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NOAA'S SEA TURTLE RESEARCH GAINS ADDITIONAL RECOGNITION
June
2, 2005 — Two NOAA Fisheries
Service researchers, George Balazs and Yonat Swimmer, both with the
NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science
Center in Hawaii, have been recognized for their exemplary sea turtle
research and recovery efforts this year. Not only does their research
contribute toward achieving one of the NOAA PIFSC's primary goals (to
achieve the biological recovery and sustained management of sea turtle
populations in the Pacific Ocean),
but it reflects recent trends in NOAA sea turtle research and conservation
efforts throughout the world.
Balazs’s
Core Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation Efforts
On
March, 31, 2005, George Balazs, a biologist with the Marine
Turtle Research Program within the center's Protected
Species Division, was presented with the National Wildlife Federation’s
prestigious National Conservation Achievement Award for his 34-year commitment
to the study and recovery of sea turtles worldwide — and the endangered
Hawaiian green
sea turtle, in particular. Balazs hopes to see the Hawaii green sea
turtle population justifiably removed from the endangered species list
before he retires from the federal service.
Balazs helped place the turtles on the federal endangered species list in 1978 and has overseen research on sea turtle biology, ecology and life history throughout his career. Balazs attributes much of the sea turtle population recovery over the last few decades to the Endangered Species Act and education efforts — in which he has played a major role — that have shifted Hawaiian's residents perceptions of sea turtles from a source of food to a native species they are proud to protect.
His work with radio transmitters — attached to sea turtles that were caught and released from commercial longline vessels — has shown that sea turtles often take long open-ocean routes from their feeding sites to nesting areas and that they can navigate hundreds of miles without landmarks.
Today, he is recognized as one of the world's foremost sea turtle experts in Hawaii, Japan and many other parts of the world inhabited by sea turtles. His work has been published in numerous scientific publications, and he has served as a scientific advisor on a prestigious list of global turtle conservation groups.
Swimmer’s
Sea Turtle Behavioral and Physiology Research
In
January of 2005,
Yonat
Swimmer, a protected species biologist with the Captive Turtle Behavior
and Physiology Project within the center's Fishery
Biology and Stock Assessment Division, was granted a Fulbright Scholarship
to conduct research on sea turtle bycatch reduction and to teach students
involved in sea turtle recovery programs in Brazil — a country that
already has a reputation for being proactive in leading Latin America
toward responsible fishing methods.
Starting in the fall of 2005, Swimmer will work collaboratively with scientists and students from the Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Projeto TAMAR, and Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis in Bahia, Brazil. Swimmer’s research will focus on determining if large circle hooks or other gear or bait modifications could be used effectively to both increase catch target species, while simultaneously reducing sea turtle bycatch — a practice that has already proven to be successful and is now required by law in the United States. Swimmer also will use state-of the art satellite technology to help determine the probability of mortality for sea turtles after their release from longline fishing gear. Using pop-up satellite archival tags, which are attached to the shells of incidentally-caught sea turtles, Swimmer will track their movements for close to six months post-release. Rates of post-hooking mortality and morbidity will be correlated with other data collected, such as hook location, severity of injury and a general assessment of each turtle's health. Because PSATs also have sensors that record hourly data on swimming depth, water temperature and geolocation, Swimmer’s research also will contribute toward a better understanding of environmental factors that influence turtle's movements. Lastly, Swimmer also hopes to assess the health status of sea turtles following a longline fisheries encounter by analyzing various blood chemistry parameters from incidentally caught sea turtles. In this way, she and her collaborators hope to gain insight into the extent of injury and the probability of survival for turtles subjected to various stressors. In combination with the satellite tracking, this information could prove to be a useful tool in evaluating mortality of sea turtles due to fisheries interactions.
"NOAA
Fisheries Service would not enjoy the international clout and reputation
as leaders in marine science if we didn’t have the world’s
most capable and dedicated scientists on our staff," said Bill
Hogarth, director of the NOAA Fisheries Service. "We are fortunate
to have
Balazs and Swimmer among our ranks at NOAA Fisheries Service. Their dedication
to marine conservation is making a difference as we work globally to rebuild
sea turtle populations."
NOAA
Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center
Other sea turtle research and recovery work being conducted by the NOAA
PIFSC include sea turtle ecology (J.
Polovina), foreign export of technology/gear trials (C. Boggs) and sea
turtle population demography and modeling (M. Snover).
The NOAA PIFSC also conducts research on coral reefs, as well as other
fisheries and protected marine species issues.
