Solomon Islands Joins The Pacific Region “Year Of The Sea Turtle” Campaign

9 March 2006. Gizo, Western Province – A renewed effort to protect endangered sea turtles will be launched in Gizo today. This event was marked around the region on the 2nd of March, however for the Solomon Islands the launching date is 9th March. The 2006 Pacific Year of the Sea Turtle (YOST) declared by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is a renewed commitment by SPREP member countries and international and national NGOs working within the SPREP member countries to conserve the endangered marine turtles.

Today, six of the seven living species of marine turtle are classified as “Endangered” or “Critically Endangered”. Populations of green turtles are estimated to have declined globally by around 60% over the last 50 years. Solomon Islands is an important foraging and breeding grounds for green, hawksbill and leatherback turtles. Hence there is an urgent need to conserve them, so that future generations of Solomon Islanders can see and enjoy marine turtles.

The Solomon Islands 1998 fisheries regulations bans the commercial harvest and sale of sea turtles, but the sale and consumption of turtle meat is still common as subsistence by local communities. WWF Solomon Islands will work with partners, such as the Departments of Environment and Conservation and the Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources to create awareness on the regulations and national policies that offer sea turtles protection within Solomon Islands waters. WWF also works with local communities and organizations, such as the Tetepare Descendants’ Association to support the conservation of marine turtles and support capacity building of community members in monitoring, tagging and data collection.

Recently, WWF – Solomon Islands under its Bismarck Solomon Sea Ecoregion initiative, has facilitated the meeting of national governments of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands to undertake collaboration with conservation NGOs and the scientific community to protect and manage the Western Pacific leatherback turtle. Meeting in Honiara on February 21-23, WWF, governments and other delegates from these three countries refined a Memorandum of Understanding that will be signed later this year in Indonesia. The MOU is a commitment by the three nations together with NGO partners to implement long overdue protection and management of leatherback foraging, breeding and migratory corridors.

For the tri-nations, the Western Pacific leatherback is considered ambassador “voyager without boundaries” within the national waters of the tri-nations and can unite three nations by shared vision of “Prosperity Through Sustainable Biodiversity use and Protection - its now or never”. This is the highlight of the tri-nations commitment to protect the Western Pacific leatherback turtle within the Bismarck Solomon Sea Ecoregion.

Given the severe threat to the Pacific’s sea turtle populations, SPREP is calling for local communities, governments, intergovernmental organisations, the fishing industry, fisheries and tourism authorities, donors, NGOs, institutes and organizations, to lend their full support and collaborate and to protect and manage marine turtles.

As part of this effort, WWF Solomon Islands will, over the course of the year, work towards creating nationwide awareness on the threats to turtles such as turtle by-catch and will work with government, donors, communities and NGO partners to agree and undertake actions to protect these ancient mariners (marine turtles). Good examples of this collaboration in the Solomons are the Tetepare Descendant Association effort in affiliation with WWF in protecting the nesting rookery for leatherback turtle in Tetepare and the TNC, government marine conservation area in the Arnavon Islands in partnership with local communities of Katupika, Wagina and Kia.

John Pita, WWF-Solomon Islands Bismarck Solomon Sea Ecoregion Coordinator said,
“The 2006 Pacific Year of the Sea Turtle campaign, is of paramount importance for agencies and organizations working on marine turtle conservation and management to recommit their resources and come up with innovative initiatives to better protect and manage these very special marine animals. Their role and function in maintaining the balance of marine ecosystems is critical and the loss of such a species is a loss of the wider region and the world.”

For further information please contact:

John R. Pita, BSSE Coordinator, WWF-Solomon Islands, Tel: 677-60191

Tia Masolo, Senior Environment Officer, Tel: 28802

Peter Ramohia, Program Scientist, The Nature Conservancy, Tel: 677-20940

Notes to the Editor:

1. 2006 is also the official Year of the Turtle within the Indian Ocean and South-East Asian region by Indian Ocean and South East Asia Memorandum on Turtles (IOSEA) - the MOU for the conservation of marine turtles and their habitats.
2. Marine turtles have swum in the world’s oceans for over 100 million years. They are the only widely distributed marine reptiles and many species migrate for thousands of kilometres — and even across entire oceans — between feeding and nesting grounds. Regional cooperation is essential to ensure that turtles are protected at different stages in their life cycles.

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