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Overview: The 26th Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation was admittedly a profound success. For the first time in its long history it was hosted in the Mediterranean, on the island of Crete, Greece and this gave the opportunity to many under-represented countries to take part in this globally important event. With about 700 participants from 78 countries it fulfilled its motto: “Diverse Cultures, One Purpose”.
The Island of Crete, at the crossroads of Africa, Asia and Europe proved an excellent selection. Also the meeting’s venue, Capsis Beach Hotel at the village of Aghia Pelaghia, located 20 km from Heraklion airport, provided adequate facilities, agreeable surroundings, and relatively good prices. The Symposium would not have been a success without the assistance of ARCHELON, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece, and its staff, members and volunteers. Further, I was fortunate to have the expert services of Thanos Belalidis, as Symposium Coordinator, a long-time member of ARCHELON and participant in previous Sea Turtle Symposia.
Submitted abstracts surpassed the five hundred (500!), a record breaking all previous Symposia, loading the Program Officers (Brendan Godley and Kartik Shanker) and their 35-member Program Committee with a tremendous amount of work, which culminated in the 376-page Book of Abstracts, printed on time for on-site distribution to participants. Here I should also mention the pedantic work of the four compilers: Mike Frick, Aliki Panagopoulou, Alan Rees and Kris Williams.
On the 3-4th April, 2-day regional meetings took place: the 5th Mediterranean Reunion, the Latin American (RETOMALA) meeting, and the WIDECAST (Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Network) meeting. In addition on 4th April two more regional meetings took place: the IOSEA (Indian Ocean and South-East Asia) meeting, and the Africa meeting.
The official opening took place in the morning of the 5th April, with welcome speeches from the Symposium President, the Prefect of Heraklion Mr D. Sarris, and the Coordinator of UNEP’s Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) Mr Paul Mifsud. The invited speaker of the Symposium was Dr Wolf Michael Iwand of TUI, the largest tour operator in the world, who talked on the interaction of sea turtles and the tourist industry and how these two could best benefit from each other; it was really a challenging talk, with examples from various parts of the world.
On the 5th April, in a special 2.5-hour session in memory of Peter Lutz, entitled “Sea Turtle Biology without Boundaries”, six scientific overviews were presented on broad aspects of turtle biology. I would like to thank Jeanette Wyneken who organized this session.
After this we started the standard program with concurrent sessions until Friday afternoon, where again we had a plenary session on the Ecological Roles of Marine Turtles. In total from 5-7th April, 107 oral and 340 poster contributions were presented, covering the following standard sessions: Behavior and Movements; Conservation, Management and Policy; Population Biology and Monitoring; Fisheries Interaction; Anatomy, Physiology and Health; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Social Science Research; Education, Outreach and Advocacy, plus two special sessions: Turtles and Climate Change; Ecological Roles of Marine Turtles. We sought to create a pleasant atmosphere for posters and we installed them close to the coffee break area and an always-open bar with views over the blue Aegean Sea. However, the large number of posters did not allow us to have all posters set up for the whole Symposium’s duration, as initially planned. Eventually we split the posters into two sessions, each with a 14-hour viewing time and two “Question & Answer” periods of 1 h and 1.5 h respectively. The timely preparation and the smooth running of the program, as well as the efficient arrangement of the posters would not have been possible without the dedication of the Program Officers, the Program Committee, the Session Chairs and the Poster Session Chair Dr Bill Irwin.
On the 6th April, a Panel Discussion, organized by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council and entitled “Cooperative Approaches to Implement Sea Turtle Bycatch Solutions in Longline Fisheries”, took place on the global issue of longline turtle captures (for details this issue; MTN 113:13).
On Saturday, 8th April, the Annual Meeting of the IUCN’s Marine Turtle Specialist Group convened (for details see this issue of MTN 113:16-18) and on Saturday afternoon the Freshwater and Terrestrial Turtle Workshop was held, which gave emphasis to regional species and issues.
The Archie Carr Student Best Paper Competition: Nine awards were given to the best and runners up student oral and poster presentations in two major categories: Biology and Conservation. In total, 146 contributions presented by 111 student candidates were examined by the Judging Committee. The award certificates were accompanied by an honorarium and a subscription to Chelonian Conservation and Biology; in total 2,000 USD and 1,000 Euro were awarded to the nine students. About half of the totally awarded sum came as usual from the Chelonian Research Foundation (thank you, Anders). I thank the co-chairs of the Judges, Lisa Campbell and Jeanette Wyneken, as well as the 22-member Judging Committee for this important task.
