Morocco

Sea turtle work in Morocco was initiated in 1999 with surveys of the Atlantic coastline by Manjula Tiwari followed by surveys of the Mediterranean coast.  Despite French researchers Pasteur and Bons indicating extensive nesting by loggerheads and possibly greens on Plage Blanche in southern Morocco in their 1960 publication, no nesting was found either on 3,446 km of Moroccan coast.  Loggerhead sea turtles are the most commonly reported species in this region and juveniles and sub-adults loggerheads are the most common species and age classes encountered either stranded on the beach or in the fisheries. Sea turtles in Moroccan waters originate from several nesting populations such as North America, Cape Verde, and the Mediterranean, indicating that the accidental capture of sea turtles in the waters of northwestern Africa is likely impacting various nesting populations in the wider Atlantic as well as the Mediterranean.

Therefore, evaluating and mitigating mortality of sea turtles in Morocco and creating a greater awareness for their protection are at the heart of this project.  Efforts have been focused on recruiting and training fishermen to collect data on turtles caught in their fishing gear. To further promote these efforts, the NGO, Association pour la protection des Tortues Marines de Maroc (ATOMM) was co-founded in 2008 with colleagues at the Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Faculty of Science, Tetouan, and is dedicated to sea turtle conservation and research in Morocco.

Local partners:

• Association pour la Protection des Tortues Marines au Maroc (ATOMM)

• Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Faculty of Science, Tetouan,

• L’Institut National de Recherche Halieutique (INRH)

Local partners:

• Chélonée, France

Mauritania:

This country hosts an important foraging ground for green turtles in the eastern Atlantic at Banc d’Arguin. The French NGO, Chélonée, working in Mauritania has indicated that hundreds of turtles are killed every year; many are accidentally captured by the numerous trawlers in these waters while hundreds are intentionally captured by the local fishermen from the Imraguen tribe as well as by fishermen from other African countries fishing in these waters. Ocean Ecology network’s role is to provide Chélonée scientific and technical support to address bycatch and intentional take in-water.

Cabo Verde

The archipelago of Cabo Verde supports one of the largest loggerhead  nesting populations in the world, and certainly the most significant loggerhead nesting population in the eastern Atlantic. We collaborate with local partners to address exploitation of  turtle meat and eggs, sand mining, fisheries bycatch, and intentional take in-water; conduct education and awareness programs, effectively monitor and manage the nesting beaches, and identify and implement research projects.

Manjula Tiwari created the Cape Verde Sea Turtle Network (TAOLA) which liaises with the government and local authorities and hosts a National Workshop annually that convenes NGOs, local universities, the Ministry of the Environment, the local governments on each island, relevant institutions and ministries, and local law enforcement agencies (police, maritime police, and the army) to discuss sea turtle conservation in the country.

Manjula Tiwari speaks on Cabo Verdean national TV (at minute 01:58) during the national sea turtle network (TAOLA) meeting on Boa Vista Island in 2018.

Local partners:

• Projecto Biodiversidade—Sal

• Natura 2000—Boa Vista

• BIOS-CV— Boa Vista

• Turtle Foundation— Boa Vista

• Maio Biodiversity Foundation—Maio

Local partner:

• Reptile and Amphibian Program-Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone

Reptile and Amphibian Program-Sierra Leone has been successful at getting the support of and participation from the local communities in their conservation efforts (e.g., release of captured turtles, beach monitoring and protection) through their community-based approach (e.g., water supply for the communities, an education center, an office and generator for the fishermen). The project has been intensifying its efforts and expanding its coverage of the coastline and offshore islands to minimize the exploitation of turtles.

The project’s objectives also include training workshops for locals who are hired to protect the turtles and regularly monitor some of the important nesting areas, and evaluation of accidental captures of sea turtles in the artisanal fisheries.

Liberia

As in Sierra Leone, the objectives of these projects are also to train and hire locals to monitor the beaches and safeguard the females and nests as well as to provide benefits to the local communities in return for their conservation efforts.

Community members are also trained to evaluate sea turtle bycatch in the local fisheries.

Local partners:

• Save My Future (SAMFU) Foundation 

• Sea Turtle Watch

Local partner:

• Programa Tâto

Sao Tome

The goal of Programa Tâto’s project in Sao Tome is to protect and monitor important nesting beaches, engage local communities in sea turtle conservation, help create alternative, non-consumptive uses of sea turtles, build the capacity of the local stakeholders to manage their sea turtle population, and to promote the social, economic and ecological value and benefits of sea turtles locally.

Scientific support is provided to the current project to develop a wise, effective and culturally sensitive long-term conservation and management strategy.

Gabon

Gabon supports one of the largest leatherback nesting beaches in the world. We are working with the  Gabon Sea Turtle Partnership to monitor sand temperatures over time at the different beaches to look at the impacts of climate change on sex ratios. Manjula Tiwari initiated discussions and workshops about Turtle Excluder Devices and Onboard Observer Programs with the government of Gabon. These initiatives have now grown into established national programs.

