March 2014: Turtles face a safer future in the waters off the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI)
in the Caribbean thanks to the authorities approving the Marine Conservation Society’s
recommendations.
MCS research revealed that up to 600-700 green and hawksbill turtles were being caught every year as part of the legal,
traditional turtle fishery in the TCI.
Therefore the TCI Turtle Project, led by MCS and partners the TCI Department of Environment
and Maritime Affairs (DEMA) and the University of Exeter, wanted to see better protection
for the vital breeding adult turtles in the region by developing a sustainable fishery management plan
for the islands’ government to implement.
The MCS says its unique style of work with the local fishing communities has now paid off
and the conservation gains include improved restrictions on the size of turtles that can be caught
to allow more mature animals to breed. The charity hopes this will contribute to the recovery
of turtle populations breeding in TCI, which have declined in recent decades.
Dr Peter Richardson, MCS Biodiversity Programme Manager, said the project team had listened closely
to people working in the traditional turtle fishery and spent many hours out
on the fishing grounds carrying out cutting-edge research, including genetic analysis and satellite tracking turtles, to be better understand
how the islands turtles could continue to be fished whilst ensuring better conservation.
He said: “It was a fine balance that had to be struck. We couldn’t say stop fishing
as this fishery is the livelihood of so many. So we had to find ways to educate fishermen
that size really does matter and restrictions on taking the large and breeding turtles
would ensure the long-term future of the fishery and their jobs.”
