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2nd
ASEAN Symposium and Workshop on
Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation
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SESSION
5: Research And Conservation Tools
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ABSTRACTS
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RECOVERY
PLANNING IN AUSTRALIA: BENEFITS OF A COOPERATIVE APPROACH
Mark Armstrong1,
Katrina Maguire2, Julie Robins3
Recovery planning is a well established
process in Australia where a cooperative approach is adopted as a way of
being inclusive of those interested in the particular species or affected
by actions identified to assist the recovery of species. Over the last
two years Australia has been preparing a recovery plan for marine turtles.
This plan identifies the actions necessary to recover marine turtles in
the wild. One of the foundations of Environment Australia’s approach has
been cooperation, particularly in dealing with the fishing industry.
The increasing voluntary use of turtle
excluder devices (TEDs) within prawn trawl fisheries of northern Australia
is a result of long-term collaboration by Government agencies in with the
commercial fishing industry. The outcome has been regulation for the use
of TEDs within 2 major prawn fisheries with the full support of the commercial
fishing industry. These actions added significant momentum for recovery
planning for marine turtles in Australia. This positive outcome for turtles
has required the identification of the problem, policy development, policy
implementation and technology development and extension work. The collaborative
approach has resulted in increased ownership of the turtle bycatch problem
by the trawling industry and the resolution of the problem in the main
prawn fisheries impacting on marine turtle populations.
1Environment Australia,
2Australian Fisheries Management Authority,3Queensland Department
of Primary Industries
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