Local partner:

• Gabon Sea Turtle Partnership

Local partners:

• Projeto Kitabanga

Angola

Angola is considered the southernmost nesting limit for leatherbacks, olive ridleys and green turtles in the eastern Atlantic. Projeto Kitabanga has undertaken extensive monitoring of the coastline, through aerial and ground survey and established several permanent nesting beach monitoring  sites along the coast. Major threats include exploitation for meat and eggs as well as incidental take in fisheries.  Manjula Tiwari participated in some of the aerial surveys of the coastline using military helicopters with local partners, and provides scientific and technical support to the project.

Namibia

Namibia covers 1,570 km of coastline and its waters are characterized by the Benguela Large Marine Ecosystem, which supports one of the highest regions of

productivity in the world. Nesting is assumed to be rare along the Namibian coastline. In recent years, there has been growing evidence from tag returns and satellite telemetry that leatherbacks from several globally significant nesting populations in the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean use Namibian waters as important foraging grounds and migratory routes probably because of the abundance of jellyfish in these waters. Juvenile green turtles found in Namibian waters and in the Cunene River are suspected to originate from beaches in the Indian Ocean. The impact on sea turtles by longlines and mid-water trawls in Namibian waters is assumed to be relatively high. There is an urgent need to complement the expanding conservation efforts on the nesting beaches with protection measures in countries that support major foraging habitats and migratory routes. Projects are under discussion and development to better understand and conserve leatherbacks and green turtles in Namibian waters.

Local partners:

• The Namibian Dolphin Project

Local Partners:

• Environment Society of Oman

• Five Oceans Environmental Services

• The Environment Authority in Oman (former Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs)

Oman

Masirah Island, Oman, supports one of the largest loggerhead nesting beaches in the world. The objective of this project  is to help promote an effective nesting beach monitoring program and provide continued scientific support to understand and quantify loggerhead bycatch in the waters around Masirah Island. Additionally, inter-nesting movements and habitats, post nesting movements and habitats and foraging grounds of these loggerheads and potential interaction zones with fisheries activities are studied by deploying satellite transmitters on nesting loggerheads on Masirah and Al-Hallaniyat Islands. A study to evaluate and increase hatchling production on Masirah’s beaches is being planned.

Bangladesh

The Marine Alliance Project was visited to reviewed in 2018. The trip focused on the Cox’s Bazar region where most of the nesting takes place in the country. Several project sites were visited along the mainland coast from Cox’s Bazar town to Teknaf, as well as on St. Martin Island, Cherra Islands, and Sonadia and Hasirchar Islands to survey the beaches and review the hatcheries and in-situ nest protection.

Meetings with community members and fishermen involved in the project took place to discuss the nesting beach and bycatch work.

Local partner:

Marine Alliance Project

India

In 2016, five sea turtle projects were visited and reviewed:

• Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra—Maharashtra

• Prakuti Nature Club—Gujarat

• Dakshin Foundation—Odisha

• TREE Foundation—Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu

• Students Sea Turtle Network—Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Indonesia – Papua

Leatherback populations in the Pacific are designated as critically endangered, and the two index beaches in the Abun region of Papua Barat, Indonesia, Jamursba-Medi and Wermon, are considered to host the most robust leatherback nesting population remaining in the Pacific and 75% of the nesting in the Western Pacific.

However, this population has also declined significantly . The overarching goal of this project is to provide scientific and technical support to local colleagues  to develop and implement effective management strategies to maximize hatchling production in collaboration with the local  communities who own the beaches.

Local partner:

• Abun Leatherback Project – State University of Papua

Local partner:

• Flora and Fauna International - Cambodia

Cambodia

In recent years, Flora and Fauna International-Cambodia (FFI) has confirmed some sea turtle nesting in the offshore islands, however, surveys of the mainland coastline Cambodia by FFI colleagues and Manjula Tiwari revealed that nesting is either very rare or non-existent on mainland today. Nevertheless, in-water accidentally captures by fishermen continue to occur.

Therefore, the goal of the project has been to evaluate and minimize bycatch, increase local and national awareness and understanding about sea turtles, continue surveying key beaches for signs of nesting, and improve coordination and efforts to implement the National Sea Turtle Action Plan. Scientific and technical support is provided to local partners and the government to help establish an effective nesting beach, bycatch and education and awareness program.

A first regional training workshop was organized in Cambodia in October-November 2018 to build local capacity and strengthen trans-boundary collaborations among sea turtle projects funded by the USFWS in Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

Myanmar

Green turtle and olive ridley nesting numbers have declined from thousands of nesting females per year to a few nesting females per year and hawksbill that once nested in the hundreds are now considered near extinction on Myanmar’s beaches.

Scientific and technical support is provided and training workshops organized to help build an effective national network of sea turtle projects and partners in collaboration with NGOs and the government.

Local partner:

• Flora and Fauna International - Myanmar

Local partners:

• The Nature Conservancy

• Solomon Islands Community Conservation Partnership

• Conservation International

• Wildlife Conservation Society

Solomon Islands

The Solomon Islands support some of the most important leatherback nesting sites remaining in the Western Pacific. Local consumption of turtles and eggs is believed to have drastically reduced nesting populations over the last few decades.

Working with local partners, the goal is to protect leatherbacks and promote leatherback nesting beach conservation and management through the engagement of the local communities near these beaches.