Travel Grants: In total, 131 travel grants were distributed by the Regional Travel Chairs, either as cash or as “free” rooms, through generous donations from Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, US Fish & Wildlife Service, US National Marine Fisheries Service, UNEP’s RAC/SPA, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Chelonian Research Institute (CRI), Marine Conservation Society (MCS), WWF Italy, Bern Convention (Council of Europe), Leatherback Trust, Caribbean Conservation Corporation and IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation. Also we had several smaller donors and “room sponsors”, too many to be mentioned here. As noted by previous presidents a severe constraint that the Symposium President faces is to secure beforehand the sum to be allocated for travel grants. Pending final evaluation by the treasurer, I can say that, in general, we did very well financially; albeit this is known well after the allocation of travel grants. Eventually we spent about 56,000 USD in travel grants. I should mention here the great efforts (and successes) by Manjula Tiwari, Angela Formia, Susan Ranger and Rob Tryland in securing special funds for our colleagues from Africa; a major objective of this Symposium. Also, I must thank for their assistance in securing funds and in fund-raising efforts Jeff Seminoff, Rod Mast, Ed Drane, Nicolas Pilcher, Barbara Schroeder, Earl Possardt, Paolo Casale, and Thanos Belalidis. The delicate job of allocating travel grants would not have be done better without the efforts of the Travel Committee Chair, Hoyt Peckham, and the Regional Travel Chairs Ana Barragan, Alan Bolten, Annette Broderick, Karen Eckert, Angela Formia, Brendan Godley, and Nicolas Pilcher.
Simultaneous translation: Thanks to the UNEP/MAP’s headquarters, based in Athens, we were able to have simultaneous interpretation to French during the Africa meeting and during the first day plenary. Unfortunately the high costs of having two sets of translators and equipment did not allow us to have interpretation during the concurrent sessions.
Involvement of the media: Early advice from Earl Possardt, President of the 22nd ISTS, was to involve, as much as we could, the media in order to make public some important sea turtle issues. Thanks to support of Conservation International (CI) we were able to set a Press Room, equipped with computers, fax and internet and to secure the expert involvement of Lisa Bailey (of CI), who together with Dimos Tsantilis and Theoni Karkoulia (of ARCHELON) were assigned to liaise with journalists, find appropriate experts for interviews and draft news releases in English and in Greek. Two journalists from far-away lands (Colombia, Indonesia), invited by CI, stayed on-site and covered the event fully, while several local journalists were in and out. Various Symposium events and news items appeared many times in local, national and international media. In addition, a daily blog hosted at conservation.org, and another one (in Greek) at the website of ARCHELON, were set to inform journalists who could not attend the Symposium.
Local Participation: We tried to involve the local community on Crete as much as possible. In this regard, schoolteachers of Heraklion were informed about the Symposium well in advance, and prepared and implemented various activities in their schools, inspired by sea turtles. A result of these activities was the handicrafts, made by the children, exhibited during the Symposium at the posters’ area. Further, a meeting with local fishermen took place in the nearby harbor of Rethymno to discuss ways of mitigating turtle captures. It is worth to note that these fishermen participated in the Mediterranean Reunion, together with the local officers of the Fisheries Department and the Coast Guard, and presented their views on the issue of turtle bycatch in fisheries.
Entertainment: The best part of the Symposium. On Tuesday, during the Welcome Cocktail we had the Cretan dancers, young women and men, with the local musicians playing the “lyra” (an ancient instrument – mythology says that Orpheus had his lyra made of a tortoise).
I will include the Auction in this section. The Silent Auction gathered a great many items, well arranged and organized by the Auction Chair Theodoros Benos-Palmer, with advice from Debbie Sobel. The live Auction was a success both as entertainment (was it the exotic drinks that Rod Mast took care to sell first?) and also as an additional fund (about 13,000 USD was collected on-site, through the expert cashiers of the Hilton Head Island Sea Turtle Protection Project, coordinated and supervised by Ed Drane). Thank you Rod! Thank you Ed! Thank you all those who donated all these lovely items!
When we were drafting the Symposium schedule, Thanos and I called the traditional banquet “Farewell Party” because we didn’t know, until the last day, what and where to do it. There were ideas of having it right “on the hotel’s beach”, or at the open theater, or even outside the hotel property in one of those huge places, very common in Crete, where weddings are celebrated in a very Cretan-style. Since no weddings were in sight and the nights were rather cool, we resorted in the safety of the hotel dining room. The food was excellent, thanks to the ever-checking-the-details Thanos and the abundant home-made raki, a very welcome gift of the Prefect.
Now, I want to say a few words about dancing. As we all know, dancing is a form of self-expression. This is very conspicuous in the case of Greek dances; thus the so many forms of them, especially the solitary ones. When I danced the Zorba dance with Michael Coyne, the new President, I wanted actually to show you the steps of an easy Greek dance with the hope that I would lure the most daring of you on the dancing floor. However, when we finished and the band started to play Greek tunes I was truly amazed to see many Latinos, Middle-easterners and even northern Americans inundating the dance floor, leaping in the air and circling with amazing grace and expertise. I couldn’t believe my eyes that Greek dances were so widespread. Thank you all for this unique experience!
