With the decline of the leatherback turtle throughout the Western Pacific region, the Huon coast is one of the last remaining bastions of the species. The major threats to turtles nesting in Papua New Guinea are depredation of nests by dogs, local consumption of eggs and occasional slaughter of adult nesting females. Monitoring and…
The Dhamra Port project was controversial from its very inception. It met with opposition at all levels of science and conservation, but also garnered the support of the International union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Acting in his (then) capacity as Co-Chair of the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group, MRF’s Executive Director Dr. Nicolas…
Western Pacific leatherback sea turtle populations have declined 83% over the last five decades and are considered Critically Endangered according to IUCN. Protection of the remaining leatherback sea turtles in the Western Pacific is essential for population recovery, and this protection needs to extend to in-water habitats, where turtles spend the vast portion of their lives. But the protection of leatherback turtles at sea requires first-hand knowledge of their distribution in time and space, thus determining at-sea distributions and threats is essential for leatherback protection, restoration, and management
This project tracked the post-reproduction movements of loggerhead turtles at one of the world’s largest nesting aggregation of loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta), Masirah Island, Sultanate of Oman, including investigation of clutch frequency, site fidelity, migration routes. The latter also helped to reveal intersections with threats, such as those associated with fisheries, hydrocarbon exploration, shipping…
The Sulu Sulawesi Seascape supports five of the world’s seven species of sea turtles – the green, hawksbill, loggerhead, olive ridley and leatherback. Of these, the green and hawksbill are by far the more abundant, with significant nesting and foraging assemblages. The leatherback was known as a transient feeder, the olive ridley is an occasional…
Over the last few decades, various institutions throughout the Asia-Pacific and the Pacific Islands region have been tagging turtles and collecting a variety of data. While these efforts have generated large volumes of information, there has been little overall coordination of the work. In 2002, based on recommendations from participants who attended the Western Pacific…
Turtles are an important component of marine ecosystems, they offer benefits far beyond the tangible, and thus their conservation is a public process, not that of a handful of dedicated individuals. Effective conservation thus requires a widespread awareness campaign, coupled with programmes which provide alternative livelihoods to those affected by conservation activities, supported by quality…
The Marine Research Foundation assisted WWF Vietnam to implement sea turtle management training at Con Dao Island, working with trainees from Con Dao National Park and other staff trainees from Ninh Thuan and Quang Tri provinces, in addition to national government officials, to build their capacity to effectively implement a systematic sea turtle monitoring,…
Via this project, the Marine Research Foundation conducted a training workshop to provide the Omani officials, researchers and field-rangers with the ability to monitor and carry out research on marine turtle stocks, whether resident or foraging, and their habitats. This project was implemented as a joint project between the Marine Research Foundation based in Sabah,…
Marine turtles in SE Asia are in dire need of conservation action. With long maturation periods and low survival, they have extremely slow replenishment rates. A population which has been depleted can take several centuries to recover. However, understanding the needs of the turtles also depends heavily the understanding of the extent of habitat use…
