew what TEDs were and that they had seen them. Indeed, a substantial proportion of them had actually used a TED at some point in the past, but only 7% indicated they used them now.

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The lack of compliance is most likely due to a lack of basic training and not knowing how to make them fish correctly. A number of fishers indicated having trouble using TEDs (losing catch) and this created resentment which resulted in TED removal. Given this, it is hardly surprising that fishers are not keen on joining TED trials or participating in the TED project at present.

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4.0 Conclusion and recommendations

The baseline survey clearly indicates that there is a massive bycatch problem with the shrimp fishery in Pakistan that needs to be addressed. With a large proportion (87%) of fishers reporting catching turtles accidentally in their nets in the past year, the extent of fishery wide potential bycatch of sea turtles ranges from 1817 to 2381 turtles in just the last year based on collected responses from fishers, when the data is extrapolated to the entire operational fishing fleet of 551 vessels operating out of Karachi Harbour. These figures alarmingly indicate towards high rates of mortality of sea turtles in Pakistan.

The findings of the baseline study are further reinforced by our separate observer-based sea trials conducted under this project, monitoring the use of TED. During these sea trials eight (08) turtles were caught in trawl nets when the boats were not using TEDs (Fig 2). This equates to 0.05 sea turtle captures per hour, which translates to one sea turtle caught every 23 hours of fishing per boat.

Figure 2: Showing Locations of Sea Turtles Caught in Trawls

The findings of baseline survey suggest the need for a diverse programme of trials and demonstrations, along with the development of a technical TED team in Marine Fisheries Department, to reintroduce TEDs amongst fishers and save sea turtles in Pakistan.

Acknowledgements:

The authors acknowledge technical support of Mr. Shahid Hussain, Programme Assistant, IUCN Pakistan in preparation of GIS based maps under this study. We also acknowledge support of Ms. Saveeta Khiani, Field Mobiliser IUCN Pakistan and Ms. Maria Bano, IUCN Intern in compiling of field data collected under this study.

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Paper 4: TURTLE MORTALITY IN FISHING OPERATIONS IN PAKISTAN

By: Muhammad Moazzam and Rab Nawaz WWF-Pakistan, 46-K, P.E.C.H.S. Block 6, Karachi 75400, Pakistan

Abstract

There are a number of threats being faced by a dwindling population of marine turtles in Pakistan, of which entanglement in various fishing gears is considered to be the most serious threat. In order to enumerate the extent of mortality and to devise a strategy to reduce interaction of turtles with fishing operations, a study was initiated in October 2012. Monitoring of fishing operations was done in coastal and offshore areas of Pakistan which revealed that in the pelagic gillnet operations in the offshore water maximum numbers of turtles get enmeshed resulting in mortality in some cases. It is heartening that the majority of such turtles survived enmeshment. Mortality was observed only in 3 % cases which is mainly because of the poor heaving process and improper handling onboard fishing vessels. A study on seasonal variation of entanglement in the offshore gillnets fisheries revealed a bimodal pattern. A major peak of entanglement was noticed during October-December with the maximum in November. Another smaller peak of entanglement was observed during February and April. It was also observed that in the offshore waters, Olive Ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) enmeshment were of more common occurrence (85 %) than green turtles (Chelonia mydas). An analysis of the size frequency data of the enmeshed turtles indicates that almost all green turtles were observed to be juveniles having the carapace length ranging between 11 cm and 31 cm whereas almost all Olive Ridley turtles were observed to have carapace length longer than 36 cm. A study on the spatial distribution indicates that turtle enmeshment is more common in the offshore waters as compared to coastal areas.

Turtle enmeshment was also observed in neritic water gillnetting. A large number of turtles are enmeshed in monofilament net along Sindh and Balochistan coast; however, in almost all cases turtles were observed to be alive which is mainly because of shorter duration of the operation and light weightiness of the gear. Turtles were observed to hinder some fishing operations including encircling of breeding schools of catfish and large croakers by gillnet; therefore, fishermen either remove the turtles or kill them in such operations. The maximum number of turtles killed in one such operation was noticed to be 5. It may be pointed out that encircling of breeding school of fishes area is an event of very rare occurrence and usually repeated after a few years.

Turtles are usually not trapped in seine net operation because these nets are laid down only if no turtle is observed in the area. Even if a turtle is entrapped in the seine net it is released immediately because it hinders the operation of the net. No mortality was observed in the seining operations. In shrimp and fish trawling turtles are seldom caught but because of short duration of the operation, such turtles are released without any harm to them. Therefore, no or insignificant mortality occurs in shrimp trawl fishery of Pakistan. Similarly no turtle mortality was observed in other fishing operations including longlining and estuarine set bag net operations along Pakistan coast.

A programme for creating awareness among fishermen for the reducing interaction of turtles and fishing operations was initiated in October 2012. Fishermen were trained to release enmeshed turtles safely to reduce their mortality. The programme, in the beginning, faced some resistance from the fishermen, however, now almost all fishermen especially those engaged in pelagic gillnet fisheries release the turtles safely without wasting time and injuring the enmeshed turtles. It is estimated that in the pelagic gillnet fisheries about 25,000 to 30,000 turtles are safely released annually.

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Introduction The populations of a number of marine animals and plants that are found along the coast of Pakistan are being threatened by anthropogenic factors. It is now being recognized that fishing operations in coastal and offshore waters pose major threat to marine biodiversity. Turtles are considered to be iconic marine animals but these are not spared as these were known to regular interaction with the fishing gears being used in Pakistan. It is presumed that a large number turtles are being killed in shrimp trawl fishing in coastal waters of Sindh. Trawling is not being practiced along Balochistan coast, however, trawlers based in Sindh heavily poach in water of Balochistan. In order to comply with the import requirement of the United States Government, a programme for installation of Turtle Excluder Devices (TED) was implemented in Pakistan since 2000 for which provisions have been made in the fisheries legislations at provincial and federal levels. Despite passage of more than 15 years, TED regulations could not be effectively implemented in Pakistan, because fishermen are still not convinced that trawling for shrimp results in entanglement and mortality of marine turtles. No other regulation in Pakistan takes into consideration protection of marine turtles in fishing operations. Present paper deals with the assessment of mortality of turtles in various fishing gears being used in Pakistan. Additional it will also encompasses the programme that is being implemented to ensure safe released of enmeshed turtles in the fishing gears.

Material and Methods A survey of the fishing gears being used in the coastal and offshore waters of Pakistan was made and information was obtained from fishermen about frequency and quantification of entanglement of marine turtle species. Detailed information about tuna gillnet fisheries was obtained by deployment of four observers on board gillnet vessels operating in offshore waters starting from October, 2012. Spatial and temporal data about entanglement and mortality of turtles was also collected from coastal and offshore waters of Pakistan. In addition, information about the safe release of turtles from gillnet fishing vessels was also obtained.

Results and Discussions

Species

Five species of marine turtles are reported from Pakistan (Boulenger, 1890; Khan, 2004; Minton, 1966), however, authentic records of three species have recently been made from the area. Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) was reported by IUCN (2010) and Khan (2010) from Mekran coast whereas first live specimen of leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) was reported from Gwader in 2013 (WWF-Pakistan, 2013). Hawksbay turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) was reported from Pakistan in 2014 (WWF-Pakistan, 2014). Nesting of green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and olive Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) was reported from various parts along Pakistan coast (Khan et al., 2010; Waqas et al., 2011). Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) nest on a number of beaches along the coast of Pakistan throughout the year, the peak nesting season is between September and October (Khanum et al., 2014). Olive Ridley turtle nesting at in Hawkes Bay and Sandspit was previously recorded between the months of March and October with a marked peak between July and September (Asrar, 1999), however, for the past 12 years no nesting of this species was recorded from Pakistan (Hasnain, Personal communication).

Fishing Operations

Fishery is an important activity along the coast of Pakistan. A number of fishing gears are being used for catching fish in coastal and offshore waters of Pakistan. Analysis of the data of commercial fishing operation revealed that gillnet is the most commonly used gear in Pakistan

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CastSet bagnets net Longline 1%8% 3% Handline 1%

Beach seine Boat seine 1% 18% Gillnets 49%

Trawl nets 19%

Fig. 1. Fishing methods (as percentage contribution in landings) being used in Pakistan

(Fig. 1) and about 49 % of the fishing fleet is engaged in this fishery which is not only practiced in shallow coastal waters in creeks and lagoons but there is a substantially large fishing fleet that operates in offshore waters and use pelagic gillnets.

Shrimp trawling is an exotic fishing method introduced in Pakistan in 1950’s and now engage about 19 % of the fleet. These trawlers now also use high opening fish trawl nets. Boat seine (locally known as “katra”) is also an exotic gear which in use since 1970’s and it contributes about 18 % in total landings of Pakistan. Set bag net (locally known as “bhulla”) which is also an important fishing gear which is used in creek system of the River Indus is also an exotic gear introduced in Pakistan is early 1980’s. It contributes about 8 % in total landings. Longlining (locally known as “sangal”) is being employed for catching demersal fish species in coastal waters and contributing about 3 % in total landings. Other gears such as cast nets and handlines contribute about 1 % in landings whereas some gears such as trolling, beach seines and traps are also being used but their contribution is insignificant (less than 1 %) in total commercial landings.

Interaction of turtle with fishing gears in Pakistan Turtle being inhabitant of shallow and offshore waters have close interaction with fishing gears being used in their habitat. In most cases, it was observed that turtles get entangled in the fishing gears but do not die and heaved onboard while fishing gear is retrieved. Since turtles are not consumed in Pakistan and killing them is considered to be bad omen, therefore, in most cases turtles are disentangled from the nets and released alive. A review is given here about interaction of common fishing gear being used in Pakistan and its interaction with turtles.

Seining: Boat seining was introduced in Pakistan in 1970’s to meet the demand of fish meal for the poultry industry. Sardinellas and anchovies used to be main target species in the beginning but later on other small pelagic such as scads and Indian mackerels were also targeted. Initially seining operations used to be carried out in coastal waters of Sindh and in the creeks areas of the River Indus, but later on the boats based in Sindh started poaching in waters of Balochistan. Presently about 2,200 seine fishing boats are based in Sindh whereas about 100 boats are based in Balochistan at Damb (Sonmiani). The net being used in seining in Pakistan is of small size (Fig.2), therefore, incidences of entrapment of turtles in these nets are rare. Fishermen usually avoid the area where they spot turtles because turtles usually hinder the operation of seine nets. However, in case any turtle in entrapped in the seining operation, it is usually released before heaving the net. Even if hauled onboard, it is immediately discarded because of limited space on seining boats.

Beach seining is a traditional fishing gear (Fig. 3) being used in creek system of the River Indus and open coast in Clifton, Karachi. Since turtles are not found in the Indus Creek system, therefore, beach seining does not pose any threat to marine turtles. Although turtles may be seldom spotted in the

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Clifton area but since the beach seining operation is confined to shallow areas on the beach, therefore, turtles were never observed to be entangled in these nets. Need not to point out that because of spongy nature of the Clifton beach it is not used by turtles for nesting.

Fig. 2. Seining net being used in Sonmiani area.

Fig. 3. Beach seine being used in Creek area

Set Bag Net: Estuarine set bag net (ESBN) was introduced by illegal immigrant Bangladeshi fishermen in early 1980’s in the creek system of the River Indus. It is estimated that there are about 6,000 to 8,000 ESBN (locally known as Bhulla) installed in the creek system. There are various sizes of ESBN being used in creek areas (Fig. 4) mainly for catching fish and shellfish species migrating with tides in the creek system. Since turtles are not found in the creek areas, therefore, no mortality of turtles is expected from ESBN. There is no marine set bag net (MSBN) is being used in Pakistan.

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Fig. 4. Estuarine set bag net installed in small creek.

Longline and handline: Line gears are used extensively for catching bottom dwelling fish species in the coastal waters of Pakistan. Handline area used from shores as well as boats for recreational and commercial purposes respectively. Commercial handline shark fisheries using live-bait was based in Ormara, Gwader and Jiwani but for the past one decade this fishery has stopped because of decreased stocks of large sharks. Handlines are still used for commercial harvesting of groupers, seabreams, barramundi and eels.

Longline (locally known as “sangal”) is being used for catching eels, sharks, groupers and other demersal fishes in shallow coastal areas and around rocky and reef areas (Fig. 5). Very rarely a turtles may get entangled in handline or longlines. In almost all cases, fishermen snap the line to allow the turtle to escape. No mortality was ever reported from this gear. Pelagic longlining is not being used local fishermen. There used to be a large tuna longlining fleet based in Pakistan between 1991 and 2009. Taiwanese tuna longliners were licensed to operate in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Pakistan. Government observers used to be posted on all these vessels and only on two occasions entanglement of turtles (green turtles) in the hooks was reported. On both occasions the turtles were safely were released after removal of the hooks.

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Fig. 5. Longline is used in Pakistan for catching demersal fishes.

Trawling: Shrimp trawling is considered to be mainstay of fishery of Pakistan. According to the census of fishing vessels carried out by Marine Fisheries Department in 2010, there are about 2,500 trawlers being employed for catching shrimp in coastal waters. The number of operational trawlers, at present, may be comparatively less as a number of the trawlers have been modified into gillnetters during past 3 years. Recent monitoring of the fishing vessels reveals that there are more than 1,250 trawlers that operate from Karachi Fish Harbour (Wasim, Personal communications). There are additionally a number of fishing trawlers that are based in Ibrahim Hayderi and Rehri.

Shrimp fishery was introduced in 1950’s by modifying a doubled keeled local fishing boat. The gears being used since then is a low opening stern trawl net using two otter boards (Fig.6), operated to a maximum depth of 40 m (Zalinge et al., 1996). Since 2003, all trawlers also carry another high opening trawl net which is used for catching fish in comparatively deeper waters (50 to 150 m). Shrimp used to be the main target and trawlers used to be operated all along the coast of Pakistan but since 1999, shrimp stocks started to dwindle. Now for 2 months i.e. August and September trawling is done in shallow coastal waters mainly targeting shrimp whereas for remaining part of the year fish trawling is being done in comparatively deeper waters targeting fish species. Trawling done in Pakistan is marred with very high bycatch mainly of juveniles of commercially important species and bottom dwelling invertebrates.

Fig. 6. Shrimp trawl net being towed for catching shrimp and other demersal species.

Turtles sometimes get entangled in trawling gears but because of short operational duration (about ½ to 1 hours), almost all the entangled turtles was observed to be alive and after heaving the net these

Proceedings - Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia 57 are thrown overboard immediately. Surveys carried out by Marine Fisheries Department in coastal area of Sindh and Balochistan during in 2010 and 2014 revealed no mortality of marine turtles in shrimp trawl nets. Observation collected from research fishing cruises onboard local shrimp trawlers, as part of FAO/MFD Fisheries Resources Appraisal Project also revealed no entrapment or mortality of marine turtles in trawling gear (Table-I). On various research cruises being undertaken in the past 30 years by Marine Fisheries Department, various types of trawl nets were used. On these research cruises (operating in deeper waters and with much bigger nets) turtle entanglement was observed on 7 occasions (6 green and 2 olive Ridley turtle) but all turtles was safely released (Fig7).

Fig. 7. Green turtle being lifted for release on board research vessel R/V Tehkik.

Table-I. Shrimp trawl net operation undertaken by Marine Fisheries Department under Fisheries Resource Appraisal Project (FRAP) during 2010 and 2014 Year Dates No. of Area of Operation Number of Turtle Days Entanglement/mortality 2010 31 May to 15 June 16 Coastal and shelf area Nil of Sindh and Sonmiani 17 August to 6 20 Coastal and shelf area Nil September of Sindh and Sonmiani 2013 5 October to 7 03 Coastal and shelf area Nil October of Sindh 7 October to 17 11 Coastal and shelf area Nil October of Sindh and Balochistan 2014 12 April to 14 April 03 Coastal and shelf area Nil of Sindh 14 April to 20 April 07 Coastal and shelf area Nil of Sindh and Sonmiani 23 April to 30 April 08 Coastal and shelf area Nil of Sindh 6 May to 13 May 08 Coastal and shelf area Nil of Sindh Total (Fishing Days ) 76 Nil

In 2000, under the leadership of first author, US requirements of installing Turtle Excluder Device (TED) in Pakistani shrimp trawl nets was complied. A high power mission of Department of Commerce and NOAA verified operation of TED in fishing grounds as well as in the landing centres. Provisions have been made in the federal and provisional fisheries legislations making it mandatory to install TED in the shrimp trawl net. Since then US authorities annually verify compliance to TED regulation, however, fishermen are not convinced about it use therefore, in most cases avoid installing TED in their nets.

Gillnets: Various types of gillnets being used in Pakistan for catching fish and shellfish in coastal and offshore waters of Pakistan. Presently major part of the fleet is being engaged in catching Indian

58 Proceedings - Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia mackerel and sardinellas along the coastal waters using monofilament nets (Fig. 8). Bottom set gillnet is used in shallow waters for catching shrimps, crabs and other shellfish species as well as demersal fish species.

Gillnet fleet consisting of about 1,200 fishing boats is engaged in catching pelagic and demerso- peagic fishes in neritic and offshore waters. Of these about 700 are exclusively involved in catching tuna in offshore waters. Some of these boats also operated in the Area Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ) and in the EEZ of Somalia and some other countries. Gillnets area considered to enmesh a variety of bycatch including marine turtles.

