WHAT CAN BE DONE TO RESTORE PACIFIC TURTLE POPULATIONS?
The Bellagio Blueprint for Action on Pacific Sea Turtles
6 January 2004

Restablish Pan-Pacific policy actions

The latest scientific understanding of sea turtle migratory patterns and genetic stock structure shows the extensive geographic scope needed for their development. Sea turtles do not recognize the borders of different nations. Their breeding habitat may lie in one nation while another nation and the high seas may support important foraging habitats for them. These features underline the critical importance of an integrated framework for Pan-Pacific policy actions in addressing sea turtle conservation challenges. The Bellagio Blueprint for Action proposes three critical priorities for establishing Pan-Pacific policy actions.

(i) Existing regional and international agreements must be strengthened to better respond to the urgent needs for sea turtle conservation

• The Pacific already has a number of existing agreements that possess or have the potential to carry out many of the conservation and management programs and activities that are considered vital to achieving the agreed recovery objectives. Appendix 2 lists relevant instruments and agencies that are related to sea turtles conservation and management while Appendix 3 summarizes various features of the key instruments/agencies dealing with sea turtles issues. The Bellagio Blueprint for Action emphasizes the critical need to further strengthen the Inter American Convention and Indian Ocean and South-East Asian MOU agreements where dedicated sea turtle conservation and protection agreements have been incorporated.
  
  IAC – The Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles is in the early stages of development. It currently has an interim secretariat and no source of secure funding. For long-term stability and maximum effectiveness the Parties to the IAC are encouraged to develop a permanent secretariat and secure consistent funding. The advisory bodies are currently not constituted. The Parties are encouraged to constitute and convene those subsidiary organizations in order for them to begin their work. The IAC currently does not include national participation representing some of the key habitat and fishing countries from the Pacific coast of the Americas, and such countries, including Panama, Chile, and Colombia, should join the Convention as soon as possible. The interim secretariat and the Parties themselves are encouraged to seek the adherence of these priority countries.
  
  IOSEA MOU – Indian Ocean and South-East Asian Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation and Management of Marine Turtles and their Habitats under the Convention on Migratory Species has a developed and comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CMP) and an established secretariat financed through voluntary funding. The secretariat and signatories are encouraged to seek secure and long-term sources of funding to assist with the implementation of the CMP, and to consider the strengthening of the administrative capacities of the secretariat. Key countries of the region that are not yet signatories to the MOU, including those with critical sea turtle habitats and populations such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, are encouraged to become signatories. The Signatories may consider the advantages and disadvantages of transforming the MOU to a legally-binding instrument, including the prospects for attracting new members, provision of financial security, and enhancing government commitment, among others.
• The Bellagio Blueprint for Action on Pacific Sea Turtles emphasizes the valuable potential that exists within Regional Fisheries Management organizations such as the Inter American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) and the new Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Council (WCPFC) to develop a capacity and facilitate the advancement of effective programs to reduce fisheries-related sea turtle by-catch and mortality.
  
  IATTC – The IATTC has fisheries management authority for the eastern tropical Pacific, and has begun to address sea turtle by-catch issues through resolutions and a By-catch Working Group, though there has not been systematic collection of sea turtle interaction data from the longline fisheries under the jurisdiction of the Commission. The IATTC is encouraged to establish comprehensive data collection programs to contribute to the development of a more accurate assessment of the scope of interactions in the eastern Pacific. The IATTC and its members are also encouraged to seek the adherence or cooperation of key coastal countries and distant water fishing fleets such as Colombia, Chile, China, Korea, and Taiwan. Ratification and entry into force of the new IATTC Convention is also encouraged.
  
  WCPFC – The WCPFC has not yet entered into force, although when that occurs it will have fisheries conservation and management responsibility for a large portion of the western and south Pacific. Once the Convention enters into force, the Commission is encouraged to take up sea turtle by-catch management and mitigation issues as soon as possible, including data collection on sea turtle/fisheries interactions, and to promote the adherence of the key fishing and coastal countries.

(ii) Developing and enhancing new coordination arrangements among the regional instruments

• The western/central/south Pacific Island areas lack the comprehensive geographic and conservation programmatic coverage of the rest of the Pacific. Consideration should be given to adopting such an arrangement for this region, along the lines of the model of the IOSEA MOU/CMP. This can be achieved through the extension and further development of the IOSEA MOU, taking account of identified Pacific needs, with sub-regional coordination provided through the South Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP), or the development of a new arrangement drawing on the Conservation and Management Plan of the IOSEA MOU.
• In addition, coordination of regional and sub-regional work programs across the relevant regional organizations is necessary to more effectively utilize available resources, avoid duplication of effort, and promote consistency. The key organizations identified above, through their respective memberships, should consider the establishment of a formal, functional and charter- or MOU-based body that can exchange information, coordinate activities, and discuss priorities based on the model of the Council of Regional Organizations in the Pacific (CROP).
  
  CROP – The CROP is a working arrangement among the regional intergovernmental organizations serving the Pacific Islands Forum and the Pacific Community nations and territories. The permanent secretariat of CROP is the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, and sectoral working groups are usually chaired in rotation. The CROP Marine Sector Working Group consists of Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP), Secretariat for the Pacific Community, Forum Fisheries Agency, University of the South Pacific and the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC), and includes various other organizations and non-governmental organizations in its sessions, including the World Wildlife Fund. Within the CROP system SPREP is the lead agency for turtle conservation, but other agencies play significant roles particularly with regard to the management of fisheries, the reduction of by-catch, marine surveys, data collection and research, and the institution of ecosystem-based and socially-appropriate management plans. SPREP is encouraged to extend its capacity to act as the regional lead-agency in turtle conservation, with the full involvement of other CROP organizations according to their respective mandates and capacity. The CROP Marine Sector Working Group is encouraged to further define the actions that might be possible by each constituent agency and organization towards the conservation of leatherback sea turtles in the Pacific, and to establish links with other regions critical to the Pacific leatherback population, particularly in the Eastern Pacific and Southeast Asia.

(iii) Developing new Pacific Island areas conservation and management plans along the lines of the IOSEA MOU.

• The Pacific Island countries could consider adopting a new sea turtle conservation and protection arrangement for this region, along the lines of the model of the IOSEA MOU/CMP as the most comprehensive method to accomplish long-term sea turtle conservation and management in the western and south Pacific. The relevant countries are encouraged to explore how this objective might be achieved through the extension and further development of the IOSEA MOU, taking account of identified Pacific needs, with sub-regional coordination provided through SPREP, or the development of a new arrangement drawing on the Conservation and Management Plan of the IOSEA MOU.
• The members of the IAC, IATTC, WCPFC, IOSEA MOU and SPREP (and/or any new arrangement in the south Pacific) are encouraged to consider and agree to authorize their respective secretariats or coordinating authorities to develop the envisioned coordinating body, including elaborating its functions, and convening a meeting of the body as soon as possible to begin its work.