Provincial government, community leaders, industry and conservation groups recently met to share their views on an update to the country’s National Plan of Action for Conservation and Management of Sharks. The series of meetings successfully secured feedback on the draft plans and the Conservation and Environmental Protection Authority (CEPA) committed to reflecting stakeholder comments in the final documents, which will be endorsed in early 2021.
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A green sea turtle, which had been caught and entangled in a local fisher’s net, was successfully tagged and released safely back into the ocean on 6 October 2021.
The turtle, which was caught two days earlier by a fisherman from the village of Salelesi about 16 kilometres east of Apia on Samoa’s Upolu Island, was kept in the village pool while the fisher sought assistance from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) of Samoa and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).
“Vanuatu is blessed with a diverse and productive marine environment, and our marine species, such as fish, turtles and seabirds are part of our cultural heritage,” said Esline Garaebiti, Director General, Ministry of Climate Change, Meteorology and Geo-hazard, Environment, Energy and Disaster Management at the launch of a new initiative to protect our marine species.
A report released today by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is the first step towards assessing the risk of extinction of sea turtles in the region and developing appropriate management plans for their effective conservation.
The Review of the status of sea turtles in the Pacific Ocean 2021 brings together the most recent and relevant literature and knowledge about the reproductive biology, movements and populations of sea turtles and presents these alongside relevant threats to their populations.
Final report prepared for the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP)
AP_2/39 Assessment of by-catch of threatened marine species by small scale fishers and mitigation options in the Kikori River Delta, Papua New Guinea