Facilitated Dialogue on International Marine Turtle Conservation (2003)

CONCUR was retained by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service to help design and facilitate an International Technical Expert Workshop on Marine Turtle Bycatch in Longline Fisheries. The workshop - which took place in Seattle, Washington from February 11-13, 2003 - brought together fisheries managers, leading researchers, environmentalists, and fishing industry representatives from 19 countries in North and South America, East Asia, and Europe as well as three intergovernmental institutions. The objectives were to exchange information regarding the fishing operations of national fleets, evaluate existing information on turtle bycatch in longline fisheries, facilitate and standardized the collection of data, exchange information on experimentation with longline gear relative to turtles and target species, and consider solutions to reduce turtle bycatch. Workshop participants identified six primary strategies for moving forward and produced a prioritized list of over 100 associated concrete action steps for reducing marine turtle interactions with longline fisheries and mortality. The results were presented at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Committee on Fisheries session in late February 2003.