New Maps Will Help Turtles in the Coral Triangle
Nov 30th, 2009 by wwftravel
© Jürgen Freund / WWF-Canon
Reprinted from the November/December FOCUS
WWF recently produced valuable new conservation maps, in collaboration with the Indonesian government and other regional partners. These are the first maps to bring together the life cycle movements, migration routes, foraging grounds, and nesting sites of green, hawksbill and leatherback turtles. They give valuable information about locations with high incidence of turtle bycatch, pointing to where we can reduce species loss by fostering improvements in fishing methods and gear.
And they clearly indicate where new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) should be established.
Perhaps most importantly, the maps advance our understanding of the geographic relationships among the many marine and coastal habitats that exist in this area, which covers the land and especially the shared waters of six countries.
The new maps are a critical contribution to WWF’s efforts to support MPAs, improve their management, and create an MPA network across the Coral Triangle through regional collaboration. This work benefits not just the turtles, but all the species that share their habitats.
Travel to the Coral Triangle on a WWF voyage in 2010:
• Bridging the Equator: Micronesia to Polynesia: September 6-21, 2010
• Snorkeling the Raja Ampat Archipelago, October 12-24, 2010
Learn more about our work in the Coral Triangle.
-Megan Policicchio