Fig. 7. Monofilament net being used for catching Indian mackerel and sardinellas

Since a large number of turtles were reported to get entangled in the tuna gillnets, therefore, Since October 2012 a programme of monitoring of tuna gillnet vessel was started. Initially data was collected from tuna fishing boats by posting observers onboard. Tuna gillnet vessels (Fig. 8) uses multifilament braided nets extending to a length more than 7 km. The collected data indicates that two species of marine turtles are commonly found entangled in the gillnets (Fig. 9). Of these, Olive Ridley turtles were observed to be more common followed by green turtle. On a few occasions hawksbill turtles were also observed to be entangled.

Fig. 8. Tuna gillnetter showing store gillnet onboard.

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Analysis of the data further revealed that turtle enmeshment is not restricted to any particular area along the coastline or offshore waters but it is widely distributed in the area (Fig. 10). However, the enmeshment of turtle is more frequent in offshore waters as compared to inshore and neritic waters. Study on seasonal variation of entanglement in the offshore gillnets fisheries revealed a bimodal pattern (Fig. 11). Turtles were observed to be enmeshed throughout the year with maximum enmeshment in the month of November whereas minimum was observed to be during May. Another smaller peak of entanglement was observed during February and May with a peak in April. No data was recorded for June and July being the close season for tuna fisheries. Initially the mortality of turtles in the gillnet was estimated to be about 3 %, however, because of improved handling on board and their early release, the mortality rate has substantially decreased.

It was also observed that in the offshore waters Olive Ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) enmeshment were of more common occurrence (85 %) than green turtles (Chelonia mydas). Seasonal pattern of the two species follows same pattern except that no green turtle enmeshment was noticed during the month of January. Analysis of size frequency data of the enmeshed turtles indicates that almost all green turtles were observed to be juveniles having the carapace length ranging between 11 cm to 31 cm whereas almost all Olive Ridley turtles were observed to have carapace length longer than 36 cm. (Fig. 12). The largest Olive Ridley turtle was observed to have a carapace length of about 71 cm.

Fig. 9. Olive Ridley enmeshment in tuna gillnets

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Fig. 10. Spatial distribution of tuna enmeshment in gillnets along the coast of Pakistan

TURTLE ENMENSHMENT IN GILLNET

Olive Ridley Turtle Green turtle 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 October November August April March February June July May December January September

Fig. 11. Seasonal enmeshment of green and olive Ridley turtles in tuna gillnets

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LENGTH FREQUENCY OF ENMESHED TURTLES 160 140 120 100 80 GREEN TURTLE OLIVE RIDLEY TURTLE 60 40 Frequency 20 0 11 16 21 26 31 36 41 46 51 56 61 66 71 Carapace Length (in cm)

Fig. 12. Size frequency of enmeshed turtles in the tuna gillnets

Turtle enmeshment was also observed in neritic water gillnetting. Various types of gillnets are being used in the neritic waters for catching demersal and pelagic fishes. A large number of turtles are enmeshed in monofilament net along Sindh and Balochistan coast, however, in almost all cases turtles was observed to be alive which is mainly because of shorter duration of the operation and light weightiness of the gear. Since monofilament net is fragile net, therefore, some turtles may escape from the net with a part of net still entangling the turtle which pose serious risk to their survival. Extent of mortality of turtles in bottom gillnet being used for demersal fish is not estimated, however, fishermen engaged in such highly seasonal fisheries informed that instance of turtle enmeshment is much lower than those observed in pelagic gillnetting, however, this is not independently verified.

There is a substantially large fishery for catching shrimp and crabs using bottom set gillnets in very shallow waters. This net, locally known as “Thukri” is usually a gillnet of shorter length (about 1 to 1.5 km) and although data for about 300 operations have been recorded but no entanglement of turtles was ever reported. This net is mainly used for catching shrimp and portunid crabs along the sandy and sandy cum muddy shore.

Encircling gillnet are being used for catching breeding schools of large croakers and sea catfishes in the bays and shallow coastal waters on some rare occasions. This operation is known as “Pinn” in Sindhi and “Aranga” in Balochi. Upon locating such schools, net is laid down around such schools. Encircled fish is heaved using cast net, other gillnets and handlines. Turtles, if entrapped in such encircled nets, will lift the net resulting in the escape of the fish school. Fishermen, therefore, try to remove the turtles from such nets but in most cases kill them by hitting them with clubs and sticks. Maximum number of turtles killed in one such operation was noticed to be 5 in Ormara, Balochistan in 1983. About 30 years back such entrapment of breeding school use to occur annually at least one or two places along the coast of Pakistan but now this event of very rare occurrence and usually recur after a few years.

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In addition to gillnet, a number of turtles were observed to get entangled in derelict fishing gears in coastal and offshore waters which results in most cases in death of turtles. Sometimes the turtles may even get entangled in the derelict handlines which may also kill them. Instances of such ghost fishing is increasing because of use of monofilament net which are fragile and if entangled in rocks and other submarine structures, the net will remain stuck up with these structure . Such nets keep on entangling other fishes and turtles for very long periods resulting in death of the enmeshed species. Some NGOs and individuals have started removing such ghost nets from underwater reefs and rocky area in the recent past.

Programme for release of turtles in gillnets Considering high rate of enmeshment in the tuna gillnet fishing, WWF-Pakistan has initiated a programme in October, 2012 to train fishermen to safely release enmeshed turtles. For the purpose an awareness programme for fishermen engaged in gillnet operation was initiated with the aim to reduce interaction of turtles and fishing operations. The programme, in the beginning, faced some resistance from the fishermen, however, now most of the fishermen especially those engaged in pelagic gillnet fisheries release the turtles safely without wasting time and injuring the enmeshed turtles (Fig. 13). It is estimated that in the pelagic gillnet fisheries about 25,000 to 30,000 turtles enmeshed during gillnet operations are released annually.

Fig. 13. Olive Ridley turtle being released on board tuna gillnetter

Conclusion

Marine turtles in Pakistan are observed to have different levels of interactions with various fishing gears. Firdous (1998) have pointed out that the shrimp trawl net is the most important gear resulting in the mortality of marine turtles due to drowning in these nets. She identified incidental mortality in shrimp trawl nets as a significant threat to Pakistan's sea turtle populations. Contrary to this, it was observed that almost no mortality of marine turtle was observed in trawl net operations whereas tuna gillnetting was found to have large numbers of turtles that are enmeshed. A distinct seasonal pattern in turtle enmeshment was reported with maximum enmeshment was reported to occur during post monsoon month (August to December). The study further revealed presence of large population of Olive Ridley turtles in the offshore waters of Pakistan. Since this species is not reported to be nesting in Pakistan, therefore, it is presumed that these may be nesting in other regional countries. It may be

Proceedings - Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia 63 a part of the most important breeding population of Olive Ridley turtles (arribada) in the Indian Ocean along the Bay of Bengal is Odisha.

WWF-Pakistan has made plans to trace the migration pattern of Olive Ridley turtle using satellite tracking. In the meanwhile, WWf-Pakistan has established a database of distinctive face scale digitization which may be compared with such records from other areas and regional countries countries. Carter, et al., (2014) and Dunbar et al., (2014) have carried out similar studies on green turtles and hawksbill turtle respectively. It is also planned to make modification in the gillnets to reduce turtle bycatch such as increasing gear visibility (e.g., illumination), reducing net height, eliminating tie- downs, modifying float characteristics, changing set direction and treating nets with safe chemicals.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to proffer their gratitude to Indo-Pacific Cetacean Research and Conservation Foundation, Australian Marine Mammal Centre, Australian Government for providing funds for the Project ”An assessment of cetacean mortality in the tuna fisheries of Pakistan” through which most of the information about turtle given in the study was generated. A part of this study was also funded by Smart Fishing Initiatives (SFI), WWF which is also acknowledged..

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References

Asrar, F. F., 1999.Decline of Marine Turtle Nesting Populations in Pakistan. Marine Turtle Newsletter 83:13-14. Boulenger, G. A. 1890. Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. London. Carter, S. J. B., Bell, I. P., Miller, J. J., and Gash, P. P., 2014. Automated marine turtle photograph identification using artificial neural networks, with application to green turtles. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 452: 105–110. Dunbar, S. G., Ito, H. E. Bahjri, K. Dehom, S., and Salinas, L., 2014. Recognition of juvenile hawksbills Eretmochelys imbricata through face scale digitization andautomated searching. Endangered Species Research 26: 137–146.

Firdous, F., 1998. Marine turtle conservation in Pakistan, Proceedings of the Northern Indian Ocean Sea. Turtle Workshop and Strategic Planning Session Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, India, 13-18 January 1997.

IUCN, 2010. Nesting of Loggerhead Turtles in Pakistan confirmed by renowned expert Nicolas Pilcher.http://www.iucn.org/news_homepage/news_by_date/?4742/Nesting-of- Loggerhead-Turtles-in-Pakistan-confirmed-by-renowned-expert-Nicolas-Pilcher

Khanum, F., Kazmi, S. J. H. and Shaikh, S., 2014. A Spatio-Temporal Assessment of Green Turtle Habitat at Hawkes Bay, Karachi through Geo-Informatics Techniques. Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences, 2014, 10, 377-383. Khan, A., 2010. Records of loggerhead turtles on the Makran Coast, Pakistan. Indian Ocean Turtle Newsletter No. 12: 13. Khan, M. S., 2004. Annotated checklist of amphibians and reptiles of Pakistan. Asiatic Herpetological Research 10: 191-201. Khan, M. Z., Ghalib, S. A., and Hussain, B., 2010. Status and New Nesting Sites of Sea Turtles in Pakistan. Chelonian Conservation and Biology, 9: 119–123 Minton, S. A. 1966. A contribution to the herpetology of West Pakistan. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 134(2):31-184. Waqas, U., Hasnain, S. A., Ahmed, E., Abbasi, M., & Pandrani, A. 2011. Conservation of Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) at Daran Beach, Jiwani, Balochistan. Pakistan. J. Zool. 43: 85-90. WWF-Pakistan, 2013. First evidence of a leatherback turtle along Pakistan’s coastline (http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?208408/First-evidence-of-a-leatherback-turtle-along- Pakistans-coastline WWF-Pakistan, 2014. WWF-Pakistan records authentic occurrence of hawksbill turtle for the first time in Pakistan. (http://www.wwfpak.org/newsroom/160114_hawksbill.php #sthash. TZBCrLkq.dpuf). Van Zalinge, N. P., Khaliluddin, M. Khan, W., 1994. Pakistan’s shrimp fishery. In: Proceedings of National Seminar on Fisheries Policy and Planning (Majid, A., Khan, M. Y., Moazzam M., and Ahmad J. eds.), Marine Fisheries Department, Karachi. Pp. 130-177..

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Paper 5: Sea turtle conservation & monitoring status in Bangladesh

By: M. Zahirul Islam Sea Turtle Conservation Project-Bangladesh Marinelife Alliance [email protected]

General Information Bangladesh coastline measures 710 kilometres approximately. Not all the coastline is suitable for nesting, because sandy beaches are available only in sections along the mainland coast. Apart from the mainland coast, there are numerous offshore islands whose sandy beaches are ideal for marine turtle nesting (Islam 2006). As of the worlds sea turtle population depleted all over the oceans more drastic, in Bangladesh marine waters, nesting Bangladesh declined 80% during last 4 decades and currently nesting habitat is threatened by tourism. Here turtle conservation is new hence the outcome of the efforts depends on continuous enhanced long-term measures. Five species forage in the Bay of Bengal and so far only 2 of them viz., Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) and Green turtle (Chelonia mydas) currently nest at suitable beaches along the coast and facing dangers from bycatch, egg poaching, predation, beach alteration and tourism/lighting. Currently tourism development is the main inland threat along south eastern coast at Cox’s Bazar and St. Martin. Unlike the other parts of the world sea turtle lately enlisted in protected list of the Bangladesh Wildlife (Preservation & Protection) Act, in 2012. Sea turtles with other marine wildlife are facing dangers from bycatch in offshore fishing efforts. Every year almost thousands of sea turtle washed ashore mostly results of indiscriminate bycatch. The most vulnerable species are olive ridley and juvenile or subadult green turtle as occurred in our territory. In addition, there are gaps in scientific information on sea turtle species diversity, population size, habitat and seasonality.

Although five species of marine turtles occur in the territorial waters of Bangladesh (Rashid and Islam 2005), only three species have been reported to nest in Bangladesh. Among them, olive ridleys (Ahmed et al 1986, Khan 1987, Rashid 1984, 1986, Rashid and Islam 1999, Islam 2002, Rashid & Islam 2005) and green turtles (Khan 1982, 1987, Rashid 1997, Rashid and Islam 1999) were common, while hawksbills are rare (Islam 2002, Rashid 1997). If were recorded the loggerhead likely to be misidentified by people as everyone like to record one new species. Few leatherback turtles dead bodies recorded during last fifteen and no known records of nesting, in Bangladesh; although, crawl mark recorded in Cheradia, St. Martin's Island and at one place of west beach according to local sea turtle watcher although there is no authentic evidence, but the elders said about leatherback nesting at remote beach of St. Martin Island, Badamgonia during four decades back before 1980 (Islam, 2002).

Conservation Initiatives Sea turtle conservation started with a small pilot project at St. Martin Island by a NGO named CARINAM in 1996-98. Later by NCSIP of MoEF through St. Martin Pilot Project (2000-01) and later St. Martin Project (MoEF)(2001-2004). Sea Turtle activity started by DoE in 2005 that has been ended without sustainable good result mostly carried out by NGOs without maintaining scientific protocols and not complete comprehensive results. Research and conservation organization Marinelife Alliance

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(MLA) conducting nesting and stranding sea turtle monitoring at all spots of the coast since 2000 and maintaining the database since the beginning of work. MLA have been conduct sea turtle conservation work at St. Martin island, Teknaf peninsula & Sonadia Island with the support from KNCF-Japan & FWS-US since 2004 and maintaining complete status database. MLA maintaining sea turtle website for Bangladesh under which total data would be available in later days (www.seaturtlebd.org). MLA started satellite tracking project of sea turtle in Bangladesh in 2010. (Islam 2013). In 2013, SRCWPP (Strengthening Regional Co-operation for Wildlife Protection Project) under Forest Department, supported MLA to conduct sea turtle project entitled “Sea Turtle conservation in Bangladesh Coastal & Marine Territory". It is the most comprehensive work in Bangladesh sea turtle monitoring and conservation. MLA allocated almost more than 80 local communities for sea turtle monitoring along the entire coast except the largest mangrove Sundarban. After one season 2013-14 monitoring the nesting frequency raise around 650 olive ridleys from South Central Beach Kuakata to South east most St. Martin Island. (Islam, 2014)

SEA Turtle nesting rookeries in Bangladesh Marinelife Alliance (MLA) non-governmental conservation and research organization has been working on to restore of sea turtle population by field based activities; efforts of MLA towards conserving nests, mitigating bycatch in offshore fishing by fishermen’s training and conserving nesting habitats. MLA extended the nesting monitoring and conservation work through the entire coast of Bangladesh including the south central coast up to Kuakata area. The beaches of sundarban mangrove forest still not known in details but there is less developmental until now since it is already protected under Sundarban reserve forest and UNESCO heritage site. The future of Sundarban also not certain if the current initiative of the government of Bangladesh remain to establish a coal based large power generation station at Rampal close to Sundarban. Here I have depicted the preliminary information on the nesting beaches through several inventories of the coastal areas from St. Martin to Kuakata area (Fig-1) to explore the suitability and the recent information from the local communities. The inventory conducted during the period Dec –Aug 2013. Field visits will also be made in Sundarban coast particularly Dublar Char, Kotka, Mandarbaria, Hiron Point to understand the nesting records and beach status and discussion with forest and fishers community. Major locations are given in the Table-1. and the Figure-1.

Table-1. Major Project Area Locations.

Area Location District

St. Martin Island 20.608516°- 92.322620° Cox’s Bazar

20.731981°- 92.345262° Teknaf Peninsula to Cox’s Bazar Sahporirdwip to Najirartek 21.458812°- 91.944006° Sonadia island 21.489034°-91.872059° Cox’s Bazar

Dholghata 21.671901°- 91.848770° Cox’s Bazar

Kutubdia 21.847621°- 91.837074° Cox’s Bazar

Parki 22.358286°- 91.724209° Chittagong

Sandwip 22.391053°- 91.495846° Chittagong

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Nijhumdwip 21.871377°- 90.602200° Noakhali

Kuakata 21.795939°- 90.141330° Potuakhali

Figure-1. Location of sea turtle nesting and conservation activity.

St. Martin Island: This is very small island with 590 hectors land area situated far south situated at 12 kilometers south from the Bangladesh main land. The island is fringed with numerous sedimentary rocks in sub-tidal zone. This is coral habitat with sandy and rocky intertidal zone. The habitat is very rich in marine biodiversity and a truly marine habitat.