Closing this part of my report, I would like to thank all participants, all sponsors and donors, all members of Committees and Task Forces, the staff of ARCHELON and all volunteers for making this event a memorable one. Many thanks to my daughter Lenio and her husband Vangelis Karatzas for designing the graphics of the Symposium, including the t-shirts, and the printed program. Special thanks should go to Michael Coyne for providing his wisdom many times and for hosting the Symposium website.
ISTS Business
The International Sea Turtle Society (ISTS) is making great steps forward. These were extensively discussed at the BoD Retreat in August 2005 (Margaritoulis 2005) and also at the BoD Meeting on Crete. Three major issues were presented at the Annual Plenary Business Meeting on Crete (7 April): nominations, resolutions, modifications of constitution and by-laws.
Nominations & Elections: A clear procedure was announced through the MTN, the ISTS website and individual email messages to all members, setting a deadline for nominations by 15 November 2005. The 5-member Nominating Committee (NC) set criteria and evaluated each received nomination. Eventually, the BoD decided to present to the membership a multiple slate for the 2 BoD & the 2 NC positions, and also to accept nominations from the floor during the Plenary, prior to voting. I believe this measure enhanced participation and upgraded transparency and democracy. Following a secret ballot at the Plenary, the following candidates were elected: Ana Barragan and Naoki Kamezaki for the BoD positions, and Scott Eckert and Alberto Abreu for the NC. In addition, the NC recommended that the BoD approve the following slate for the Executive Committee: President-Elect Wallace J. Nichols, Treasurer Edwin Drane, Secretary Manjula Tiwari. The BoD accepted this slate and it was approved unanimously by the general membership during the Plenary. At this point, I would like to congratulate the new members and also to warmly thank the departing BoD members Frank Paladino and Clara Padilla, the past president Nicolas Pilcher, and the NC members Matthew Godfrey (Chair) and Neca Marcovaldi.
Resolutions: As discussed in a previous article (Margaritoulis 2005) there has been skepticism within the BoD as regards the effectiveness of resolutions. Further, the existing procedure was cumbersome, provided little time for deliberations among the BoD members and needed some persistent work for following up efficiently. To confront the above constraints, and in-line with a recommendation from a task force, the procedure for submitting resolutions became more clear and strict. This effort has already been fruitful: In the context of the 26th Symposium, four resolutions were accepted by the Resolutions Committee and eventually by the BoD, plus one resolution that was tabled from the previous Symposium. Subsequently, all five resolutions were adopted during the Plenary Business Meeting on Crete, and are the following:
1. Resolution to support the adoption and implementation of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s “Guidelines to Reduce Sea Turtle Mortality in Fishing Operations” by parties to regional fishery management organizations and sea turtle agreements.
2. Designation of Puerto Rico's Northeastern Ecological Corridor as a Nature Reserve.
3. Resolution to minimise disturbance to nesting loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) by tourist activities on the Island of Zakynthos, Greece.
4. Resolution on the need to strengthen and implement the U.S. Recovery Plan for Kemp’s Ridley.
5. On the need to strengthen protection of the Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles by creating a Texas-Mexico Protected International Swimway.
You can find the above resolutions in the Symposium and ISTS websites. All resolutions were dispatched to the competent authorities and, a good sign, we have already received replies and comments from some of them. I must thank the members of the task force, the sponsors of the resolutions, and above all the Resolutions Chair and mentor Jack Frazier.
Modification of the constitution and by-laws: The ever-expanding mandate and international character of our Society asks for changes in its instruments and procedures; thus the needed modifications of these documents. Thanks to the work of Frank Paladino and Nancy FitzSimmons, the BoD came up with a draft of the proposed changes, which were approved by the membership at the Plenary Business Meeting on Crete. Modification of by-laws is a lengthy process, and needs the input of as many members as possible in order to integrate many views and our Society to acquire long-lasting, modern and flexible governance rules.
Concerning the ISTS business, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the members of the Executive Committee (Michael Coyne, Thane Wibbels, Edwin Drane, Manjula Tiwari), the members of the Board of Directors (Clara Padilla, Frank Paladino, Milani Chaloupka, Jeffrey Seminoff, Hedelvy Guada, Donna Shaver, Nancy FitzSimmons, Lisa Campbell, Brendan Godley, Kartik Shanker) and the 3 past presidents participating at the BoD meetings (Nicolas Pilcher, Roderic Mast, Thane Wibbels), for their continuous advice and wholehearted support.
Finally, I thank Matthew Godfrey, Brendan Godley, Brian Hutchinson, Jeff Seminoff, Kartik Shanker, Manjula Tiwari, and Jeanette Wyneken for their comments while I was drafting this report.
MARGARITOULIS, D. 2005. The annual BoD Retreat of the International Sea Turtle Society (Shepherdstown, West Virginia, USA, 15-17 August 2005): improving procedures and transparency. Marine Turtle Newsletter 110:10-11.