Eastern Pacific Leatherback Turtles: How Satellite Tracking Data Informs Potential Transboundary Management Strategies for a Highly Migratory and Critically Endangered Species
Dr George Shillinger1, Aimee Hoover3, Dr. Dong Liang3, Hannah Degenford1,3, Dr. Helen Bailey3
1Upwell, Monterey, United States, 2MigraMar, Mexico City, Mexico, 3University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Chesapeake Biological Laborator, Solomons, USA
The critically endangered Eastern Pacific leatherback turtle has declined by over 97% since the 1980s and is at risk of regional extinction. Leatherback turtles historically nested along Mexican and Central American nesting beaches. Impacts from fisheries bycatch and egg poaching are among the major reasons for their decline. Management of leatherback turtles and other highly migratory marine organisms requires an understanding of their year-round distributions to reduce fisheries bycatch both nearshore and offshore. New large-scale management and conservation paradigms, such as Ecological and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs), Seascapes, and Swimways present opportunities to manage entire populations of highly migratory species across multiple life history stages. These new approaches hold particular promise for marine turtles, whose life histories typically encompass a wide range of habitats from nesting beaches to high seas foraging areas, and whose movements span geopolitical boundaries. Here we present our findings regarding the movements, behaviors, and distribution of critically endangered Eastern Pacific leatherbacks and the implications that ongoing human development pressures are having upon this rapidly disappearing population. We discuss this information in the context of existing management challenges and explore how adaptive management approaches and dynamic ocean management tools may present hope for implementation of effective “life-history” conservation strategies for leatherback turtles and other highly migratory marine taxa.
Biography:
George develops scientific partnerships and leverages data to set conservation priorities, build support in key constituencies and advance protections for turtles at sea. George has worked in environmental conservation since 1986, including satellite-tracking pelagic species such as sea turtles, billfish, sharks and tuna. As a Great Turtle Race co-founder, he used satellite-tracking data to raise global awareness for critically endangered leatherbacks. George has a PhD in Marine Biology and an MS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Stanford University, an MBA from the Yale University School of Management and a BA in the Biological Basis of Behavior from the University of Pennsylvania.