Solid waste, and in particular plastics, are choking the very life out of the oceans. The world currently produces in excess of 400 million tonnes of plastics, and at least 14 million tons of this plastic ends up in the oceans every year. Plastic actually makes up 80% of all marine debris found from surface…
The Arafura and Timor Seas (ATS) are part of the North Australian Shelf large marine ecosystem, a tropical marine area located between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The region extends from the Timor Sea to the Torres Strait and includes the Arafura Sea and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Bordering the Coral Triangle, epicenter of the…
This map is updated regularly with known incidences of sharks and rays bycatch. Once we download the images from our cameras and process them, we upload incidences of bycatch onto the map. Click the map to know more about all those bycatch events! Keep in mind that we do not get to every camera every…
MRF has now expanded its portfolio to also investigate and mitigate the bycatch of endangered sharks and rays. This builds on our extensive work with sea turtles and dugongs in Malaysia and throughout the Indo Pacific region. Under the Sabah Sharks and Rays Initiative 2019-2020, The Marine Research Foundation is undertaking two studies to inform…
The Marine Research Foundation is leading a sea turtle extinction risk study for sea turtles in the Pacific Ocean on behalf of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), an intergovernmental organisation charged with promoting cooperation among Pacific islands countries and territories to protect and improve their environment and ensure sustainable development. …
This project on assessing the status, scope and trends of the legal and illegal international trade in marine turtles, its conservation impacts, management options and mitigation priorities contributes to the implementation of CITES Decisions 17.222 and 17.223 on Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) and other marine turtles (Cheloniidae and Dermochelyidae). This project was undertaken in collaboration with…
Seagrass meadows of the Indo-Pacific, where up to one billion people are supported by inshore fisheries, are declining as a result of coastal development, deforestation, unsustainable resource use, and environmental degradation. Globally seagrasses occupy around 600,000km2 and account for 12% of total carbon stored in ocean sediments. However, seagrass losses result in a reduced capacity…
MRF Staff and Directors are happy to support the Kota Kinabalu Dive Rangers with underwater cleanup events of discarded and illegal fishing gear within the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. This project collects illegal and abandoned fishing gears left by fishers who fish within the Park boundaries, and whose nets get caught on the Park’s…
Marine turtles are integral components of marine ecosystems in the Arabian region, and a conservation priority of national and regional conservation programmes, as their populations are globally under threat. Even though Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) are the most abundant sea turtle species in this region, a small number of protected areas exist which encompass different…
TED development in the U.S between 1978-present day 1978 Sea turtle became protected under the U.S Endangered Species Act,. Incidental captures in trawl nets were made illegal, certain areas were closed to shrimping, tow times were reduced and fishing gear was modified to reduce capture rates. 1980 The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) began to…
What is a TED? A Turtles Excluder Device (TED) is a device inserted into shrimp trawl nets to reduce accidental bycatch of turtles. TEDs consist of a frame, usually oval, with vertical bars set at precise spacing that allows shrimp and fish to pass through and collect in the net while turtles and other large…
Pacific leatherback turtle populations have declined alarmingly over the past 25 years, and for management and recovery efforts to be effective, obtaining accurate estimates of current abundance and distribution of critical habitats is essential. In some locations there are summer nesting turtles which remain unstudied and which are of particular interest to conservationists today, as…