Teknaf Peninsula Sahporirdwip to Najirartek: This is about 90 kms long sandy beach with some boulder formation in intertidal zone at some points. At the east of the beach and a tiny plain cultivated land there is Cox’s Bazar hilly forested area of semi evergreen type extends from Cox’s Bazar town to Teknaf zone although most of the forest area are degraded during the last decades severe deforestation. The physical character of the coastal strip from Najirartek (north) to Badar Mokam (south) at the south (the south last of the Mainland Bangladesh). A large number of people living along this coast and around 600 boats are landed here in 22 deferent areas year round. Currently the tourism area increasing day by day. Still there are large areas very suitable for turtle nesting and wintering birds roosting place. A considerable number of village growth centers along the coast where awareness and education program is very essential to enhance conservation activity. The average width of the peninsular beach is 100-150m, and up to 400-500 m wide in some places. The sandy beaches are fringed with shore vegetation dominated by Ipomea. In addition, Nishinda (Vitex sp.) is present at Inani beach and Screw Pine has been recorded at beaches in Baharchara Union. The

68 Proceedings - Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia entire area is of the coastal strip at the east is subtropical moist semi evergreen forested also much of this is degraded due to severe deforestation during the last 3 decades. We will arrange at least 8 awareness programs to reach to the community and other people engaged in the activities along this coast.

Sonadia Island: This 11.5 km long beach stretch, which runs northwest to southeast, is boulder free with a sandy intertidal zone of 100-150 meters throughout its entire length. The island is in relatively pristine condition compared to other coastal habitats within the Cox’s Bazar as it has suffered less development and tourism activity. As a result, the beach is very suitable for sea turtle nesting. The shore also supports large numbers of shorebirds and rich communities of mollusks and echinoderms. There are about 2500 people living in the island in 3 separates villages and the island and the adjacent mangrove habitat is a paradise for marine invertebrates and wintering birds. Sonadia formed from sandbars. The size of the island is about 1950 hectors depending on the tidal level with an altitude range of 5 meters. The extremely low altitude of the Island in particular is subject to flooding during tidal surges, and vulnerable to sea level rises. It is infact a small part of nearshore big island Moheskhali and is separated by a small mangrove canal named Majherdhar. Aesthetically this has got unique seascape and landscape value characterized by the high sand dunes throughout the whole western side. Located in the 3.5 kilometers northwest of the Cox’s Bazar last landmark Najirartek. Geographically located in between N 21 32.184 E 91 50.285 to N 21 28.066 E 91 55.186. The island is ecologically as well as geo-morphologically unique. Sand dune main vegetation is Vitex negunda, Ipomea pes caprae, Panicum repens and mangrove have over 27 species of floral diversity. Sand flat habitat and pristine beaches serves as one of the last remaining wintering grounds for gulls and terns. The area has a moist tropical maritime climate. Sonadia habitat includes sand dunes and beaches, salt marshes and mudflats, mangrove and near and in-shore water sandy shoals. The beach is rich in mollusk shells. Winds and waves are the major forces determining the features of the dunes. There are also several sand bars/shoals along the upper north-western part of the site.

Dholghata: It’s located at the north area of the Upazila Moheskhali with habitat formations of mudflats, and sandy beach. There are several canals and inlets influence the habitat of the area. The area is a largely converted from the previous mangrove forest for the Shrimp farming.

Kutubdia: Its is a 18 kms long island situated north of Moheskhali and separated from the mainland through a km wide channel. The island is plain within tidal surge zone. The habitat is largely used for cultivation. There is sandy shore at the western coast and there are records of sea turtle nesting.

Parki: This coast situated south of Chittagong, and Karnaphuli river. There is narrow sandy beach with muddy habitat at the intertidal and subtidal zone. There are unconfirmed records of sea turtle nesting. But dead washed turtle recorded during the recent years.

Kuakata : panaromic sea beach on the southernmost tip of Bangladesh. Located in the Patuakhali district, Kuakata has a wide sandy beach from where one can see both the sunrise and sunset. It is about 320 Kilometres south of Dhaka, the capital, and about 70 Kilometres from the district headquarters. The Kuakata beach is 28 km long and curve in shape.

Status and Distribution

OLIVE RIDLEY TURTLES: Olive ridleys have been found to nest on sandy beaches all along the mainland coast and islands stretching from the Sunderban mangrove forests in the southwest, to St.

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Martin’s Island. The total nesting will be near eight hundred in a nesting season. The nesting season for olive ridley is August-sept to March-April depending on the location. The southern part like St. Martin island nesting starts early in August and at Sonadia peak is in Jan-Feb and lasts for up to April. Olive ridley recorded in the Sundarban mangrove coast viz., Dubla Island, Egg Island, Putney Island also Sandweep, Hatiya, Nijhumdweep and Bhola islands on the south central to east coast. Currently they nest from St. Martin to Kutubdia along southeast coast and at south central coast viz., Kuakata, Sonar Char, Shib Char, Char Tuphania, Barabaisdia, Rabonabad Char explored very recently. The Hatia, Sandweep is no longer serving as nesting rookeries as those are siltated heavily and now are mudflats and good wintering habitat for migratory shorebirds. There is good record of day nesting by Olive ridley in last 3 nesting season recorded in Teknaf peninsula and at St. Martin Island. The seasonal nesting (2013-14) summarized in Figure-2a,b. The morphometric data mentioned for both olive ridley and green turtle mentioned in Table-2. While some nests were in the open, others were laid in vegetation like Ipomoea sp. and Pandanus sp. Clutch size ranging between 36 to 204 eggs. Incidental mortality of ridleys is greater during winter, which corresponds with their peak breeding season. At other times of the year, there are fewer instances of turtles being trapped in fishing nets.

GREEN TURTLES: Green turtles are less widespread than olive ridleys, they have been reported to nest on south-central island beaches, mainland beaches in the southeast from Cox's Bazar to Teknaf (Teknaf peninsular beach), coastal Islands viz., St. Martin's, Sonadia, and past records were from Kutubdia, Hatiya and Sandweep islands. Nesting records for this species in the sundarban is not known as there is no monitoring work and no information on other species either, except Olive ridley. The shallow continental shelf in south-central Bangladesh supports immature and young green turtles. On several expeditions by the marine research vessel of the MFRI, small-sized young individuals, with straight carapace lengths ranging from 35–45 cm, were observed. On several occasions, adult green turtles were also trapped in fishing nets. They nest on the same beaches as olive ridley turtles, though there may be differences in nest site selection. According to local people and fishermen, the number of nesting females has declined by almost 70– 80 per cent in the last thirty years or so. Currently green turtle only nest at few spots of St. Martin Island, Sonadia and Teknaf peninsular beach. Green turtles nest recorded during winter months in St. Martin islands with pre and post monsoon period and only post monsoon at Sonadia Island (Islam 2011), At St. Martin they prefer remote high slope beach with coarse sand. (Island 2002).

Table-2. Morph-metric Data GREEN TURTLE OLIVE RIDLEY Parameters No Median SD Range No Median SD Range CCL (cm) 11 103.2 7.212 91.8 - 111 71 64.80 3.5 58.65 – 73.95 CCW (cm) 5 85.3 9.192 75 - 88 67 62.8 3.2 57.37 - 73.95 Weight (kg) - - - - 9 41.3 4.2 36-54 Crawl Width 4 100 85-100 35 66.6 56-80 Clutch Size (nos) 9 122.0 27.7 95-154 632 118 23.523 48 - 204 Nest Depth (cm) 4 100 95-104 21 41.0 33-50 Egg Weight (gm) 50 42.5 3.7 43.3-40.5 60 27.6 3.7 24 - 32.8

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Egg Diameter 50 41.50 3.9 40.5-42.8 60 35.1 3.9 32.6-38.7 (mm) Mostly spherical (abnormal case Spherical, some longer abnormal size, found) some yokless recorded)

HAWKSBILL TURTLES: Nesting hawksbill turtles are rare visitors to the beaches of Bangladesh (Rashid & Islam 2005). There is no current record of nesting and the last nesting record was done in 1998 at St. Martin Island (Islam 2002). Reports from the local people of the island indicate that it used to nest here regularly in the 1950s. In January 1992, one female was reported to have nested with a clutch size of 56 eggs, but no information on egg dimension is available (Rashid 1997) that was just an incidental record so nesting frequency at that time could not be revealed since regular monitoring started only in October 1996. This makes consideration that this species is very rare in our country during since 1990s. But fishermen and the old islander know very well this species due to its unmistakable carapace scutes and characteristics. Reports from the local people of the island indicate that it used to nest here regularly in the 1950-60s. Later, the numbers appear to have declined drastically. We can assume that destruction of coral habitat makes the area smaller than before shrinking the hawksbill foraging habitat threatens this species in our area. In 1997, coral studies also showed abundance of sponges at St. Martin Island, indicates absence of hawksbill turtle (NCSIP-1, 1996). On 13 November 1996, an immature hawksbill (SCL 27 cm) was washed ashore of St. Martin’s Island. Hawksbill sub adult staff body also has been found on dispay at a Curio Shop at Cox’s Bazar on 2000. In 2014, we have some head start positive record of juvenile hawksbill stranding and also sub adult in nearshore area according to our local turtle watcher. Recent live records of hawksbill turtle far from the St. Martin Island and the size indicates that they use Bangladesh coast and nearshore area as foraging habitat. These two records were on 25 Aug 2014, at Sonadia island near west village beach, with CCL-29 cm and weight 1.90 kgs and on 27Aug2014, at Bainnapara (south of Inani), Teknaf peninsula, with CCL- 35 cm and weight 3.75 kgs. Both recorded by local sea turtle watcher and fishermen who helped to rescue both from ghost nest of monofilament gill nets severely entangled with the turtle. Necks and flippers were seriously injured due to net trapping that means turtle trapped not just for a shorter time.

Loggerhead Turtle: Little information is available on the loggerhead species in Bangladesh. The nearest sites where nesting of loggerheads has been reported are the islands off Myanmar (Thorbjarnarson et al. 2000), which lie east of St. Martin's Island; a few may nest in Bangladesh but still there is no record.

Leatherback Turtles: Have not been recorded nesting in Bangladesh (Islam 2006). A search of the literature found no historic evidence of leatherback nesting in Bangladesh. However, on 11 April 1997 a dead adult leatherback turtle was washed ashore on St. Martin's Island (Islam 1999, Rashid & Islam 2005). In 2006 two leatherbacks washed ashore and in 2007 a live young leatherback was brought to the Bakkhali river fish landing, Cox's Bazar after it got trapped in fishing net. The turtle later died of exhaustion and heat.

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Major threats to sea turtle in Bangladesh: Threats to sea turtle are being observed since 1996 initially at St Martin's island. The intense of deleterious effect gradually increasing and from new dimentions. The records of dead turtle since 1996 have been quoted mostly from St. Martin (Islam 1999). The record number dead turtle found on the seashore during 2000-01. Sea turtles are facing dangers in our country from bycatch, eggs poaching, predation, nesting beach alteration and tourism/lighting. Indiscriminate tourism and infrastructure development along Teknaf peninsular beach and in St. Martin Island is the main inland threat. Community livelihood depends on fishing and based on natural resource. It is necessary to educate them to enhance breeding success and reduce bycatch in marine fisheries, and it is urgent to initiate community based effective monitoring and conservation activity while scientific critical information are vital for the mitigation success. The south eastern part of the project area particularly Cox’s Bazar coast (Map, Figure-1) is a top priority for hotel/resort, tourism and people are buying beach for resort; no mechanism in place to save beaches from alteration where sea turtle nesting habitat may lose forever its suitability. Thousands of dead turtle washed ashore every year along Cox’s Bazar due to offshore fishing but the intensity is not fully known. We Identified, several causes for declining population of nesting sea turtles which include:

Loss of nesting habitat: This is one of the major issues in current days. The whole Cox’s Bazar- Teknaf peninsular beach, almost 100 kms and the coral bearing St. Martin island under this threat due to tourism development. At least 50% of the suitable nesting beach becoming invaded by hotel & resort development in last 10 years. And in St. Martin Island nesting populations declined by 50 % since 1996. Before the tourism development the extension of Marine Drive along Cox’s Bazar Teknaf peninsular coast initiated beach dune erosion and posed as major beach alteration in result. The road directly constructed over the beach sand dune and destroyed natural setting. Ultimately that increased natural erosion and as a result long areas at Cox’s bazaar to Reju canal RCC blocks replaced sandy bottom in the name of erosion protection. Lighting from marine drive vehicle, hotel resort is a major disturbance currently in St. Martin Island and Teknaf peninsula in addition to the night activities.

High Predation of Nests & Females: Feral dogs are the major predator of nesting turtles and nests. Dog population is difficult to control as they breed very successfully and every year the population gets stable or increased. Previous ring monitor lizard at far south west beach at St. Martin Island, named Badam Gonia was recorded during 1996-2005. No other carnivores are responsible except Jackal along peninsular beach where Casuarina plantation remain along coastline. The recent plantation at Sonadia Island newly invited Jackals at Sonadia beach recorded only from 2013-14 season.

High mortality of adults by offshore fishing: Bangladesh coastal and marine territory remains as death trap for sea turtles and small cetacean. The whole northern marine area is full of Marine Set bag Net (MSBN). There are at least 50 thousand MSBN being used seasonally in our marine area. Other gears are Drifting Gillnets, Bottom set gill nets, longlines and on shore mostly beach seine. Considering all MSBN is the most destructive for sea turtle and small cetacean. Each year almost 500-1000 olive ridley recorded washed ashore and many of them just drift towards south those are out of record. Many of the specimens hold eggs and might have died during their approach to the sandy shore. The MSBN is similar to trawl net while it is fixed to the bottom and works with tide. Around 170 mechanized trawler fishing in our territory mostly for shrimp and 1 third is for white fish. There is no use of TED in Bangladesh. Still there is no imposition from fisheries department and from any other government sectors. Mechanized trawler and MSBN is the main threats to sea turtle in current days.

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Stealing of eggs: Considering overall threat egg stealing from the beach is rated as the most serious. Indeed not a single nest in situ is safe without guarding in some area. In Bangladesh majority people are Muslim and they do not relish turtle eggs. But eggs are sold to aboriginal and Hindu people. In Sonadia island there is gang of several persons always try to steal eggs unless it is guarded. In some cases eggs are carried to hill tract district Bandarban for selling to aboriginal peoples market. After a lot motivation, awareness, education, still some people particularly some Muslim stealer, Hindu people in some area are always try to seal eggs hence continuous monitoring and guarding is necessary and In situ protection most of the time remain in difficulties. We suspect and according to market survey at least 2% - 5 % nests are stolen each season.

Research & Monitoring

Beach Monitoring: We are conducting the sea turtle nesting and stranding monitoring along the entire coast of Bangladesh except the Sundarban mangrove forest. The nesting population still to identify but it is our estimation that nesting by olive ridley will exceeds 800 per nesting season from St. Martin to Kuakata area. And around 20-25 nests by Green turtle totaling in Sonadia Island, Teknaf peninsula and at St. Martin island. The nesting frequency mentioned in Figure-2 below for the most recent season for the major nesting rookeries and also Teknaf peninsular beach has been elaborately described since the length of beach is comparatively larger. (Figure-2 a,b)

SEA TURTLE NESTING RECORDS IN BANGLADESH COAST: 2013-14

400

350

300 Green Turtle 250 Olive Ridley 200 Nest 150

100

50

0

Nesting Rookeries

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Satellite Tracking: Satellite Tracking involves attaching on the sea turtle shell a Transmitter and getting the transmission data from Satellite. The device send message to satellite each time the turtle comes to the surface to breathe and researcher get critical data via satellite about turtle location. In 2010, MLA started sea turtle satellite tracking in Bangladesh until 2014, attached 12 SPOT5 tags on nesting Olive ridley turtle at Sonadia island and Teknaf peninsular beach. We still need to attach 20 devices to get enough data to understand their foraging and habitat range. All the information is visible in sat tracking tool http://seaturtle.org/tracking/ ?project_id=487. The longest duration we could track was 357 days ended in 2011 and another one named Urmee-3 traveled more than eight thousand kms and device sent signals up to 245 days. All of the olive ridley traveled south central to west and eastern Indian coast and confined central to western Bay of Bengal. Urmee-3 travelled further down to south of Sri Lanka. Tracking ridley travelled through very deep water area like three thousand meters. A number of tags have also been ceased early sending signal, we suspect bycatch victim since the coastal and offshore area of Bangladesh marine territory is full of marine set bag net which is

74 Proceedings - Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia mostly responsible for bycatch incidence. We used Platform Terminal Transmitter (PTT), SPOT5 and SPLAH10 of Wildlife Computer. We fixed the entire transmitter on the 1st and 2nd central (vertebral) scutes so the antenna is much visible over water when turtle comes to surface. For tagging we used initially Sika Anchorfix-3 and the curing time was longer than 60 minutes in day. In our 2nd attempt we could not find Sika Anchorfix-3, so used hardly managed Sika Anchorfix-2 which was just not suitable to work with. It is becomes harder like cement immediately come out from the nose. But we managed to fix the 2nd PTT on Basanti that lasts for 81 days. On later stage when Sika Anchorfix-3 was out of market in Asia finally we managed to find Power Pro 150 from Thailand. The Curing time for the Powerpro 150 was shorter than Sika-3 and was good to fix and overall work with. The curing time was 50-80 minutes depending on the surrounding weather condition, sunlight, wind flow etc. Temperature also ranged 45oC -110oC with the highest in very few cases. We used plastic net to help fix during 2nd layer of the epoxy over the PTT. Continuously we monitored the epoxy temperature with infrared thermometer during application as high temperature can harm turtle and also damage the PTT.

