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Marine Turtle Newsletter 114:1, © 2006

Marine Turtle Newsletter-Online

Editorial

Lisa M. Campbell 1 & Matthew H. Godfrey 2
1Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences Duke University, 135 Duke Marine Lab Road Beaufort, NC 28516 USA (E-mail: lisa.m.campbell@duke.edu)
2NC Wildlife Resources Commission, 1507 Ann St. Beaufort, NC 28516 USA (E-mail: mgodfrey@seaturtle.org)

It is with great enthusiasm, and only slightly less trepidation, that we begin our stint as editors for the Marine Turtle Newsletter. The trepidation stems from the rather large footsteps we follow in; this history of editorship of the MTN is an impressive one, including Nicholas Mrosovsky, Nat Frazer, Karen Eckert & Scott Eckert, Annette Broderick & Brendan Godley. Our enthusiasm stems from the role the MTN plays in the world of marine turtle conservation and beyond, and our ideas about what we might do to enhance that role. We take this opportunity to share our vision of what we hope to achieve as the MTN’s latest editors.

First, Nicholas Mrosovsky, the founding Editor, envisioned the MTN as providing both a forum for exchange of information and a mechanism for alerting people to threats in a timely manner. While advances in computer-based information exchange have undoubtedly reduced the importance of the MTN from the latter perspective, the newsletter continues to play an important role in communicating information about all aspects of marine turtle biology and conservation, and we would add ‘communicating opinions’ to this. We feel the MTN has a particular role to play in providing space for editorials, as illustrated in the last issue (MTN 113) by the exchange of letters on the shipment of green turtles from the Cayman Turtle Farm to the UK. There are points of considerable debate and contention in the marine turtle world, and the MTN can provide an important venue (and one of the few published ones) for considering the various sides of the issues at stake. We encourage authors to submit editorial style pieces to the MTN.

Second, a recent decision by the International Sea Turtle Society to no longer publish extended abstracts from the Annual Sea Turtle Symposium has left a gap in the communication of research results that the MTN can fill. The 4 page extended abstract format previously adopted in the symposium proceedings is just about the perfect length for an MTN research submission. Following the review policies implemented by Annette Broderick and Brendan Godley, all research submissions will continue to be subjected to peer review, and we believe this makes the MTN a better publication outlet than the former proceedings. We encourage authors to submit short research papers for consideration.

Third, one of our main goals as editors will be to produce regional special issues of the MTN. We intend to produce one such issue a year, and the first will be a special issue on sea turtle conservation and research in Africa, guest edited by Angela Formia, Jacques Fretey, Sue Ranger and Manjula Tiwari. The issue was inspired by the successful Africa meetings at the 2006 Symposium in Crete, and we plan to publish it in January 2007.

Finally, the MTN will continue with what must by now be considered its regular features: Recent Publications (compiled by Karen Bjorndal, Alan Bolten and Peter Eliazar of the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research), News and Legal Briefs (compiled by Kelly Samek), and ISTS and MTN information pages.
Of course, the production of the MTN is a shared responsibility with the Managing Editor Michael Coyne, the Editorial Board, and the numerous reviewers who donate countless hours to improving the articles that appear in the MTN. We thank them all and look forward to continuing the fine tradition that the MTN has become.