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

Encourage sustainability in traditional use

Sea turtles are part of the traditional diet and culture of coastal and island communities throughout the central and western Pacific. Gathering of turtle eggs and hunting of sea turtles for meat are an integral part of many local life styles. Hence, regulation or prohibition on sea turtle harvest or substitution of sea turtles with other forms of food must be seen from the perspective of local food security and sustainable use of resources in addition to conserving sea turtles by reducing sea turtle mortality as by-catch from high sea fishing. An important 4th part of the Bellagio Blueprint for Action is to take steps to ensure that traditional uses are sustainable.

(i) It is essential to develop a better understanding of the traditional uses in the central and western Pacific in order to build a capacity for sustainability.

• Social and anthropological information as well as biological and fishing information should be collected from coastal and island communities dependent on seas turtle harvesting to gain a better understanding of the patterns of use.
• Link all available knowledge of turtle biology and use, including migration studies, genetics and fisheries, as well as from traditional community-based knowledge.
• Document the extent of egg harvesting and sea turtle hunting by local communities in the central and western Pacific and correlate the data collected with the status of stock conservation.

(ii) Reduce turtle mortality from traditional harvests since indiscriminate harvesting of eggs and nesting females over generations has contributed to a drastic decline in the population of sea turtles.

The current mortality from traditional harvesting far outweighs the levels that sea turtle populations can sustain and therefore recovery is jeopardized.

• The cooperation and support of the communities that depend on sea turtle harvests are keys to the conservation and sustainable management of sea turtles. More can be achieved by working with communities that hunt leatherbacks traditionally in the Kei Islands (Indonesia). Community involvement is also essential in reducing egg harvesting. There is demonstrated evidence of management success through community-based initiatives. Although socio-cultural factors and institutional arrangements surrounding the use of common property resources such as sea turtles and their habitats vary from country to country, and region to region, the Jarmurbsa Medi (Papua, Indonesia) case demonstrated that egg poaching can be eliminated by community beach monitoring.

(iii) Community-based management and co-management arrangements for nesting beach conservation must be cast within the legal and institutional framework governing access and use of resources at sites that are important sea turtle habitats.

• Customary and communal use rights of coastal beaches and adjacent land and waters and their resources should be recognized.
• Education and awareness programs on sustainable harvest, and assistance to alternative livelihoods are critical to a successful conservation program.
• Community-based conservation and management of nesting beaches and sea turtle hunting need to be linked with side payments and compensation programs, including support from developed countries to offset by-catch mortality in the high seas and coastal fisheries.
• Beaches need to be protected from commercial interests such as tourism and logging impacts as well as from predators. These will require participation of multiple stakeholders and the integrated management of coastal activities to optimize values and benefits for multiple stakeholders (both for use and non-use values).