Table-2. Satellite tracking summery conducted by Marinelife Alliance during 2010-2014. Life Days Name Species Release Date Last Location Stage Transmitted Urmee-5 Olive Ridley Adult 2014-03-28 2014-05-02 35 Urmee-7 Olive Ridley Adult 2014-04-07 2014-09-29 175 Urmee-2 Olive Ridley Adult 2014-03-19 2014-04-10 22 Urmee-3 Olive Ridley Adult 2014-03-21 2014-11-21 245 Urmee-6 Olive Ridley Adult 2014-03-31 2014-07-17 108 Urmee-8 Olive Ridley Adult 2014-04-14 2014-09-08 147 Urmee-4 Olive Ridley Adult 2014-03-27 2014-06-31 96 Jol Pori Olive Ridley Adult 2014-01-21 2014-05-30 129 Sagor Konna-2 Olive Ridley Adult 2014-03-26 2014-07-10 106 Urmee Olive Ridley adult 2010-03-29 2011-04-11 358 Basanti Olive Ridley Adult 2013-02-22 2013-08-28 187

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Flipper Tagging: Tagging of marine turtles at St. Martin's Island was initiated in 2000 by Marine life Alliance (Islam 2004). All the tags were Monel (#1005-49, National Band and Tag Co., Kentucky), numbered from N401 to N500. The return address inscribed on the tags was: Research Box 736, Durban, South Africa. The tags were attached to the hind margin of the front flipper (left or right) of both olive ridleys and green turtles. In some cases, the tags were attached to the rear right or left flipper. Sixty-five turtles (olive ridleys and green turtles) were tagged beginning in October 2000. Tagging stopped in March 2001. Tagging provided primary data on multiple clutches, inter-nesting intervals between clutches and nest site fidelity. Marinelife Alliance produced flipper tags and started tagging in 2011. The tags are numbered BD 0001-BD 3000; and included in the of IOSEA flipper tag database. tags are Inconel, Model 681s, from NBT-USA. Currently under the Marinelife Alliance/SRCWPP/Forest Department project sea turtles are tagged being attached. Olive ridleys were recorded to nest twice during a nesting season with an interval of 14-16 days (average=14.8 days; n=18). There were only three re-nesting records for green turtles, with the nesting interval ranging between 14-17 days (Average=15.3 days; n=3); the females laid eggs two to three times during a season. At Teknaf peninsula our satellite tracking olive ridley, URMEE-7 has been attached with satellite tag on April 07, 2014 at Jahajpura and it emerged for nesting on March 07, 2015, 10 kms north near Samlapur.

PIT Tagging : We are using PIT tag model # BIOMARK HDX12, PLT; 134.2 kHz HDX; high performance with individual needles coupled with MK-25 implant gun. We are using on the satellite tracking olive ridley and on all other species found. We are also scanning olive ridley and green turtles for any PIT tags with BIOMARK Pocket Reader-EX.

Foraging Habitat Survey & Marine Survey: Marinelife Alliance is conducting bycatch and foraging habitat survey with the hlp of fishermen. Also the researcher conducted 105 days in water survey during 20010-14. The intense of Marine Set Bag Net (MSBN) all over the northern marine area in bangladesh territory is mainly responsible for the turtle bycatch and mortality. Each of the fishing boat have 10-12 MSBN and there are thousands of fishing boats in operation. There are more than 170 mechanized shrimph and fish Trawller in Bangladesh. Those fish close to shoreline illegaly. Both industril trawler and MSBN are tremendously responsible for large number of turtle bycatch impact of Sea turtle bycatch each year. The estimated rate of bycatch found 0.065/MSBN/deployment that means every 15-16 time deployment of each MSBN net creat a bycatch according to our survey and this data collected by fishermen. The bycatch mitigation is our regular activity. Since the fishing community is very large we need to continue and focus to conduct with every fishing boat to reach all fishermen. This needs fishieries department, and other defence sectors of the government.

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Conservation Practices Nest Conservation & Safe Incubation: Currently all of the nests from St. Martin to Kuakata area are being conserved either by beach relocation or by in situ conservation practices. In 2013-14 more than 700 nests recorded from olive ridley. Most of them conserved through the current Marinelife Alliance conservation project. And 12 Green turtle nests recorded out of which 9 has been conserved by relocation. The annual olive ridley hatchlings release in the wild population are more than fifty thousand and hope that will increase in coming seasons as more potential monitoring and conservation efforts being developed. There are 32 nest relocation enclosure is in operation by Marinelife Alliance along the entire coast and such enclosure is installed on the same beach near the monitoring station with 24 hour guarding facility. Enclosure is made of nylon net and bamboo sticks so there is no metal use with this to keep any effect of magnetic distortion with the baby turtles. The nests are kept in most cases on the beach. But major areas in the peninsular beach the eggs are not safe as the beach dogs and other predators like Jackal is a real threat in addition to the human poaching. To overcome the situation we relocate the eggs in relocation enclosure just on the nesting area to keep them safe for hatching. We have relocation enclosure at the following nesting spot in project area. In nesting season 2013-14, we have conserved 683 olive ridley and 9 green turtle nests .

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Awareness Campaign with Grassroots: regarding sea turtle conservation, their ecological role and the legal issues. We conduct education and awareness program with local community and fishermen at Cox’s Bazar, Najirartek, Ghotiganga area emphasizing the intense of the bycatch in the offshore fishing activity, the role of sea turtle in the ocean environment and asking for fisher’s cooperation to save sea turtle and other marine mega-fauna. We also conducted public announcement with megaphone along the beach locations against the egg poaching, disturbing sea turtle, and conservation; at Moheskhali, Ciox’s Bazar Kolatoli to Teknaf and Sahporirdwip area.

Capacity Building of Local Community & Forest Officials

More than 212 local people so far have been trained during the last 8 years for monitoring and conservation work by Marinelife Alliance. As many areas are remote we also conduct short and group training in remote areas in addition. As part of the World Bank funded Forest department sea turtle project (SRCWPP/W2-06) one of our major aim is to build capacity of the Forest officials for sea turtle conservation. Currently we are going through the training and orientation program of the forest officials: For a realistic and fruitfull result we need to continue that as officials are changed time to time. The mapping of the nesting rookeries along the whole coast of the project area and the respective forest ranges and outlet offices are being included.

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School Education Program: 84 school education programs conducted with Secondary level school students during 2004-14 on sea turtle and marine biodiversity conducted at Cox’s Bazar, along the peninsula coast and other project areas. This is our ongoing activity and in future will be more elaborate in terms of frequency and methodology. will be continued during the monsoon as researchers will have time out of the nesting busy season. Currently school program conducted with Sea turtle and environmental lectures, quiz competition, short examination, short documentary presentation etc. In the near future the Marinelife Center of Marinelife Alliance will organize regular lectures and documentary shows where students and general people of all levels will be invited and that will have tremendous impact on awareness and motivation and science based understanding on marine life and sea turtle role in ecosystem.

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Acknowledgements

The author and MarineLife Alliance are grateful to US-Fish & Wildlife Service, Whitley Fund for Nature-UK, IOSEA, KNCF-Japan for supporting to conduct sea turtle monitoring and conservation work. Also Bangladesh Forest Department Project SRCWPP, funded by World Bank support tremendously helped to expand and carry on research work on satellite tracking and monitoring that will lead us to establish some of the protected area for sea turtle nesting.

References:

Groombridge, B. & R.A. Luxmoore, 1989. The Green Turtle & Hawksbill (Reptilia: Cheloniidae): World Status, Exploitation & Trade. Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna & Flora, Lausanne, Switzerland, 601 pp. ISLAM, M.Z. 1999. Threats to sea turtle populations in Bangladesh. Technical Report. MarineLife Alliance, 1998, 28 pp. ISLAM, M.Z. 2001. Sea turtles nesting & beach status at Moheshkhali and Sonadia area-rapid survey. Technical Report. MarineLife Alliance, 2001, 19 pp. ISLAM, M.Z. 2002. Marine turtle nesting at St. Martin’s Island, Bangladesh. Marine Turtle Newsletter 96: 19-22. ISLAM, M.Z. 2009. Bangladesh’s proposed deep-sea port at Sonadia Island: Another alarm bell rings in South Asia. Profile of the Month, Dec 2009, IOSEA website. www.ioseaturtles.org/pom_detail. php?id=93 ISLAM, M.Z. 2010. Bangladeshi government proposes port in ecologically critical area; SWOT Online Report-1, 2010. www. seaturtlestatus.org Mohanty, B. 2002. Casuarina forests ruin turtle nesting beaches in Orissa. Kachhapa 7: 20-21. MarineLife Alliance. 2009a. Sea Turtle Monitoring and Conservation along Coast of Cox’s Bazar (2005 –2009), Bangladesh, Final Report, 29 pp. Marinelife Alliance. 2009b. Marine Set Bag Net (MSBN) Bycatch Report. Draft Technical Report. Bycatch Study Program, 2007-09, 22 pp. MarineLife Alliance, 2010. Sea Turtle Monitoring and Conservation Report, South East Coast, Bangladesh (2009-2010) 31 pp. Rashid, S.M.A. & M.Z. Islam. 2005. Conservation and research on marine turtles in Bangladesh. In: K. Shanker & B.C. Chowdhury (Eds.). Sea Turtles of the Indian Subcontinent. Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, India, pp 200-216. Thorbjarnarson, J B, S G Platt, and S T Khaing. 2000. Sea turtles in Myanmar: Past and present. Marine Turtle Newsl. 88:10–11.

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Paper 6: Management of Sea Turtle Hatcheries in Sri Lanka

By: Thushan Kapurusinghe ([email protected]) Project Leader, Sri Lanka Turtle Conservation Project (TCP). Management, policy and legislation

Introduction

Sri Lanka is an island nation situated at the Southern point of India, separated from the mainland by the shallow seas of the Gulf of Mannar. The island has a 1,585 Km coastline and is 353 km from north to south and 183 Km at its widest point, covering a land area of 65,610 Km² (CCD,1997). Five species of sea turtles come ashore to nest on the beaches of Sri Lanka (Kapurusinghe, 2000b). All five species are listed by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as vulnerable, critically endangered or endangered. Marine turtles are still being exploited in Sri Lanka for their eggs and their meat. In addition, turtle nesting beaches are being disturbed by tourism development and feeding habitats, such as coral reefs, sea grass beds are being destroyed by pollution and unsustainable harvesting. Many turtles are accidentally caught and drowned in fishing gear, while the critically endangered hawksbill turtle has been hunted to the brink of extinction for its carapace to provide raw materials for the illegal ‘tortoiseshell’ trade (Hewavisenthi, 1990; Fisher, 1995; Kapurusinghe, 2006 and Kapurusinghe et al. 2008).

Surveys carried out by the Turtle Conservation Project (TCP) and National Aquatic Resources Agency (NARA) indicated that until 2003 almost 100% of the sea turtle nests on Kosgoda beach were robbed of their eggs. Either the eggs were consumed raw on the spot or sold to turtle hatcheries.

Sea turtle based tourism in Sri Lanka was initially represented by the existence of the turtle hatcheries. However, all these hatcheries are operated illegally according to the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance of Sri Lanka (Hewavisenthi, 1993). The turtle hatchery owners purchase turtle eggs and after the incubation, hatchlings are kept in tanks for several days prior to release them (Amarasuriya, 1996). Tourism provides the major income for these hatcheries enabling to them to maintain the facility. Poorly maintained hatcheries typically adopt procedures that disregard the sex ratio produced and have no regard in ensuring the hatchlings undergo their vital imprinting process (Mrosovsky, 1994 & Brand, 1999 in Richardson 1996).

In 1994, TCP surveyed 16 marine turtle hatcheries that were then operating mainly as tourist attraction in Sri Lanka (Richardson, 1996). In agreement with the findings of Hewavisenthi (1990), the TCP report concluded that hatchery management practices were not contributing to the conservation of marine turtles as expected. Therefore, turtle hatchery staff must be trained in scientific hatchery management in order to improve the welfare of marine turtles kept in those turtle hatcheries. Turtle hatcheries in Sri Lanka pose a dual threat to marine turtle conservation, as their methods are yet to be proven successful, but their proliferation gives the impression that “something is being done”. Current turtle hatchery practices contribute little to the conservation of marine turtles in Sri Lanka. These practices must be changed in order to play a successful role in the future conservation of sea turtles.

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Methodology

Week 1 - Week 2: Information about the current status of turtle hatcheries was gathered during this period. Literature reviews, visits to existing turtle hatcheries to identify knowledge gaps and by watching YouTube video clips uploaded by tourists who visited turtle hatcheries provided a detailed account about turtle hatcheries in Sri Lanka. The researcher has good relationships with turtle hatcheries. More than 90% of the turtle hatcheries in Sri Lanka are located in the Kosgoda area.

Week 3 - Week 4: During this period, I spent time on designing the training workshop in consultation with the relevant authorities. PowerPoint presentations were prepared to train the participants. In addition, information on sea turtle biology was photocopied and was made ready to be distributed. Educational materials such as leaflets on marine turtles, video films, posters and brochures produced by TCP were gathered to use as training materials. Lecturers (resource persons) were identified and invited from TCP, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, Department of Wildlife Conservation and also from environmental lawyers.

Week 5: Logistics of the training program were finalized. The numbers of participants were decided. Each of the turtle hatcheries was personally visited and invitation letters hand delivered. A venue for the training workshop was chosen and food and refreshment were arranged for participants. All equipment needed for the training such as audio-video, white boards, marker pens and cameras were identified, listed, checked and prepared. Transportation for resource persons was arranged. A payment was arranged through TCP for the lecturers. The workshop agenda was finalized during this week.

Week 6: The full day hatchery training workshop was conducted during this week. A pre-workshop knowledge assessment questionnaire was carried out prior to the lectures. Then the resource persons delivered their training programs. The training workshop included formal lectures, showing videos, group discussions and practical sessions. At the end of the program, post-workshop knowledge assessment questionnaires were carried out. Finally the briefing session summarized the achievements of the training program and discussed about the future plans.

Week 7 - Week 8: A report was compiled to summarize the whole exercise. Important outcomes and lessons learned from the workshop were included in the report.

Results

The researcher visited 7 existing turtle hatcheries currently operate in the southern coastal belt of Sri Lanka. From these visits and also by using the video clips from youtube.com it was evident that there are many weaknesses of current turtle hatchery practices in Sri Lanka. Activities were carried out according to the proposed methodology. TCP research officers were also involved in identifying knowledge needs of turtle hatchery owners and staff members. Lecture topics and contents were selected based on the requirements of the hatchery staff. Some of the weaknesses observed during the hatchery visits are keeping too many hatchlings, mixing different species of hatchlings in tanks, delays in reburying eggs, keeping critically endangered hawksbills, releasing hatchlings during the day time, taking turtles out of the tanks for photos, releasing hatchlings from the same place, etc. Some of these issues are shown in the form of photographs below.

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Keeping different species together in tanks keeping excessive hatchlings in tanks

Hatchlings biting each other (lack of food) un-scientific method of egg deposition

1. Methodology 2. 3.

Taking turtles out of the water for photos Use of sticks to activate resting turtles

In addition to the issues highlighted above, there are many other negative effects on sea turtles due to improper hatchery practices. Some of the negative impacts that have been identified are listed below.

• The turtle embryo is damaged by relocating eggs after many hours. • Temperature disruption and transferal of diseases are increased by locating nests too close together. • Unnatural sex ratios and high levels of deformed hatchlings are the results of incorrect nest depth. • The hatchlings inability to imprint homing mechanism, injuries and the remaining in shallow waters are the results of keeping hatchlings several days in tanks before their release. • Dehydration and hyperthermia are caused by releasing hatchlings during high day time temperatures. • High predation occurs, when hatchlings are always released from the same place. • If hatchlings are released very close to the sea, it can reduce the imprinting process.

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• By keeping too many adults/juveniles of endangered turtles can remove potential breeders from the gene pool.

