Evidence of this dates back five thousand years! Turtles have also been used traditionally for their fat and meat, and their eggs have fed families dependent on the bounty of the sea. But with increased coastal use and industrialization, and the advent of outboard motors and access to distant markets, the loss of turtles and their eggs has reached a level from which populations are struggling to recover. Turtle eggs, which used to be collected on an occasional, irregular basis, are now collected nearly every single time a nesting female emerges on the beach. Of even greater concern is the increased coastal development - industrialization and urbanization have resulted in severe habitat loss and alteration, and industrialised fisheries, which decimate turtles while at sea, continue to grow. Today, critical measures are urgently needed to safeguard the few remaining turtle nesting sites, their feeding and breeding sites at sea, and their migratory pathways.

The project links together numerous stakeholders, from Government agencies to NGOs to the private sector, and will combine scientific research and monitoring with environment awareness centered on marine turtle protection – and bring about regional change –positive change resulting in long-term conservation of marine turtles.

This project, using capacity building, awareness raising and satellite tracking and monitoring of marine turtles in the Gulf region as operational building blocks, aims to develop a marine turtle conservation action plan through the results of a three year project with the following objectives:

• Develop strategic partnerships amongst government agencies, NGOs and the private sector at both National and Regional levels;
• Raise the awareness of marine turtle conservation needs at National and Regional levels;
• Elucidate the post-nesting migrations and biology of marine turtles using satellite tracking;
• Identify foraging grounds of endangered marine turtles and linkages between nesting and feeding population assemblages;
• Share tracking data and findings to relevant authorities and contribute to the development of a regional marine turtle conservation plan;
• Integrate these conservation initiatives within international conservation agreements on marine turtles and national programmes.

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