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| The HSUS |
| A Hawksbill turtle. |
By Rebecca Regnery
After five meetings in five years, the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles (IAC) is still struggling with fundamental procedural tasks that must be completed before the Convention can be fully functional and ready to act on what it was constituted to do: protect sea turtles in the Americas.
The IAC held its third Conference of the Parties (member countries) in Mazatlán, Mexico in September 2006. A follow-up “extraordinary” meeting took place in Lima, Peru in October 2007 after not enough progress was made at the 2006 meeting.
Helping Leatherbacks and Hawksbills
At the first leg of the conference in 2006, the group passed a resolution to reduce the adverse impact of fisheries on sea turtles, especially critically endangered Leatherback sea turtles, who are at particular risk from longline fishing. The guidelines of this resolution include: avoiding interaction with sea turtles by creating protected areas, closing fisheries when necessary, and considering the establishment of a capture limit for individual sea turtles by species.
The 2006 meeting also made progress toward helping Hawksbill sea turtles. These creatures are killed for their shells, which are often illegally traded internationally. The IAC approved a resolution which calls for increased conservation measures to protect the species by creating greater synergy between the IAC and CITES, stopping illegal trade, and holding a meeting of experts to evaluate population status in the wider Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean. At a CITES meeting in 2007, member countries of that Convention agreed to collaborate with the IAC on a regional Hawksbill meeting, to be held sometime in 2008.
Red Tape and Lack of Funding Major Impediments
IAC member countries will not be able to make significant progress on these or other protection measures until they create and implement adequate administration and financial policies. For example, the Convention still lacks a permanent Secretariat. At the 2007 meeting, the group rejected a proposal by the United States and the Netherland Antilles that candidates for the director of the Secretariat could be from anywhere in the world. Instead, they decided that a director would be chosen from a member country, with the office most likely to be located in Costa Rica.
Unfortunately, it was much more difficult for the group to agree on how to finance the Convention, which means that even the strongest protection measures adopted risk not being properly funded. It is clear that the budget for the Convention is seriously under-supported, but most members are either unwilling or unable to correct this. They were able to agree only on a minimum voluntary contribution by each country, with most pledging less than $5,000 annually and many pledging only $2,000 annually.
The Role of HSI
Humane Society International acts as an observer at these meetings, working closely with member countries to urge them to increase measures to protect sea turtles in the region from threats such as hunting for their meat and eggs, pollution, resort development, and commercial fisheries. HSI also provides funding for special conservation projects of the Convention, such as an educational brochure [PDF] on threats facing sea turtles and how to protect them.