The hatchery training workshop

The workshop was organized and conducted on the 6th of September, 2011 at White House Hotel in Kosgoda. All turtle hatcheries were visited and invited for the training programme. Resource persons were organized from various institutions to provide necessary knowledge and training. Total number of marine turtle hatcheries in operation in Sri Lanka = 07 Number of hatcheries invited for the training workshop = 07 Number of hatcheries participated the training program = 06 Number of participants attended from hatcheries = 11

Table 1. List of Participants attended for the workshop Name of the turtle hatchery Names of the participants attended 1.E.K.Shantha Fernando 1. Turtle protection Centre, Hiddaruwa 2.Vipula Rohana De Soyza 3.Vimal Kumara De Soyza 4.E.Vijerathna 2. Kosgoda Turtle Conservation Project 5.A.Jayantha 3. Kosgoda Sea Turtle Conservation and 6.K.Palitha Abbru Research Project 7.B.H.Jeelat

4. Wander Bar turtle hatchery 8.D. Sumudu Prasanna 5. Bentota Sea Turtle conservation and Research 9.M.D.Deniyel Centre 10.K.J.Kannangara

6. Habaraduwa Sea Turtle Hatchery - 11.N.G.Abeydheera Habaraduwa 7. Peraliya Turtle Farm Did not attend

Table 2. List of Resource Persons attended for the workshop Name of the resource person Institution Lecture topic 1. Mr. Thushan Kapurusinghe Turtle Conservation Sea Turtle Biology Project 2. Mr. Lalith Ekanayake Turtle Conservation Maintenance of Sea Turtle hatcheries Project 3. Mr. Upali Padmasiri Department of Wildlife The role of Wildlife Department in turtle Conservation conservation in Sri Lanka 4. Mr. P.U. Rathnayake Sri Lanka Tourism Sea Turtle hatcheries and Tourism Industry Development Authority 5. Mr. P.P. Hettiarachchi Sri Lanka Tourism Sharing experience of a National Tourist Development Authority Guide Lecturer 6. Mr. Jagath Gunawardana Environmental Lawyer Sea Turtles and environmental laws of Sri Lanka

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Discussion

Out of seven existing turtle hatcheries, six hatcheries participated with their staff members for the training programme. The other hatchery owner has mentioned about his inability to attend the programme due to other commitments just before the workshop started. All resource persons have covered the topics relevant to hatchery management and tourism identified prior to the workshop. Practical problems face by hatchery owners were discussed during the workshop in detail. Hatchery managers were asked to follow the guidelines provided by the National Action Plan for Sea Turtles in Sri Lanka as it contains a detailed account of turtle hatchery management. Hatchery owners requested from Wildlife Department to issue an identity card for their turtle egg suppliers but both the wildlife officer and lawyer has explained them about the existing laws and their inability to issue such license to individuals to collect sea turtle eggs. Further, hatchery staff members were requested to maintain statistics on number of eggs they purchase, species, hatching success and about diseases etc.

Animal welfare implications

The turtle hatchery training workshop will be probably useful for the hatchery staff members to maintain their hatcheries in more scientific basis and this will probably increase the hatching success and therefore the survival rate of the releasing hatchlings of endangered sea turtles. It is hoped that the hatchery owners and staff members will pay further attention to improve their hatcheries and animal welfare based on the increased knowledge on sea turtle anatomy and biology and turtle based tourism received from the training workshop. The increased knowledge will help hatchery staff to educate school children and other visitors to the hatchery with new and correct information.

Summary of conclusions and recommendations

Although the best method of conserving sea turtle nests and hatchlings is ‘in situ’ nest protection, ex situ conservation methods also can play a vital role in conservation of endangered sea turtles in some areas where predation or human poaching is high. However, most of Sri Lanka’s existing turtle hatcheries are tourist “traps” and have little conservation value. But some hatcheries, particularly those with good facilities could have a potential conservation and educational role along the Southern coast if the owners and staff members could be persuaded to follow scientific turtle hatchery management guidelines that have been already prepared in Sri Lanka. The completed turtle hatchery staff training programme was aimed at achieving the goal of persuading hatchery owners and staff to implement the hatchery guidelines.

During the workshop, it was proposed that an authorizing (license) scheme should be established by the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) and could be implemented as proposed by TCP in 1996 (Richrdson, 1996).

I. All hatcheries currently operating in Sri Lanka should be inspected by DWC officers. During the initial visit, the officers should record hatchery management practices and conditions.

II. All hatcheries should be informed of the intentions of the DWC to establish a license scheme. Managers of all the hatcheries should be sent an information pack. The pack should contain details of the current laws regarding the protection of marine turtles in Sri Lanka and how the hatcheries are presently infringing those laws.

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III. Hatchery guidelines should be discussed with all the hatchery managers and the license conditions should be explained by the DWC. Hatchery managers should be made aware that if they are successful in obtaining a license they will be allowed to display it and advertise that they are approved by the DWLC and the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA). If they are not granted a license and continue with their business, then they will be subject to prosecution.

IV. The hatchery managers should then be invited to apply for a DWC hatchery license, valid for one year. After the DWC receive the application, the hatchery will be subject to inspection by DWC officers. During the inspection, the hatchery manager must prove that they are able to follow the hatchery guidelines. Subject to the results of this inspection a license may or may not be granted.

V. All hatcheries will then be subject to frequent and random inspections by DWC officers. During these inspections the licensed hatchery managers must be able to prove that they are following the guidelines. If the hatchery fails to convince the DWC officers that they are following the guidelines, then the license should be revoked. If any hatchery continues to operate without a license, then the hatchery managers should be prosecuted.

VI. Information leaflets should be produced by the DWC and the SLTDA for distribution to tourists and Sri Lankans. The leaflets should describe the licensing scheme and promote those hatcheries that have been granted a license. Tourists should also be invited to report any irregularities that they experience during a visit to a hatchery.

VII. Sri Lankan environmental NGO members should be encouraged to visit the licensed hatcheries and report to the DWC whether or not the hatcheries are following the license guidelines.

VIII. One condition of the license other than adherence to the guidelines should be that the DWC has the authority to permit research in the hatcheries at any time. Research projects should then be established to evaluate the effects of the hatcheries on biological factors (e.g. incubation temperature and sex-ratios, hatching success rates etc.,) University students reading biological subjects should be encouraged and employed in this research, along with DWC officers and NGO volunteers.

IX. Hatchery managers would have to reapply for the license each year for as long as they are operating. Random DWC inspections should continue and failure of hatchery managers to meet license conditions should result in the denial of the license renewal. Any person found to be operating a hatchery without a license should be prosecuted.

X. In parallel to these measures the DWC and concerned NGO’s should carry out turtle conservation educational programmes to educate coastal communities and schools as to why they should not eat turtle eggs.

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References

Amarasooriya, D. (1996). Turtle Hatcheries. Is it additional disaster for the turtle fauna of Sri Lanka? Proceedings of the International conference on the biology and conservation of Amphibians and Reptiles of South Asia, Kandy, Sri Lanka,1996.

CCD (1997). Revised Coastal Zone Management Plan of Sri Lanka. Coast Conservation Department Report, 1997. Page 17.

Fisher, S. (1995). Illegal turtle trade in Sri Lanka and the Maldives- An encouraging note of progress. Marine Turtle Newsletter, No. 71, October 1995.

Hewavisenthi, S. (1990). Exploitation of marine turtles in Sri Lanka: Historic background and the present status. Marine Turtle Newsletter, 48, January 1990.

Hewavisenthi, S. (1993).Sri Lanka’s hatcheries: Boon or Ban. Marine Turtle Newsletter, 49, 1993.

IUCN (2001). A marine turtle conservation strategy and action plan for the Northern Indian Ocean. IUCN/SSC, Marine Turtle Specialist Group, publication No 3.

Kapurusinghe,T. (2000). Community Participation in Turtle Conservation in Sri Lanka. In Sea Turtles of the Indo-Pacific:Research, Management and Conservation. Nicolas Pilcher and Ghazally Ismail Editors. Proceedings of the Second ASEAN Symposium and Workshop on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation, Malaysia. Pages 35-44.

Kapurusinghe. T. (2006). Status and Conservation of Marine Turtles in Sri Lanka. Pages 173- 187. In Marine turtles in the Indian Sub continent. K. Shanker & B.C. Choudhury, editors. Universities Press, India.

Kapurusinghe, T., Ekanayake, L., Saman, M.M., and Rathnakumara, D.S (2008). Community based marine turtle conservation in Kosgoda, Sri Lanka: nesting results from 2005 to 2007. TESTUDO, 6 (5), 40-47.

Richardson, P. (1996). The marine turtle hatcheries of Sri Lanka: A TCP review and assessment of current hatchery practices and recommendations for their improvements. Unpul. TCP report. 1996. Turtle Conservation Project, 11, Madakumbura, Panadura, Sri Lanka.

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Paper 7: Beyond Baseline: Rethinking Priorities for Turtle Conservation in Sindh

By: Syed Najam Khurshid Global Environmental Management Services, Karachi, Pakistan.

Fehmida Firdous Sindh Wildlife Department, Government of Sindh, Karachi, Pakistan.

Abstract

Pakistan has approximately 1050 km long coastline and Sindh coastal belt stretches over a linear length of about 350 km. Coastal zone exhibits wide variety of ecosystems within the biosphere supporting communities that depend upon them. It includes habitats like estuaries, mangrove forests, creek mudflats, lakes, dhands, salt pans, fishponds, backwaters and beaches. These habitats are important staging, feeding and breeding grounds of thousands of water birds and marine fauna such as crustaceans, mollusks, fishes, shrimps and turtles. Sandy beaches of Sindh coast provide breeding grounds for the endangered species of green Chelonia mydas and Olive Ridley turtles Lepidochelys olivacea. A baseline study was conducted during the year 2011 & 2012 to record the nesting distribution and current status of Marine Turtles along the Sindh coast line (Cape Monze to Keti Bunder). This study assesses the environmental and social parameters giving special focus on nesting sites and people interaction with marine turtles. It identifies other potential nesting sites, migration pattern of the existing turtle populations and the associated threats along the Sindh coast. Disturbance, beach encroachment, environmental pollution, climate change and social implications are creating threats to the turtle population. Until now, there is no community involvement nor has any community based turtle conservation initiative been taken. There is an urgent need to develop an integrated turtle conservation program based on the turtle conservation strategy to be developed for the conservation of these threatened species in Pakistan.

Introduction

There are seven species of Marine Turtles which exist in the world; out of these, two specie nests at Sandspit and Hawkes Bay beaches (Kabraji & Firdous, 1984; Firdous, 1988), namely the Green Turtle Chelonia mydas, and the Olive Ridley Lepidochelys olivacea. The Green Turtle Chelonia mydas is reported to be the second largest species of marine turtles and has the ability to grow up to 3.5 feet in carapace length in addition to that it may possibly weigh up to 180 kilograms (Firdous, 1984). These species are found throughout the world in tropical and subtropical oceans. The, presence of Sea turtles in Pakistani waters were initially reported by Minton (1966). Among these two species Olive Ridley Lepidochelys olivacea is best known for its unusual reproductive behavior of synchronized mass nesting known as arribada (Plotkin, 2007). Both the species are facing numerous environmental stresses and challenges for their survival. Moreover, it is important to note that population of both the species are declining rapidly. Therefore, Olive Ridley is declared 'vulnerable' on the other hand Green Turtle Chelonia mydas is declared as “endangered” in the IUCN Red List of threatened species

88 Proceedings - Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia version 2014.3, these Sea turtles are protected under the Convention of Migratory Species (CMS) and listed under Appendix I of CITES and legally protected under the Sindh Wildlife Protection Ordinance (1972) and the Sindh Wildlife Protection Act (1993) respectively.

A variety of conservation programs and surveys were initiated to protect and deliberate their declining population. An immense research study was conducted during 1980 to 1997 to record the total number of nests of marine turtles along the beaches of Karachi which focused on specific area of about 20 km strip at Hawkes Bay and Sandspit. A total of 17,008 Green Turtle nests were recorded during the above mentioned time period (Asrar, 1999). Conservation work had been carried out where a considerable number of Green Turtles were tagged during 80’s and 90’s at Hawkes Bay and Sandspit beaches in Karachi to study their migratory trends and nesting frequency. The study also reveals that the turtles from the coast of Pakistan occasionally travel long distance along the Indian coast (Firdous, 1991). These conservation activities were confined to the protection of turtles, their eggs and hatchings along with tagging.

In order to supplement these activities, Sindh Wildlife Department has organized a baseline study during 2011-12, to find out the status of Marine Turtles along the Sindh coast (Cape Monze to Keti Bander). The study evaluates the correlation of turtle population and their interaction with community, how the community affects or poses threat to the turtle population and how can their involvement contributes in their conservation efforts. It is concluded that there is an urgent need of community based conservation initiatives to develop a strong linkage and relationship between the locals and the species, a sense of ownership can be developed and thus escalating conservation based benefits that a community may enjoy.

Methodology

Surveys were conducted in two parts. The first part of the surveys was specific to identify species of turtles and their nesting pattern. For this purpose the coast was divided in 8 sampling sites including Mubarak village, Kapisi, Capmonz, KANUPP beach, Hawkes Bay, Sandspit-1, Sandspit-2, Khatti and Khobar (Keti Bander). All nesting activities were monitored during night and early morning hours to ensure that none of the nesting activities were missed out. For each territory and nesting site the data set included: beach name, latitude and longitude, approximate length, number of crawls for each species known to be present, activity status (confirming whether the nesting beach is currently active; historical nesting beaches no longer in use were excluded), beach monitoring status (confirmation of proper nesting activity recordings), and the time period over which the data were collected, as well as data provider information, detailed notes on data points, and references for sources of data other than the primary data providers. To achieve the above information, beach patrolling was conducted along the beaches from first sampling point to the end point. Each transect walk of about 5 kilometers was patrolled with the help of spotlight to count nesting turtles. GPS coordinates were taken where nesting turtles were sighted, morphological marks (squat) were examined to ensure species identification if it is Green or Olive Ridley turtle. Fresh tracks, nest pits and clutch sizes were observed and recorded. Nesting beach ecology with physical features was documented. Threats and beach encroachments were also observed. After completing one sampling site, survey was repeated in daylight in order to conduct beach diurnal patrol to observe its physical features, geographical formation and sand properties.

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Map showing survey sites along Sindh Coast

Second part of the surveys consisted of informal meetings with fisher folk communities and other local inhabitants. Moreover, vegetation samples from nesting beaches were also collected to identify species composition; water samples were taken for chemical analysis like pH and Salinity test. Sand properties were also examined in details. The survey team approached different creeks to observe foraging activities and information was also collected from the fishing communities that inhabit on isolated beaches in the area of Indus delta. During the field survey in Southwest coast from Mubarak village to Sandspit, survey team camped all along the coastline to ensure the consistency of acquiring the most data. Fishing communities were approached in Chenna, Khobar and Hajmro creeks while other areas were surveyed by boat to visually observe information about the prevailing conditions. Fish landing sites were also visited in Keti Bander where fisher folks were interviewed, their fishing gears and nets were also observed. Finally, a thorough literature review was conducted to compile nesting site information and analyze data from peer reviewed literature, project reports, national recovery plans, regional assessments, and unpublished manuscripts.

Main Findings and Discussion

During field study, based on the visual observations and local evidences 8 main beaches have been identified as potential nesting grounds including Kapisi, Cape monze, Hawaks bay and Sandspit. Occasional nesting of sea turtles was also reported from few other small pockets near KANUPP power station and lighthouse. Throughout the sampling sites, 1208 nest pits were counted from Karachi coast for population estimation of nesting turtles. During the survey 24 nesting females of Chelonia mydas were observed, 102 turtle tracks of Chelonia mydas were counted, whereas 6 carcasses of Chelonia mydas and 9 of Lepidochelys olivacea were recorded from Keti Bunder and a single dead specimen of Olive Ridley was found from Sandspit.

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Beach encroachment was identified as one of the major threats to nesting turtles. Along the coast, close to the nesting belt, urban sprawl is observed including 571 private huts, 9 Government infrastructures including 2 helipads at 2 naval bases, 2 lighthouse towers and few telecommunication towers. Furthermore, fishing community inhabiting, the coastal area has a major influence on coastal habitat as their economic survival is exclusively based on fishing activities that compels them moving back and forth from their homes to the sea. Large sale for fishing as well as boat trudging at the beaches results in trapping of small turtles in webs and adverse impact on nesting grounds. To evaluate the scale of population of fisher folk, 5 small villages were identified with 624 households along with 187 fishing boats. Chelonia mydas occurred as a dominant nesting specie along Sindh coast, unfortunately Lepidochelys olivacea nesting signs were not found from the beaches of Karachi. However, local community has reported a few occasional occurrences. The available data indicates that the nesting trend of Chelonia mydas is also declining from their popular nesting beaches like Hawkes Bay and Sandspit (Firdous, 1999). The total number of nests recorded for both the species from August 1979 to December 2011, indicates fluctuation in nesting trend at Hawks Bay and Sandspit beaches, the trend has been presented below in Fig 1. However, the current study showed 24 nesting females of Chelonia mydas and 1208 nest pits from Sindh coast during November 2011 to January 2012. Tagging of turtles is considered as a standard tool for monitoring turtle population. Sindh Wildlife Department is actively involved in monitoring and conservation of sea turtles for couple of decades. A total of 3,136 turtles (3,093 Green and 43 Olive Ridley) were tagged from August 1982 to December 1997 (Firdous, 2001). Out of these 576 (564 Green and 12 Olive Ridley) were recaptured locally.

Three long distance tag recoveries of green turtles have been reported, each from India, Africa and Iran (Firdous 2001). In addition to that, there was a general perception that the sea turtles return back to their primary nesting grounds after their first release into the sea, but according to the above evidences it seems that it is not always true. Heavy pollution loads from creeks and estuaries have seriously damaged the water and soil quality which eventually turns out to deteriorate the nesting ground for the turtles. Recovery of dead specimens of Chelonia mydas and Lipedochelys olivacea from Keti Bandar area may be a missing link for the discovery of regional migratory route. As these sites indicate their presence but their nesting grounds were not observed yet. It leads to the deduction that maybe these turtles temporarily stay and then move on for a suitable nesting site towards eastern beaches of Indian Ocean.

