Regional workshop to address direct capture of sea turtles

This workshop was held in Kuala Terengganu from 1-3 June 2009 and attended by 32 invited participants from Malaysia, China (mostly from Hainan), Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. It was jointly organised by Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, the Marine Research Foundation, WWF Coral Triangle Program and the Hainan Normal University. Funding was provided by the Terengganu State Government, Conservation International Philippines, WWF Coral Triangle Program and the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group. The CEO of the Turtle Conservation Centre played a major role in initiating the workshop, garnering support and raising funds for it.

The objectives of the project were:

1. to document in a collective and authoritative manner the cases of apprehensions of foreign vessels and fishermen involved in the illegal direct capture of marine turtles in South East Asian waters;
2. to document the cases of apprehensions of vessels and fishermen mentioned above in their home countries, i.e. Hainan, China and Vietnam;
3. to present information on the declining trend of marine turtles in the region and the efforts undertaken to arrest the decline;
4. to present biological information on marine turtles and demonstrate that direct capture of adult and sub-adult marine turtles will very rapidly cause a collapse of turtle populations in the South East Asian Region;
5. to present information on how and where the turtles and their products are being processed and marketed; and
6. to seek clarity on a constructive way forward in solving the current crisis.

Project objectives were fulfilled by invited presentations and round table discussions. 15 follow-up actions have been identified. The workshop merely provided a starting point for addressing the issue of direct poaching of endangered turtles in the SE Asian region. Key persons involved in organising the workshop are planning a site visit to Hainan in November 2009 and a national follow-up workshop involving relevant agencies will be held in December 2009.

The workshop report will be published by Universiti Malaysia Terengganu.