Facilitated Technical Workshop on Marine Turtle Post-Hooking Mortality (2004)

CONCUR was retained by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to help design and facilitate a Technical Workshop on marine turtle mortality resulting from interactions with longline fishing gear. The Workshop took place in Bethesda, Maryland on January 14-15, 2004 and brought together 17 experts in the fields of marine turtle veterinary medicine, biology, and physiology; satellite telemetry; and longline fishery technical operations. The purpose of the workshop was to present recent information relative to marine turtle post-hooking mortality, review the best scientific information available on the topic, and receive individual, technical input from invited experts on current NMFS criteria for estimating post-hooking mortality. The Workshop resulted in the production of an expanded set of post-hooking injury categories that were ranked in terms of relative mortality risk. NMFS utilized this expanded ranking system to revise its criteria by which turtle mortality is to be calculated as part of ESA Section 7 consultations on Pelagic Fisheries.