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1800

1600

1400

1200

1000

800

600

400 Total Number Total Number of Nests recorded

200

0 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Study Years

: Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea)

Figure 1: Nesting Population trend of Chelonia mydas and Lepidochelys olivacea from the year 1979 to 2011 (Hawks Bay and Sandspit)

Role of Community

The role of local communities engaged in collective action has been increasingly recognized as an important factor in the conservation and sustainable utilization of natural resources. The active participation of local communities in biodiversity management depends on level of awareness and knowledge about a particular species or a group. Without support of custodian community, turtle conservation is a challenging task for implementers. An assessment on awareness level of coastal community about Sea Turtles and conservation issues were carried out through semi-structured interviews.

As a result of consultations, it was observed that majority of the respondents just knew superficially about turtles and were not able to properly identify or recognize any particular species. They had a vague idea about nesting sites meanwhile more than 50% knew about threats to the turtle population, while 40% of respondents are aware and suggested how their conservation can be improved and most of them are associated with fishing business. Moreover, general visitors of the coastal area do not have much knowledge about Sea Turtles and their importance although thousands of people come to these areas for recreational purposes, mostly on the weekends.

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Conclusion

Based upon the evidences and investigations of this study, there is an immediate need to initiate a research project to find out the cause of decline in the nesting population of Chelonia mydas and almost absence of Lepidochelys olivacea in their previous nesting sites. An Integrated Conservation Management Plan is needed to encounter the worse situation, but before all these steps, there should be an extensive research round the year, to find out the nesting status of these species at entire Sindh coastline and Turtle Conservation Strategy to be developed.

References

Firdous, F. 1986. Marine turtles. Proceedings of International Conference on Marine Sciences of the Arabian Sea. Institute of Marine Sciences, Univ. of Karachi.

Firdous, F. 1988. Conservation of turtles at Sandspit and Hawkesbay, Karachi In: Thompson, M.F. and Tirmizi, N.M. (Eds.). Proceedings of International Conference on Marine Sciences of the Arabian Sea. Washington, DC: American Institute of Biological Sciences, pp. 217–222.

Firdous, F. 1991. A turtle’s journey from Pakistan (Karachi) to India (Gujarat). Marine Turtle Newsletter,53:18-19.

Asrar, F. 1999. Decline of marine turtle nesting populations in Pakistan. Marine Turtle Newsletter 83:13–14.

Firdous, F. 2001. Some aspects of bioecological studies of Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas) and Olive ridley turtle (Cepidochelys olivacea) from Karachi Coast. PhD. Thesis, Department of Zoology University of Karachi, Karachi-Pakistan 452 pp.

Kabraji, A.M and Firdous, F, 1984 Conservation of Turtles at HawksBay and Sandspit, Pakistan World Wildlife Fund Project 1451, WWF international and Sindh Wildlife Management Board. 52 pp.

Minton, S.A., 1966. A contribution to the herpetology of West Pakistan. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 134:24–184. Plotkin, Pamela T, 2007. Biology and Conservation of Ridley Sea Turtles, The John’s Hopkins University Press, pp.59

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Paper 8: Marine Turtle Conservation in Pakistan with special reference to measures taken by Sindh Wildlife Department

By: Fehmida Firdous

Abstract

Pakistan being a maritime country rich in natural resources provides hospitable grounds for nesting of marine turtles. The nesting of two out of world’s seven species has been recorded in Pakistan along coastal areas of Sindh and Baluchistan provinces. These are Green and Olive Ridley Turtles (Chelonia mydas and Lepidochelys olivacea). Considering their scientific, cultural and commercial importance, all marine turtle species have long been declared as “Protected” under Government legislation since 1972. Turtle conservation was also initiated in Sindh by Sindh Wildlife Department in late 1979 with financial assistance from WWF Pakistan at Sandspit and Hawkes Bay beaches along Karachi Coast.

Updated information is provided regarding conservation measures for protection of nesting turtles, eggs and hatchlings from poachers and predators, tagging and tag recoveries. Up to December 2013, 27907 nests/clutches have been transferred to protected enclosures, 2383981 eggs were transplanted and 717588 hatchlings were released safely to the sea. Whereas more than 8000 turtle were tagged and 820 tag recoveries have been recorded.

Introduction

Pakistan coastline is about 990 km long extending from east to west touching the province of Sindh (320km) and Balochistan (670km). The coastal area is ecologically rich in marine fauna and flora. The sandy and rocky beaches provide suitable nesting and feeding grounds for marine turtles such as Sandspit, Hawkes Bay, Buleji, Paradise Point, Capemonz located along Karachi coast in Sindh and Gaddani, Ormara, Astola, Pusni and Jewani along Makran coast in Balochistan.

Globally, marine turtles have been of great value to people in most of the countries nutritionally, economically and culturally. Their population is declining due to destruction of habitat and indiscriminate hunting for international trade. The plight of marine turtles has received attention from all parts of the world including many areas around the Indian Ocean. International restrictions have been imposed through CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna) to reduce international trade and further exploitation of these animals (Anon, 1981, Firdous, 1997).

Government of Pakistan listed sea turtles of the genera Chelonia, Dermochelys, Caretta, Lepidochelys and Eretmochelys as endangered species in need of protection (Anon., 1970). Sindh Wildlife Protection Ordinance of 1972 makes it illegal to exploit the hatchlings (Commercially or otherwise) of all marine turtles, or to harass them (Anon, 1972, 1984). Sindh Wildlife Department took immediate protective measures at Hawkes Bay and Sandspit beaches of Karachi and started conservation activities in October 1979. Pakistan is also a signatory to the international treaty of

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CITES which prohibits trade on turtle products and forbids the export of any part or product of species listed in Appendix I of CITES,(Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species) which included Caretta caretta (Loggerhead), Chelonia depressa (Flatback), Chelonia mydas (Green), Eretmochelys imbricata (Hawksbill), Lepidochelys kempii (Kemp’s Ridley), Lepidochelys olivacea (Olive Ridley), Dermochelys coriacea (Leatherback) (Anon., 1981).

The IUCN’s Red Data Book lists the Green Turtle as status category III (Groombridge, 1982). This read as “Depleted”. Although occurring in numbers adequate for survival, the species has been heavily depleted and continues to decline at a range substantially greater than can be sustained. Red Data Book lists the Olive Ridley Turtle as species under category II that reads as “Rare”, not under immediate threat of extinction but occurring in such a small number in restricted and specialized habitats that it could quickly disappear and requires regular monitoring.

In the past very few references regarding turtles in offshore waters and along the beaches were available in the literature (Minton 1966, Salm 1976). Out of seven species of marine turtles in the world, only two Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) and Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) nest at Sandspit and Hawkes Bay (Kabraji & Firdous 1984, Firdous 1985, 1988).

In Pakistan marine turtles are threatened due to various reasons but fortunately they are safe as they are not used as food due to religious reasons. As such occasional poaching and disturbance due to picnickers is a problem for nesting females. Feral dogs are major threat to nests, eggs and hatchlings besides destruction of nesting habitat along the coast, illegal urban development near coastal area, netting around beach huts, debris of old huts along the nesting beach, artificial lighting, coastal erosion, sand mining and pollution.

Legislation

a) National Federal policies issued time to time by Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. Pakistan Fish Inspection and Quality Act 1998 (Clause 5 Export Restriction) Federal Government Notification, July 1999 for Turtle Excluder Device b) International Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)1976 United Nation’s Convention on Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) 1983 Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) 1987 Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) 1994 c) Regional Indian Ocean South East Asian Memorandum of Understanding (IOSEA MoU) 2004 d) Local (Provincial) Sindh Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1972 (u/s 7, Protected II Schedule) Sindh Fisheries Notification 1999 Balochistan Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1974

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Declaration of Marine Protected Areas in Pakistan

Marine National Park Hingol is the only marine protected area in Pakistan declared as National Park in 1988, located in the Province of Balochistan.

Ramsar Sites and Wildlife Sanctuaries 6 out of 19 Ramsar sites in Pakistan have been designated as Ramsar sites of Internationally important wetlands. Out of these six sites, four were also declared as Wildlife Sancturies.

Indus Delta (Sindh) Ramsar Site, 2002 & Wildlife Sanctuary Runn of Kutch (Sindh)` Ramsar Site, 2002 & Wildlife Sanctuary Hub Dam (Sindh & Balochistan) Ramsar Site, 2001 & Wildlife Sanctuary Ormara (Balochistan) Ramsar Site, 2001 & Wildlife Sanctuary Jiwani (Balochistan) Ramsar Site, 2001 Astola Island (Balochistan) Ramsar Site, 2001 Miani Hor (Balochistan) Ramsar Site,2001

Constitution of National Committee for Conservation of Marine Turtles Pakistan as a signatory to the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation and Management of Marine Turtles and their Habitats of the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia (IOSEA), has international obligation to conserve marine turtles and their habitats. To improve coordination among Government and Non-Government sectors in conservation of marine turtles and their habitats, a National Committee for Conservation of Marine Turtles has been constituted by Government of Pakistan in June 2012 with following composition.

1 Inspector General of Forests, Ministry of Climate Change: Chairman 2 Conservator Wildlife, Ministry of Climate Change Member 3 Chief Conservator Wildlife, Balochistan Forest and Wildlife Department Member 4 Conservator Wildlife, Sindh Wildlife Department Member 5 Representative of Marine Fisheries Department Member 6 Representative of Sindh Fisheries Department Member 7 Representative of Balochistan Fisheries Department Member 8 Representative of WWF-Pakistan Member 9 Representative of IUCN-Pakistan Member 10 Representative of Centre of Excellence in Marine Biology (CEMB), University of Karachi Member 11 Representative of National Institute of Oceanography Member

Conservation activities Major conservation activities in Sindh and Balochistan include survey of coastal areas for exploration of high density turtle nesting beaches; feeding grounds and identification of turtle species, protection of eggs, hatchlings and adults from poachers & predators; establishment of turtle enclosures or hatcheries along Karachi coast at Sandspit and Hawkes Bay; rescue of stranded turtles and their safe release to the sea; introduction of Turtle Excluder Device (TED) in

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collaboration with Marine Fisheries Department, IUCN and WWF-Pakistan; study of oil pollution effect on turtles and their habitat; tagging of turtles and recording their migratory patterns through tag recoveries and satellite transmitters fixed on carapace of adult turtles at Karachi (Sandspit, Hawkes bay) and Balochistan (Dahran, Astola) coast; establishment of marine turtle laboratory at Hawkes Bay, counting of nests, eggs and hatchlings to find out the seasonal variation in nesting and hatching of different species of turtle; dissection of dead specimen of turtles whenever occasionally washed ashore to analyze the internal organs for identification of cause of mortality, any parasite or disease; captive rearing of hatchlings; education and awareness programs through print and electronic media.

Material and Method Green and Olive Ridley turtles used to nest along 20 km sandy beaches at Sandspit and Hawkes Bay (24o 48/ N 66o 58/ E). The sea shore is high enough for nesting turtles above high tide mark throughout the year except during monsoon when the area is unexposed by high tides. Beyond Hawkes Bay the coastline is sandy cum stony with rocky pools and inlets extending up to Buleji, Paradise point and Capemonzs where nesting was rarely recorded but due to presence of sea weeds attached with rocks marine turtles were found in these areas during feeding and basking (Map 1).

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Map 1

Important marine turtle nesting sites in Balochistan province are the sandy beaches along Ormara, Astola, Pusni, Gwadar and Jiwani coastal areas (Map 2)

Map 2

Hatchery Management for Protection of Eggs and Hatchlings

Turtle nests were excavated from open beach and transferred to the protected enclosures/hatcheries for transplantation at the same depth as laid and buried by the mother. Three enclosures measuring 24x24 m2 have been fenced with weld mesh or chain linked galvanized or plastic coated metal. Each enclosure has a capacity of 300 nests made of galvanized metal (45 cm high, 90 cm circumference

98 Proceedings - Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia and 2.5 cm mesh covered with wire on top to save hatchlings from predatory birds). Hatchlings after emergence (40-60 days) were released to the sea. Sometimes, hatchlings from outside enclosures were also collected during patrolling and released to the sea after counting. Owing to the presence of less land predators, visitation of picnickers and illegal encroachment along Balochistan coast, the turtle eggs were protected on the open beaches in natural nests without trans- locating them in the enclosures or hatcheries.

Tagging and Tag Recoveries

Tagging of marine turtles was employed for the first time in Pakistan during 1982 at Sandspit and Hawkes Bay, Karachi by Sindh Wildlife Department, Government of Sindh (Firdous, et al., 2010). Adult turtles were tagged with monel metal tags (size 19 style 49) on both front flippers considering least damage on the trailing edge (Harrison 1962 & Carr 1967). Each tag bears an identification number with prefix “W” as code for Pakistan, serial number and address to return for reward. In Balochistan, tags with prefix “pwp” were used to tag the turtles at Dahran beachand Astola island. Tags were applied after finishing laying eggs (Balasingham 1966 & Bustard 1972). Major tag recoveries were recovered from local waters and only three long distance recoveries have been received showing trans-boundary migration.

Results

The nesting and laying of eggs by Green Turtle was observed throughout the year with peak showing during the month of September. On the contrary Olive Ridley nesting was found from June to August with peak during the month of July. Observation collected from October 1979 to December 2013 shows that a total of 2383981 eggs from 27907 nests/egg clutches were protected including 2305257 eggs of Green Turtle and 78724 of Olive Ridley (Table I). After an incubation period of 40-60 days hatchlings on emergence were collected, counted and released safely to the sea protecting them from land predators. 717588 hatchlings were incubated in the enclosures (695975 of Green Turtle and 21613 of Olive Ridley) and released safely to the sea. Peak hatching of Green and Olive Ridley Turtles was observed during the months of October and September respectively (Fig. 1 & 2).

TABLE 1: OVERALL RESULTS FROM OCTOBER 1979 TO DEC EMB ER 201 3

Species Ne sts Eggs Hatchlings Released Bu ried Transplanted En c lo . Outsi de Total Total 27907 2383981 620597 96991 717588 Green 27247 2305257 599256 96719 695975 Ridley 660 78724 21341 272 21613

Olive Ridley Turtle nesting was not observed since August 2001 when only four females were found nesting along Karachi coast. However, occasional Olive Ridley stranding were recorded by WWF-Pakistan. Nesting and hatching season of Green Turtles based on the observations of ten years collected from 2004 to 2013 is shown in Fig. 3 & 4 respectively.

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Fig 1 Seasonal variation in Green Turtle nests, eggs and hatchlings along Karachi coast

Fig 2 Seasonal variation in Olive Ridley nests, eggs and hatchlings along Karachi coast

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Fig. 3

Fig. 4

In addition to data collected from Karachi coast, a total of 6672 Green Turtles were observed, 1136 nests were protected and 25659 hatchlings were released from Balochistan coast (personal communication). A couple of dead specimens of leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) were also recorded along these beaches indicating that it must be inhabiting nearby waters (Firdous, 1989). Besides Green and Olive Ridley, the tracks of extremely rare species of Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricate) were sighted during 2001 and 2003 at Cape Monz area, Karachi (Hussain, 2010).

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Since 1982 when tagging was started up to December 2013, a total of 7944 turtles (7898 Green and 46 Olive Ridley) were tagged. Of these 649 turtles (637 Green and 12 Olive Ridley) were recovered locally. Whereas 18 green turtles were tagged during 2008 at Dahran coast of Balochistan. Satellite transmitters were fixed on 12 Green Turtles, 4 on Karachi and 8 on Balochistan coast as shown in Table 2. Three tagged Green Turtles were recovered from out side the local waters such as India, Africa and Iran (Table 3, Firdous, 2010).

Table 2: FLIPPER TAGGING AND SATELLITE TRACKING

TURTLES TAGGED 7962 TOTAL

7944 (7898 GT & 46 OR) SINDH, KARACHI, 1982 TO 2013

18 GT BALOCHISTAN, DHARAN IN 2008

SAT. TRANS. 12 TOTAL 4 SINDH (2, 2001;2, 2006, KARACHI) 8 BALOCH (6,DHARAN; 2 ASTOLA) DURING 2007-08

Table 3

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Education/Awareness

Conservation measures cannot be successfully achieved without public involvement, awareness and education. Educational activities have been carried out at different levels through print and electronic media such as stickers, posters, greeting cards, brochures and booklets, painting and installation of sign boards and information hoardings, preparation of T-shirts, audio visual presentations and documentary films (Firdous, 2000). Guided tours to the beaches have also been arranged for public, particularly for students to make them aware of the conservation status of such an important species and to spread the message for protection of our natural heritage.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Population decline of nesting marine turtles particularly Green and Olive Ridley turtles in Pakistan should be considered on priority basis and proper conservation and monitoring techniques should be applied to overcome the existing situation. Strict scientific and administrative measures should be adopted by Government and Non-Government organizations along with related stakeholders for finding out the actual causes of Olive Ridley’s non-nesting on the beaches of Pakistan, which is a challenge for turtle conservationists. Exchange of information is urgently required regarding eco- regional trans-boundary migration of marine turtle species that will certainly be beneficial for Pakistan and neighboring coastal areas such as Iran, Afghanistan, Oman, Bangladesh and India. IOSEA Secretariat, IUCN and WWF-Pakistan are requested to extend their financial and technical assistance to Government Department for long term community based conservation programs and training of field staff.

