Sea Turtle Bycatch in the West Indian Ocean: Review, Recommendations and Research Priorities

Within the framework of the FAO project GCP/INT/919/JPN and a review of published or available data, the relative importance of fishery-related sea turtle mortality in the West Indian Ocean region was assessed for Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Maldives, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Reunion, Tanzania and Yemen. Three fisheries were identified to significantly impact marine turtles: gillnetting, prawn/shrimp trawling and longlining, but it clearly appears that there is a global lack of published and reliable information regarding marine turtle population assessments and interaction with fisheries in the WIO. However, countries such as Seychelles, South Africa and La Réunion (France) already collect various and reliable data that allow an assessment of their marine turtle populations and the level of interactions related to open sea fisheries (mainly longline and purse seine). This allowed the identification of recommendations and research priorities for this region but also demonstrated that such recommendations could only by implemented through the use of appropriate policy measures, adequately designed and developed in cooperation with fishermen, stakeholders, scientists and managers in order to (a) be able to apply the measures, (b) be sure to have the capacity of implementation and (c) be able to provide follow up over time.