Manjula goes blogging...

As part of our project to assess the impact of local fisheries on sea turtle populations in the waters of Morocco, our collaborators, Prof. Mustapha Aksissou (second from left with his son) and his wife, Wafae Benhardouze (also in the photos), of Tetouan, Morocco, have been distributing datasheets (in French and Arabic), measuring tapes, and disposable cameras to fishermen in northwestern Morocco to document turtles caught in their nets/hooks.

The cooperation of and feedback from the fishermen has been encouraging and the number of fishermen involved continues to grow. As sea turtles are generally not a targeted species, there appears to be less political friction surrounding fisheries/sea turtle interactions in this region than elsewhere. And certainly the tireless efforts and dynamic involvement of Mustapha and Wafae in this project have contributed to establishing successful collaborations with the fishermen.

Posted by Manjula Tiwari at 10:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Another green turtle capture season has started up in San Diego Bay for the La Jolla-based Sea Turtle Research Program. And I have been learning all about nets—undoing knots, setting nets in the water, disentangling captured turtles, cleaning, babying, and storing nets—under the patient and ever-encouraging guidance of Jeff Seminoff. Net handling is an art, I am discovering and learning…

And then there is the excitement of catching a turtle—on our last trip we caught two 200+kg females and we were at our physical limits trying to haul these big girls into our little skiff. These captured turtles are then taken ashore to a sliver of “beach” to check for tags, collect data, attach transmitters...

And at the end of the day when the nets are pulled in, the boat is out of the water and back on the trailer, and we prepare to drive home sometimes muddy, wet, sun burnt, and cold, a feeling of happy lassitude settles…and in the far distance, across the bay, the Mexican flag flaps in the breeze at the border, and mountains rise into Mexican skies…

Posted by Manjula Tiwari at 11:01 PM | Permalink

These well-known people are getting ready to be photographed to commemorate an important occasion!

In August of this year, the first retreat and workshop for Board members of the International Sea Turtle Society (ISTS) took place outside of the Annual Sea Turtle Symposium at NCTC. This, henceforth annual, retreat for the ISTS Board of Directors has become necessary as we move forward and metamorphose from an almost "family-style" Symposium into a professional Society.

At this first retreat, Mission and Vision Statements for the ISTS were written, and other big issues such as long-term continuity, membership, ISTS manual, and finance committee were discussed. You can read more about all this in the most recent issue of the Marine Turtle Newsletter.

Posted by Manjula Tiwari at 10:05 PM | Permalink