Trials and Tribulations of Turtle Excluder Devices

Turtle excluder devices (TEDs) have been shown to reduce sea turtle bycatch. Yet fishers often see things differently, and as with the use of any tool, the use of TEDs must be mastered through experience. Today, TEDs are widely accepted as part of the bycatch solution and are mainstreamed into daily fishing activities throughout the United States.

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Gahirmatha: The Beach beyond the Forest

This beach was first noticed in 1974, when Robert Bustard visited the mangrove forests of Bhitarkanika—in Orissa on the east coast of India—in search of saltwater crocodiles. In passing, he heard of a beach where thousands of turtles arrived each winter. The following year, he returned with a group of young and enthusiastic biologists, and soon after announced to the world that they had discovered the world’s largest rookery for the species.

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SWOT Develops Minimum Standards for Monitoring Effort and Census Data

During the past year, SWOT has developed a strategy to achieve the long-term goal of making SWOT a global monitoring system for sea turtle populations and species. SWOT is creating a one-of-a-kind statistical modeling program that will be a tool for researchers and data providers to analyze their data and to estimate actual nesting numbers in the absence of complete monitoring coverage.

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