Marine Turtle status Report - Indian Ocean - South-East Asian ...

Education and awareness: Many people are unaware of the threats to turtles orthe ways in which their actions may be affecting the long-term survival of turtles.Education and awareness about the value of coastal resources and the survival ofendangered species, at all levels from local communities to school children, cantherefore play a critical role in marine turtle conservation.Long-term monitoring programme: The establishment of an integrated long-termmonitoring programme that involves various stakeholders, including governmentagencies, NGOs, dive operators and the local communities, is recommended.Patrolling nesting beaches and systematic collection of data on a daily basis isalso necessary to assess the status of marine turtle in the area.Collaborative and responsible eco-tourism: The area has a mix of resort-occupiedand community-occupied islands. Tourism plays a major source of income forresorts, while local communities depend heavily on natural resources of theislands. The mechanism suggested for the local communities ties incomegeneration from tourism activities to turtle conservation. As marine resourceusers of Semporna, local communities’ involvement in turtle conservation makessense and can be a step towards enhancing their current livelihood, whilstconserving turtles in the area.Marine turtles take decades to mature, so it is still too early to determine if thisprogramme will successfully increase the population of turtles in the SempornaPCA. Marine turtle transcends national boundaries and are shared resourcesamong countries in the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion and beyond. Thus, thesecountries have a common responsibility and ownership of a particular turtlepopulation.39