References:

1 Anon, 1970. Draft Report of Wildlife Enquiry Committee, Government of Pakistan.

2 Asrar, F. F., 1999. “Decline of Marine Turtle Nesting Population in Pakistan”. Marine Turtle Newsletter 83: 13-14.

3 Bustard, H. R.,1972. Sea Turtles, their Natural History and Conservation. Collins, London-Sydney, p. 220.

4 Balasingham, E., 1965. “Conservation of Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas) in Malaya. Malaya Nat. J. 19: 235-236.

5 Carr, A. F., 1967. Nat. Hist. Press, New York.

6 Firdous, F., 1980-81. Project 1451 “ Conservation of turtles at Hawkes Bay and Sandspit.” WWF Year Book, 173-75.

7 Firdous, F., 1985. “ Marine turtle management along Karachi coast.” WWF-Pakistan News letter; 4 (1): 4-9.

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8 Firdous, F., 1985. “ Research and conservation of marine turtle along the Karachi coast. 280-289 (In: Proc. Symp. Endang. Mar. Anim. & Parks. India )1: 280-289, edited by E.G.Silas Published by Marine Biological Association of India.

9 Firdous, F., 1988. “ Conservation of Turtles at Hawkes Bay Sandspit Beaches, Karachi” Proc. Of an International Conference Marine Science of the Arabian sea; 217-22, edited by Mary-Frances Thompson & Nasima M.Tirmizi Published by American Institute of Biological Sciences Washington, D.C.

10 Firdous, F., 1997. “Marine Turtles and CITES in Pakistan”, Nature W.W.F Pakistan, 23(21):7-8.

11 Firdous, F., 2000. “Sea Turtle Conservation and Education programme in Karachi, Pakistan” 45-58. In: Sea turtles of the Indo- pacific; Research, management and conservation (Ed. N.J.Pilcher & G.Ismail) ASEAN Academic press, London. 12 Firdous, F., 2003. “Bioecological Studies of Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) and Olive (Lepidochelys olivacea) along Kareachi Coast”, Ph.D Thesis. Department of Zoology, University of Karachi.

13 Firdous, F., 2009. Conservation of Marine Turtles at Sandspit and Hawkes Bay, Karachi. Proc. Sem. Trans-boundary Coastal and Marine Protected Areas with special priorities for Spawning grounds, Karachi, Zool. Sur. Dept. & Min. of Env. Govt. of Pakistan, 61-66 pp.

14 Firdous, F., Barkati, S., and Rahman, S., 2010 “Studies on Nesting and Tagging of two species of Turtles of Karachi Coast”. Pak. Jour. Of Oceanography, Vol.6(1):1-14.

15 Groombridge, B., 1982. Red Data List, IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre.

16 Harrisosn, T., 1962. “Notes on Green Turtle, Chelonia mydas, 2. West Borneo numbers. Sarawak Museum Journal 10:614-23.

17 Hussain, B., 2010. “Studies on Population Status, Distribution and Environmental impacts on Reptiles in the vicinity of Karachi coast. Ph.D Thesis. University of Karachi.

18 Kabraji, A., and Firdous, F., 1984. Conservation Of Turtles, Hawkes Bay and Sandspit. WWF Project 1451, World Wildlife Fund International and Sindh Wildlife Management Board, Karachi.

19 Minton, S. A., 1966. Herpetology of Pakistan. Bull. Am. Mus. Hist. 134:59-62.

20 Salm, R., 1976. Marine turtle management in Seyshelles and Pakistan . Environ. Conserv. 3(4):267-278.

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Paper 9: Community based marine turtle conservation in Viet Nam: Long-term effort needed

By: Bui Thi Thu Hien6, Chu The Cuong,7 Earl Possardt8

Abstract

Five species of foraging and breeding marine turtles have been identified in Vietnam, they are Green turtle (Cheloniamydas), Loggerhead turtle (Carettacaretta), Olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelysolivacea), Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelysimbricata) and Leatherback turtle (Dermochelyscoriacea). Among them, with the exception of Loggerhead turtle (Carettacaretta), four species have historically nested along Vietnam’s coastline. However, these populations have strongly suffered from human activities for decades. Despite the success of the recent awareness raising programs on protection and conservation of the marine turtle conducted by IUCN Vietnam inselected provinces, these important animals still face the risk of extinction. Therefore, the long-term effort of community-based sea turtle conservation programs in Vietnam is critically important.

Keywords: Vietnam, marine turtle, communitiy-based conservation, awareness activities

Introduction

Viet Nam has a coastline stretching over 3,000 km with thousands of offshore islands, which includes the archipelagos of Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly). Over the last 100 years, biologists and explorers have recorded the presence of marine turtles in Viet Nam, however few studies have addressed their distribution, abundance and status. In Viet Nam there are sufficient laws to protect marine turtles, though probably not sufficient to protect their habitats. Marine turtles in Viet Nam are protected by both international (CITES) and national (Decree 48/CP) legislation. Moreover, Viet Nam ratified the ASEAN MoU on Marine Turtle Protection and Conservation in September 1997. Additionally, in June 2001, the government formally ratified the MoU for the Protection of Marine Turtles and their Habitat in the Indian Ocean Southeast Asian region (IOSEA). Strict enforcement of protective laws and other conservation programs in the last 30 years in other parts of Asia suggest that in a few cases, long-term conservation efforts can help maintain and restore turtle populations. But laws alone do not work. Given the high human densities in the region, it is almost impossible to protect turtles without involving local communities, and it is hard to justify the need for protecting marine turtles to the economically and socially marginalized. Many communities are not involved in project design and the decision-making process, it is observed that there is little acceptance of the laws, making them nearly impossible to implement and enforce, especially given the available resources. Hence, while international instruments and national laws have their role, they achieve little without grassroots-level consultation and a deep commitment by governments and conservationists to the welfare of local communities.

6 IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature, Viet Nam Office 7 Institute of Marine Environment and Resources, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology 8 US Fish and Wildlife Services, Division of International Conservation

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Although many of the conservation and management programs play an important role in the conservation of marine turtles in Vietnam, through community monitoring of nesting females andnests, and awareness campaigns, the number of nesting and foraging marine turtles in Vietnam has decreased in comparison with the populations in 2003. At present only 3 species still nest on the beaches, most of these are green turtles, a small number of hawksbill turtles, and on rare occasions the leatherback turtle. This phenomenon is the consequence of several decades of over-exploitation and coastal development in Vietnam. There are still threats to remaining populations such as the development of nesting beaches (e.g. sandy land shrimp aquaculture; hotel development); by-catch from fisheries; destruction of habitats and climate change. There are still gaps in the knowledge of the current status of conservation of marine turtles, such as growth and feeding habitats of foraging populations; and the level of human impact on the marine turtle populations at different stages of theirlife cycle which is almost unknown. Some programs are short-lived,but studies on marine turtles need to be long-term, a decade or more, in order to analyze population size and trends and there is a lack of publication of activities and exchange information protocols between different programs.

Over the last 10 years through efforts of IUCN Vietnam office, thousands of people throughout Viet Nam and from a variety of stakeholder groups have participated in workshops, meetings and have been trained in practical and theoretical skills needed for marine turtle conservation. Attitudes have changed; evidence exists in the changes in fishing practice and the reporting of by-catch, the involvement of children and other project and government staffs in releasing turtles. Skills have certainly increased, especially with regard to turtle monitoring techniques and skills needed to address trade issues. Lastly, aspirations have changed. Indeed, all the project sites had more people wishing to sign up as volunteers than they could accept. There is also a much broader aspiration of the partner organizations to improve the status of marine turtles in the country while there is substantial enthusiasm and much more to do for turtles in Viet Nam.

Status of marine turtles in Viet Nam

Five species of marine turtle reside in Viet Nam’s waters: Green (Cheloniamydas), Hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelysimbricata), Olive ridley(Lepidochelysolivacea), Loggerhead (Carettacaretta) and Leatherback (Dermochelyscoriacea) and four species nest on beaches (all except the loggerhead, Table 1). Major nesting beaches are scattered from the northern border with China to the southern border with Cambodia, including most offshore island groups. Concentrated nesting areas are found in the Gulf of Tonkin, central provinces and the islands in the southeast waters and the Gulf of Thailand. The surveys in 2002 and 2010 indicated that five species of sea turtle historically nested along the coast of Vietnam, especially in the center and southern provinces, however, due to continuous harvest of eggs and adults, loss of nesting habitats and environmental pollution, the number of nesting and foraging marine turtles hasbeen seriously reduced in both terms of species and individuals.

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Table 1. The conservation status of sea turtle species in Vietnam Species Vietnamese English Population IUCN Red VN Red name name trend in list (2011) Book Vietnam (2007) Family Cheloniidae

Carettacaretta Quảnđồng Loggerhead Reduced EN CR

Cheloniamydas Vích Green Reduced 75% EN EN

Eretmochelysimbricat Đồimồi Hawksbills Reduced 90% CR EN e Lepidochelysolivacea Đồimồidứa Olive Ridley Reduced 90% VU EN

Family Dermochelyidae

Dermochelyscoriacea Rùa da Leatherback Reduced 99% CR CR

(CR: Critically Endangered, EN: Endangered, VU: Vulnerable)

The Green turtle (Cheloniamydas) is still the most abundant species in Vietnam.In 2013, there were 7 knownnesting sites, including 2 recently addedsites in the center of Viet Nam (Fig. 1). Among these recent breeding areas, the Con Dao archipelago is the most important site. The annual average number of breeding females here is 237.92 ± 68.42 individuals/year (ranged from 116 to 379) at 14sites. The areas at Nui Chua National Park (NinhThuan province) is also an importantnesting area with an average number of females from 5 to 8 individuals per season at 3sites. In the north, the Green turtle only nests within Bai Tu Long National Park (Nut Dat and QuanLan islands) and Bai Phung Hoang (Co To Island). However, the number of females and clutches is low (less than 15 individuals). Quang Tri province used to host a large nesting population of Green turtles in the past, butpresently, there are less than 10 individuals nesting on more than 70 km of sandy beaches each year. Among three recently confirmed nesting areas, the Hai Giang-Hon Kho (BinhDinhProvince) is the largest nesting population of Green turtles with about 10 females nesting each year. Another nesting site is on a small island in NhaTrang Bay with about 2-4 females per year and Hon Cau island (BinhThuan province) (Cuong T C and The D N, 2012).

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Figure 1. Distribution of sea turtle nesting populations in Vietnam

Hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelysimbricate) were a relatively common species in Viet Nam in the past, however, due to widespread and large-scale exploitation for commercial trade, the number of breeding and foraging hawksbill turtles have declined rapidly (Hamann et al. 2006). Until 2003, a small number of hawksbill turtles was still nesting on the beaches in Con Dao archipelago (about 10 clutches and 3 females per year at Ong Dung beach) (personal interview local people in Con Dao) and in Bai Tu Long bay (about 4-5 clutches per year). Unfortunately, under pressure from harvesting for commercial purposes both breeding females at nesting sites and adults and sub-adults on the feeding grounds, the number of nesting females of hawksbill is now very low. It is estimated that there are only one or two females still nesting at offshore and untouched beaches within Bai Tu Long bay, while nesting population in Con Dao is completely depleted.

The Leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelyscoriacea) is one of the rarest turtle species in Vietnam. Although they had been historically distributedwidely along the Vietnamese coast, the number of nesting females has now dropped precipitously since 1980s. In the 1960s, it was estimated that about 500 females nested each year on the beaches of Vietnam (concentrated on central provinces) but their numbers were reduced to about 10 females per year in the 2000s (Hamann et al. 2006). Recently, a beach adjacent to Trieu Lang commune (Quang Tri province) had nesting leatherbacks in 2005 and 2007, but no clutch data were recorded. In June 2013, a leatherback laid a clutch at Bai Dai (Cam Lam district, KhanhHoa province). Unfortunately, none of these eggs successfully hatched. A nest inventory determined that there was a total of 85eggs,62 (73%) had yolks, the rest (27%) were yolkless. The eggs were opened, and they all appeared to be unfertilized although it is not possible to

108 Proceedings - Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia be certain. In September 2014, another leatherback laid a clutch at ThamKhe village, Hai Khe commune (Hai Lang district, Quang Tri Province). After waiting 72 days and with no sign of the hatching, the nest was excavated and 132 unhatched eggs were counted.

The Olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelysolivacea) was one of the most common species of marine turtles in Vietnam a few decades ago. Nevertheless, after a long period of overexploitation, by 2003 the nesting population had fallen to fewer than 40 individuals per season. Nesting sites were limited to QuanLanIsland (Bai Tu Long Bay – QuangNinh

Province), Son Tra Peninsula (major nesting site in Da Nang City), and some beaches in QuangBinhProvince (Hamann et al. 2006). At the moment, none of above sites have nesting. The main reason for this is the development of the tourism industry in the coastal areas. For instance, after the road around Son Tra peninsular was built, all nesting beaches were developed with a number of luxury resorts, and as a result, marine turtles have no undisturbed place to lay eggs and have disappeared completely from this area.

Very little data have been collected and obtained on marine turtles on their foraging habitats. According to the data collected from a satellite tracking project conducted by scientists the Con Dao National Park, PhuQuocIsland (KienGiang) and PhuQuyIsland (BinhThuan) are either the foraging grounds or “transit points” formigrating to the neighboring countries (Thailand, Philippine, or Malaysia) for Green turtles (Giang NT, 2008). Recent surveysatPhuQuy, PhuQuoc, and the Tho Chu Islands in 2013-2014have shown dramaticdeclines of marine turtle foraging populations at these sites.A WWF 2007 report, concluded that the by-catch of sea turtles is indeed a significant issue, and all five species of sea turtles are still being incidentally caught in Vietnamese waters. Though an exact figure of annual mortalities cannot be established, however based on the WWF 2007 report, the most comprehensive survey on by-catch to date, and in consideration of the past surveys and extrapolation of the catch rates documented in three priority provinces, it is estimated that at least one thousand sea turtles are killed each year. While sea turtles are caught as a by-catch throughout Vietnam’s territorial waters, the incidents are highest in the waters off Central and South-Central Vietnam. Fisheries originating in the provinces of Phu Yen, BinhDinh and KhanhHoa are particularly prone to sea turtle by-catch, given their fleet size, fishing intensity and the expansion of long-line fisheries in these provinces. Significant sea turtle by-catch is also occurring in fisheries operating beyond Vietnam’s territorial waters.

Community-based conservation activities in Vietnam

1. Raising awareness training program

Awareness among government employees, fishers and the general public about the need to conserve the marine environment is lacking in many areas. Before any marine turtle conservation programs can be effective, significant awareness raising strategies must be implemented so that these stakeholder groups can become aware of why marine conservation is important to their livelihoods, and how they can help. In 2010, surveysalong the coast of Viet Nam including the provinces of Quang Tri, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, BinhDinh and Phu Yen and interviews and meetings with more than 500 fishermen showed that 90% of the interviewed people did not know that marine turtles are protected species by

Proceedings - Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia 109 the fisheries laws and other regulation of Viet Nam. Some fishermen said that key information did not reach them; for example they were not aware of the role of marine turtles to the ecosystem. Some claimed that knowing this may have prevented them from catching sea turtles to eat or sellat local markets. Another example is that some fishermen reported seeing tags on sea turtles, but none of them read the information on the tags or followed up in any way. To date there has been little or no awareness-building or inter-cooperation on the tagging programs underway in Viet Nam.

A series of awareness and education activities have been promoted in pilot provinces. These activities have been considered a great success during the last fewsyears. Between December 2005 and August 2014, more than 40 training workshops have been conducted with more than 2,000 participants attendingin QuangNinh, Quang Tri, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, BinhDinh and Phu Yen, KhanhHoa and BinhThuan. These workshops included information regarding species identification, biological and ecological aspects of each specie, main threats, management and conservation measures, and the need for conservation of marine turtles and their habitat protection, as well as common methods for tagging and nest monitoring.

Besides, the training program for local residents, a number of training workshops for secondary school teachers have been conducted and at least 3,000 pupils have participated in the marine turtle conservation and habitat protection training program. Many activities such as campaigns, cleaning beaches, painting, contest competition etc. have been conducted as extra curriculum activities of school and received much interest and enthusiastic participation from both teachers and pupils.

The output of these training programs is remarkable. The community participants of the workshop shared stories as how their children have been reporting turtle captures and helping release of turtles to the wild; how volunteer groups have been spending countless hours monitoring beaches and caring for afew clutches that are laid, teachers said that teaching the marine turtle program has renewed their interest in teaching. Each of these were not expected and are examples of the success of training and capacity building.

2. Volunteer-based patrol program

Since 2006, IUCN has been able to work with communities at nesting locations in the province ofQuangNinh, Quang Tri, Quang Ngai, Quang Nam, BinhDinh and BinhThuan (Figure 1). Efforts are being made to improve awareness, as well as techniques to monitor and protect nesting females on the beaches. The nesting beach monitoring program in the pilot sites has had great involvement of the local community and governmental agencies through frequent educational and awareness meetings. Based on the most recent 2014 reports, there were 36 volunteers participatingat 6 sites and more than 100 km of nesting beaches have been patrolled weekly during the nesting season (April – September).