NOAA
Sea Turtle Research and Recovery Efforts
For decades, NOAA scientists have been recognized for their research
on the nesting and coastal habitats of sea turtles and — as you
can see from the above text — are now shifting their focus toward
understanding sea turtles in the open ocean, especially new ways to avoid
bycatch or the incidental catch of sea turtles in fishing gear. Because
of the global nature of the sea turtle issues, NOAA also has included
the international community in its sea turtle research and recovery efforts
over the last few decades.
NOAA,
in collaboration with partners, has made substantial progress in identifying
and reducing human threats to turtle populations in recent years, but
there is more work to be done. For example, NOAA has seen how the required
use of turtle
excluder devices in shrimp fisheries (both in the United States and
by countries exporting wild caught shrimp into the United States) —
in conjunction with full protection of nesting beaches in Mexico —
is helping in the recovery of endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle
population. Although regulations requiring the use of TEDs was put into
place almost 15 years ago, NOAA continues working to improve the TEDs.
Just last year, NOAA began requiring larger escape openings to allow even
the largest turtles out of the nets. These larger openings will be required
for foreign producers starting August 1, 2005. NOAA also has made progress
in its next biggest challenge, sea turtle bycatch associated with longline
fishing.
Sea
Turtle Bycatch Associated with Longline Fishing
In January 2005, NOAA announced that, after three
years of extensive research, it had developed gear and techniques
to help longline fishermen avoid interactions with sea turtles. American
longline fisheries in portions of the Pacific and in the North Atlantic
Grand Banks had been closed during those three years at great social and
economic cost to the industry. However, NOAA realized that closing these
turtle-rich waters to American fishermen was not the best solution because
other nations continued longline operations without the use of turtle-friendly
gear. So, NOAA worked with fishermen, gear specialists and academic partners
to develop new longline fishing practices.
During NOAA’s research, scientists found that sea turtle captures and injuries could be substantially reduced by prohibiting the use of traditional “J” hooks, which cause serious harm when swallowed by sea turtles, and replacing them with large circle hooks. Because of their shape, circle hooks are much less likely to catch turtles or to cause serious injury if a turtle does try to take the bait. Furthermore, because many sea turtle deaths occur when commercial fishing gear is not removed (or removed improperly) from the sea turtle, NOAA researchers and private industry also developed dehookers and line cutters — so that fishermen could remove longline gear when it was safe to do so without further injury to the sea turtle. Removing gear is believed to decrease post-release mortality. This research was such a success that, as of April 5, 2005, the NOAA Fisheries Service now requires the use of these new technologies in U.S. longline fisheries in both the Atlantic and Pacific.
"I am pleased that we found a solution that allowed NOAA to both reopen the Pacific and Atlantic waters to American longline fishermen and promote sea turtle conservation,” said Bill Hogarth, director of NOAA Fisheries Service.” Hogarth added “It is now critical for NOAA to demonstrate to other countries that longline fisheries could use these tangible and effective methods of protecting turtles and still remain profitable.”
NOAA’s
International Sea Turtle Efforts
As
evidenced by Balazs’s and Swimmer’s sea turtle research and
recovery efforts, the NOAA Fisheries Service and its partners also have
launched educational initiatives to share the results of their work with
the international fishing community and invite them to utilize these new
technologies in an effort to protect sea turtles by making all fishing
operations more selective worldwide. Assistance
activities already have been completed (or are currently underway ) in
many Pacific regions (i.e., Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New
Guinea and the Republic of the Marshall Islands) and will soon begin in
the Solomon Islands. NOAA also has held education workshops in Ecuador,
Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala
and has one scheduled for Panama in the fall of
2005. There also has been a growing interest for similar efforts in other
countries, such as Japan and Taiwan.
Other
NOAA Sea Turtle Efforts and Activities
Other NOAA offices involved in this and other sea turtle research and
conservation efforts include the following:
NOAA
Fisheries
NOAA Ocean Service
Relevant Web Sites
NOAA
Fisheries Service
NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science
Center
NOAA SCIENTISTS UNCOVER OCEANIC SECRETS OF
PACIFIC LOGGERHEAD TURTLES:
STUDY ID KEY TO HUMAN AVOIDANCE AND REDUCED TURTLE DEATHS
NOAA
Fisheries Saving Sea Turtles Through Education
Media
Contact:
Susan
Buchanan, NOAA Fisheries Service,
(301)713-2370