During the summer 2014,IUCN together with the Con Dao National Park organised a trial volunteer programfor a widerange of participants, including students and nature enthusiasts from everywhere. Five-hundred applicants registeredthemselves within two weeks after this announcement. A shortlist of volunteers including students, researchers, doctors, reporters, architectsand businessmenand others were requested to prepare a communication plan which describes activities they can do to

110 Proceedings - Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia raise awareness within their network about the importance of marine turtle conservation after participatingin the volunteer program. Finally, 23 volunteerswere selected, and we received great feedback from the volunteers as well as park rangers in Con Dao highlighting the importance of awareness on marine turtle and conservation activities.Twenty-three communication programs have been developed including photos, short film videos, blogs, stories and newspapersand shared within the seaturtle conservation volunteer networks.

Asuccessful conservation of marine turtles and their habitats goes beyond the direct and indirect mortality including broader ecological influences from other “non-point source” problems such as habitat destruction from destructive fishing technology, and sedimentation and pollution of important seagrass habitats from river based runoff. It is evident that a broader habitat protection approach would be necessary to manage these problems. There are a few turtles that come to nest along the coast of Viet Nam now, and even with high initial enthusiasm volunteers from the pilot sites still feel discouraged with the fact that they do not see nesting turtles during their survey. However, the establishment of the volunteer group will help raise awareness among the local communities and will actas eyes andthe ears for the local authorities in charge of marine biodiversity conservation such as National Parks, Fisheries Protection Division and Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

The outcome of this program is clear: local communities and government officials take pride in rescuing and releasing accidentally caught turtles. Another sign of progress is the fact that the Vietnamese Government is now an active and informed participant in international meetings related to marine turtle conservation. And this high level support is matched by the emergence of a group of young, dedicated researchers, outside and withinthe government, that advocate for turtle conservation.

Esscentials of continuing community-based conservation program

Although many of the conservation and management programs play an important role in the conservation of marine turtles in Vietnam, the number of nesting and foraging marine turtles in Vietnam has decreased in comparison to the populations in 2003. Based on interviews at the trainings, meetings, workshops, fishers said that they do not want to catch sea turtles, especiallythe leatherback, because it is considered an unlucky omen. In the cases of finding sea turtles in the net, they claimed that their response is to release the turtle out of the net, hooks or cod-end, right away. However, in some cases fishermen did admit that they still may consume sea turtles at sea, despite knowing that they are protected species. In other cases, despite the boat owner’s disapproval, some crewmembers still keep turtles secretly (inside the salt cabinet, ice container or on the desk wheterit is hawksbill, green, olive ridley or loggerhead turtle) for eating or selling. Some even tried to deliberately catch turtles, opportunistically. Such “complimentary catch” has been documented in past community surveys and studies by WWF, and in some cases considered an expected or anticipated income- generation benefit.

A recent marine turtle bust in NhaTrang in November 2014 is clear evidence of the scale of some of the illegal activities involving turtle trafficking. This discovery occurred as a result of a 3 year investigation by Environment Policy through Education for Nature – VN (ENV), a Vietnamese NGO.

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This is one of the largest cases of sea turtle trafficking in the world with a total estimated 7,600 turtles mainly hawksbillstotaling 10 tons recovered(ENV, 2015)

Local broadcast programsare also very important for public awareness of marine turtle conservation. Lesson learned from communication programs of Con Dao NP should be referenced. The broadcast program includes various items such as fishing information, weather forecast, a message to praise someone who rescued or released a marine turtle or to criticize someone who caught a turtle or poached a turtle.Local scientists also provide basic knowledge on marine turtle and their habitats for broadcast programs to circulate to local communites. The information boards with the messages should be very clear and explicit about the objectives of conservation as well as the specific aspects of location. It is also very important to build a board nearby the resident or beaches or tourist places.

The Vietnamese Government is now an active and informed participant in international meetings related to marine turtle conservation. And this high level of support is matched by the emergence of a group of young, dedicated researchers, inside and outside of government, that advocate for turtle conservation. In March 2004, the Ministry of Fisheries approved the National Marine Turtle Conservation Action Planto 2010 (box 1). It is crucial that the impetus provided by the approval of a national marine turtle conservation action plan (MTCAP) for Viet Nam is not lost. The government has requested continuing support in implementing priority activities proposed in the MTCAP and updating the MTCAP for the period 2015-2025.

Box 1: Update the Marine Turtle Conservation Action Plan (MTCAP) 2015 – 2025

In order to preserve and protect the remaining marine turtle populations and their habitats in Vietnam, the updated MTCAP will continue to implement all 6 priorities objectives, approved in the ‘Marine turtle conservation action plan for Vietnam until 2010’ that

included:

1. Reduce direct and indirect causes of marine turtle mortality 2. Manage marine turtle nesting areas 3. Protect, conserve and rehabilitate marine turtle habitats 4. Research and monitoring 5. Increase public awareness and education Conclusion6. Enhance national, regional and international cooperation

While it is relatively easy to score achievements against measurable indexes such as numbers of turtles tagged or number of people trained,the updated MTCAP should bring marine turtles to the forefront of marine protected areas and fisheries management in Viet Nam and the government should lead the implementation role.

Over the last 10 years, thousands of people throughout Viet Nam and from a variety of stakeholder groups have participated in workshops and been trained in practical and theoretical skills needed for marine turtle conservation. Attitudes have changed; evidence exists in the changes in form of fishing practices and the reporting of by-catch, the impact of children and other project staff in releasing turtles.

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Skills have certainly increased, especially with regard to turtle monitoring techniques and skills needed to address trade issues. Lastly aspirations have changed. Indeed, all the project sites had more people wishing to sign up as volunteers than they could accommodate.There is still substantial enthusiasm and much to be done for marine turtles in Viet Nam.

Long-term conservation efforts can help maintain and restore turtle populations, but laws alone do not work. Regular yearly support of US Fish and Wildlife Services through the Marine Turtle Conservation Act (MCTA) program since 2006 has contributed to a substantial and sustained marine turtle conservation and habitat protection program in Viet Nam.

Reference

Cuong, C. T. 2011. Status of marine turtle popolations in Spratly Archipelago.in D. C. Thung, editor. Marine Environment and Resources. Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Ha Noi.

Cuong, C. T. and The N. D. 2012. Report of the survey on marine turtles in the south center province. Page 27. The Institute of Marine Environment and Resources, Unpublished report to IUCN Viet Nam.

ENV. 2015 marine turtle busts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoY8xHMxYSk

Dung, P. H., N. T. D. Thuy, and K. Symington. 2007. Preliminary assessment of hotspots and recommended next steps for onboard fisheries observer program. WWF, Ha Noi.

Hamann M, Chu The Cuong, Nguyen Duy Hong and Pham Thuoc. 2002, Baseline Survey of Marine Turtle Abundance and Distribution in Vietnam. Report to Ministry of Fisheries, Vietnam.

Hamann, M., C. Cuong, N. Hong, P. Thuoc, and B. Thu Hien. 2006. Distribution and abundance of marine turtles in the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. Biodiversity and Conservation 15:3703- 3720.Nguyen Truong Giang, 2008. Annual technical report of marine turtle conservation in Con Dao National Park. Report to WWF-Indochina.

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Paper 10: Twenty Years of Community Based Sea Turtle Conservation in Rekawa Sanctuary, Sri Lanka

By: Thushan Kapurusinghe Project Leader, Sri Lanka Turtle Conservation Project (TCP). Community Based Sea Turtle Conservation

Introduction

The Green turtle (Chelonia mydas), Leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), Olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) and the Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) come ashore to nest on the beaches of Sri Lanka. All 5 species are listed by IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. Despite the international legislations and the local protection of marine turtles by government legislations since 1972, marine turtles are still being extensively exploited in Sri Lanka for their eggs and their meat. In addition, turtle nesting beaches (rookeries) are being disturbed by tourist industry development, and feeding habitats such as coral reefs, and sea grass beds - are being destroyed by pollution and unsustainable harvesting. Many turtles are accidentally caught and drowned in fishing gear each year, while the critically endangered hawksbill turtle has been hunted to the brink of extinction for its carapace to provide raw materials for the illegal ‘tortoiseshell’ trade.

The Rekawa Sanctuary and its characteristics

Source: Google maps

Map showing Rekawa Area Satellite Map of Rekawa Area.

The Rekawa Sanctuary is located between the two yellow lines shown in the Satellite map

The Rekawa Sanctuary is located in a small fishing village called ‘Rekawa’ on the South coast of Sri Lanka, approximately 10 kilometres eastwards along the coast from Tangalle in Hambantota District. Rekawa is located on the border of the intermediate and dry climatic zones of Sri Lanka, and borders on a large saline lagoon surrounded by extensive mangrove forests. As Rekawa is located on between two climatic zones, the area is rich in biodiversity.

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All five turtle species found in Sri Lanka nest on Rekawa beach and in addition, there is a wide range of other coastal fauna and flora such as coral reefs, marine algae, sea grasses, reef fish, crustaceans, echinodermates, molluscs, annelids, hydrozoans, holothurians and arthropods found in Rekawa. Furthermore, 160 species of birds, 28 species of mammals, 37 species of reptiles, 35 species of butterflies and 17 species of mangrove plants have been reported in the Rekawa area. However, further research must be carried out in order to assess the species richness in the Rekawa area. Green turtle nesting in

Main threats and designation purpose of Rekawa Sanctuary There were many environmentally destructive practices practiced by the local community members in Rekawa village. The killing of sea turtles, turtle egg gathering, mining of corals, mining of sand, mining of shells from the lagoon, cutting mangroves, and the poaching of wild animals such as the black nape hare (Lepus nigricolis), mouse deer (Tragulus meminna) and jungle fowl (Gallus laffeyetti) were among the destructive practices. Although many of these natural resources are legally protected, coastal communities continue to use coastal resources in a destructive manner violating the existing environmental laws.

This is a complicated socio-economic problem which is an enormous challenge to the government of Turtle egg collection Sri Lanka. Lack of education on marine and coastal resources, lack of law enforcement, and lack of community participation in conservation and management of coastal resources have been contributory factors to the destruction of coastal ecosystems.

The Turtle Conservation Project (TCP) of Sri Lanka was established in December 1993 by a group of young volunteers with the aim of conserving marine turtles in Sri Lanka. TCP carried out its socio- economic surveys in Rekawa village in 1994 and identified the environmental issues with community participation. There was no wildlife authority available in the village and there was no tourism at all in Rekawa at that time. In 1996, the TCP initiated its pioneering community based in-situ marine turtle conservation project in Rekawa village. Then the TCP initiated a campaign to declare the Rekawa beach as a Sanctuary in association with the Department of Wildlife Conservation, IUCN Sri Lanka, Coast Conservation Department (CCD), National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) and the Rekawa community. In May 2006, Rekawa beach was officially declared a Sea Turtle Sanctuary by the Department of Wildlife Conservation as a direct result of TCP’s long-term conservation efforts and campaigns.

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Rekawa Sanctuary Co-management Programme (RSCP)

The main legal authority over the Rekawa Sanctuary is held by the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC). However, the beach patrols to protect the turtle nests, carrying out turtle research and conducting of the ‘turtle night watch’ nature tourism programme are managed and administered by the Turtle Conservation Project (TCP) in association with the community based organization called ‘Nature Friends of Rekawa (NFR)’ which consist of ex-turtle egg poachers who have been trained and employed Rekawa Sanctuary as turtle nest protectors. Local villagers wereli trained as tourist’s guides by both TCP and the officers of the Sri Lanka Tourist Board. Boundary demarcation of Rekawa Sanctuary was done by the Department of Wildlife Conservation with the assistance of TCP, CCD, IUCN and NARA.

Community based Turtle watch Nature-tourism in Rekawa Sanctuary A ‘turtle night watch’ nature tourism initiative was launched as a self sustainability exercise along with the other conservation and community livelihood development programmes. Local villagers were trained as tourist guides and recruited on the beach to work as the turtle nest protectors. The programme used sea turtles as a charismatic ‘flagship’ species to generate income to continue the programme and also to expand its other community development activities.

The Rekawa ‘turtle watch’ nature tourism programme and other nature tourism initiatives are well organized with social and cultural sensitivity. The initiative did not have a negative impact on the culture, but instead worked towards the betterment of the society. Rekawa nature tourism promotional brochures educate the tourists about the need for social and cultural sensitivity. Well trained TCP officials and Wildlife officials regulate the programme carefully. In order to reduce the environment impact of Tourism, TCP conducts periodic beach cleaning programmes to keep the beach clean with the assistance of school children, nest protectors and TCP’s dedicated volunteers.

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Tourism promotional publications include the turtle watch guidelines. These guidelines are to be strictly adhered to by locals as well as tourists. A signboard displaying turtle watch guidelines is erected at TCP beach hut in Rekawa. The guidelines include the prohibition of flash photography when watching turtles, no disturbance to turtles, eggs or hatchlings, no beach fires, no trash on the beach etc. TCP’s education and awareness programmes conducted at tourist hotels also help to reduce the environmental impact. The Rekawa Sanctuary Co-management Programme’s nature tourism programme has won several global awards in the appreciation of services provided to the community, environment, economy, culture and to the visiting tourists. In 1998, TCP received the ‘highly commended’ award from British Airways ‘Tourism for Tomorrow’. In 2008, World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) awarded TCP the ‘Conservation Award (finalist)’. In January 2008, Rekawa beach was named as one of the ‘Top 10 Eco Friendly Destination in the World’ by the online travel community IgoUgo, owned by Travelocity. The list was based on recommendations from IgoUgo editors who reviewed the journals by some of its 350,000 members with comments by the travellers listed. In addition, TCP received another ‘highly commended’ award from the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism in 2008. Further, the ministry of Environment and Natural Resources awarded TCP the ‘Green Employment award’ in year 2009. In 2010, TCP received the “Champions Award” from the International Sea Turtle Society (ISTS).

Conservation and rural development in Rekawa After conducting a series of community meetings, TCP realised the chain connection between the coastal communities and coastal resources, which are heavily dependent on each other. As a solution, TCP implemented various community livelihood, community infrastructure development, environment restoration and awareness programmes in Rekawa village to address the environmental problems and break out of the vicious cycle of poverty and resource destruction.

TCP has improved the socioeconomic conditions and well-being of the community through a ‘Community Based Ecosystem Conservation Approach’ (CBECA). In addition, TCP implemented various community based projects at the same time, through different CBOs.

TCP has formed CBOs such as Nature Friends of Rekawa (NFR), a community Batik group, a Fish breeding group, sewing, coir mat, organic farming etc groups and provided alternative livelihood development skills training for these CBO members. TCP also provided the equipment and initial stocks of material/raw material. Further, initial capital needs were met through the revolving fund scheme.

Turtle egg poachers are now employed as turtle nest protectors and tourist guides through the in-situ turtle nest protection and research programme. Furthermore, TCP has also implemented community skills development programmes such as primary school programmes, computer classes, free English language classes, swimming training and disaster preparedness training. Children’s clubs were

Proceedings - Regional Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation in Asia 117 established in order to involve children in the coastal eco-system conservation and management process, providing them with necessary awareness through various educational programmes. TCP has also implemented community health programmes such as medical clinics, free herbal drinks for school children, community welfare services and first aid training.

TCP has formed a local performing arts group and art school in Rekawa in order to preserve the local culture. Local children receive training from this school and tour groups are entertained by the local cultural dancing group which benefits from TCP’s tourism programme. Part of the income received from TCP’s Turtle night watch tourism initiative has been donated to this art school for the purchase of required equipment. This is a privilege for the school children to show off their preserved local cultural talents.

TCP’s visitor centre in Rekawa (which is currently under construction) will provide a stage for this local dancing group to perform and make additional income while preserving the local culture. Through the TCP/US-AID partnership programme, this art performing school was provided with a shelter allowing them to conduct training programmes.

The integration of all available options in Rekawa The Rekawa Sanctuary co-management programme’s conservation activities provide livelihoods for local community members, proving that conservation activities can support community livelihood development efforts. Provision of community livelihoods helps conservation of turtles, coral reefs and mangroves in Rekawa, proving that livelihood development activities can support conservation efforts. This protected area management programme highlights the ways in which we can carry out conservation activities without compromising community development. Both conservation and community development activities can be supported by capacity development activities and education & awareness programmes. Law enforcement can be used as the last resort, but in the Rekawa Sanctuary Co-management Programme (RSCP), the presence of Wildlife Department officers are used as an additional tool to strengthen the community based conservation project. Use of multiple stakeholders is one of the key reasons of the success of Rekawa model. Using a combination of all possible available options (conservation, livelihood development, capacity development, education and awareness, building partnerships, infrastructure development and law enforcement etc.) has been considered and applied as much as possible in developing and implementing the Rekawa Sanctuary Co-management Programme (RSCP).

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INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE Country Office 1 Bath Island Karachi 75530 Pakistan Tel +92 (21) 35861540/41/42/43 Fax +92 (21) 35861448 [email protected] www.iucn.org/pakistan