Espai Submon

The final meeting of the “TurtleVet” project has taken place in the island of Lampedusa, Italy. This project has been funded by the “Leonardo da Vinci Partnerships” action, part of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission.

This last meeting took place at the Rescue Centre of Marine Turtles of Lampedusa-WWF Italy, and was mainly focused on organizing the final products of the project. New ways to finance these yearly meetings for Mediterranean rescue centres were also discussed. The aim is to make it possible also for colleagues coming from non-European countries (such as Tunisia, Morocco, or Israel) to participate in these meetings in the future, thus increasing the impact of such training sessions.

During the meeting there was also time to do clinical examinations of the 13 turtles kept at the rescue centre at the time. One of them needed surgery on a fractured flipper, and several needed debridement of their wounds. Some clinical cases were also discussed, including the findings after a mass stranding of marine turtles in Israel and their possible connection to marine seismic activities on the area, or the surgical treatment and follow-up of a severe and extensive wound on the neck of a sea turtle.

We would like to thank Daniella Freggi and the staff at the Rescue Centre of Lampedusa for their hospitality and hard work during this meeting.

The city of Baltimore (USA) has hosted the 33rd edition of the International Sea Turtle Symposium. During one week over 1,000 researchers from up to 75 countries had the chance to interact, exchanging experiences, presenting their recent work, and attending specialized workshops on satellite tracking, dive behavior, or statistics and data analysis, among others.

Submon was co-author of two oral presentations, one comparing the longline capture rate of sea turtles by circle and J hooks in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, and the second one describing the satellite tracks of tagged marine turtles in the Mediterranean Sea. One of the most interesting presentations was probably the one by K. Mansfield, showing the first satellite tracks of neonate green turtles released from the coasts of Florida and swimming towards the North of the Atlantic Ocean.

As in previous editions, Submon took part in the organization of the workshop on sea turtle medicine and rehabilitation, which this year had over 100 attendees. Key sea turtle veterinarians from USA and Italy gave master presentations on subjects such as wound care, necropsy, use of ultrasound, or interpretation of X-Rays. After the lectures there was time for questions and discussion with the lecturers and among the attendees. The lecturers also had the opportunity to exchange surgical experiences between them while opening a dead sea turtle that was available at the Baltimore Aquarium.

Submon, in collaboration with the Wildlife Health Service (SEFaS) of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, has hosted the 3rd meeting programmed within the Leonardo da Vinci Partnerships’ “TurtleVet” project. Veterinarians and rescue centre managers from Croatia, Italy, Turkey and Greece took part in this meeting.

Veterinarians from wildlife rescue centres of Catalunya, as well as the technitian in charge of the Marine Wildlife Stranding Network of the Regional Government of Catalunya, took part in this meeting, learning and exchanging information with veterinarians from other parts of the Mediterranean as part of their training.

This meeting consisted on two different activities. On the one side, all attendants could present some selected interesting clinical cases from their rescue centres, followed by discussion amongst the veterinarians, and suggestions on possible treatments or diagnostic procedures.

On the other side, a practical workshop was carried out at the Wildlife Heath Service haematology lab, where all attendants had the opportunity to learn and practice the techniques needed to carry out a full hematologic analysis. After this workshop, a specific guide on haematology techniques will be put together as part of the final products of this project, and given out to all marine turtle rescue centres in the Mediterranean Sea.

Desde el año 2008, la Asociación Alnitak y Submon, con la colaboración de NOAA, la Universidad de Carolina del Norte-Wilmington y Kai Marine Services, han completado un estudio para evaluar el efecto del estrés relacionado con la captura accidental por palangre de superficie en la supervivencia post-liberación de tortugas bobas (Caretta caretta).

Este estudio ha implicado el análisis de sangre y marcaje con transmisores de satélite de 10 tortugas capturadas por palangre, acción que se completó en el año 2009 (ver noticia). Además, en una serie de campañas llevadas a cabo a bordo de la embarcación Toftevaag entre 2008 y 2012 se han podido capturar otras 11 tortugas salvajes, con las que se ha seguido el mismo procedimiento, y que servirán como control.

Las muestras de sangre aún tienen que enviarse y terminar de analizarse en la Universidad de Carolina del Norte-Wilmington. En estas muestras se analizarán diferentes parámetros sanguíneos indicadores de estrés (como el número de góbulos blancos, la corticosterona o el ácido láctico), relacionándolos con la supervivencia post-liberación de los animales.

The Sea Turtle Rescue Centre of Dekamer in Dalyan (Turkey) organized the 2nd meeting programmed within the “Marine Turtle Vet Improvement” project, funded by the “Leonardo da Vinci Partnerships” action of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission.

During this meeting veterinarians and biologists from the partner organizations, as well as from other Turkish rescue centres and Universities, compared and discussed complicated clinical cases presented to them during their work, especially on traumatic injuries, extremely common in that area. Ideas were also put in common to aid regional and national environmental agencies to establish an effective stranding network for turtles in the country. At night, attendants had the opportunity to go to the beach to see the nesting of loggerhead turtles and participate in the measuring and tagging of animals.

As part of the collaboration established between partners of this project, a small pilot study was carried out during the meeting to try the effectiveness of the side-imaging sonar in the identification of sea turtles under the water. This technology had already been successfully used in Costa Rica for the detection and study of manatee (see project). The sonar proved to be very effective detecting sea turtles under the water, which opens interesting opportunities for the study and population estimates of these animals in semi-confined coastal areas, such as deltas or bays.

Tras su asistencia al 32 Simposio Internacional de Biología y Conservación de Tortugas Marinas en Huatulco, Oaxaca (México), y dentro de su actividad de formación de observadores pesqueros y pescadores de palangre en el Pacífico Oriental, la veterinaria de Submon pasó varios días en la caleta de Puerto Ángel junto con personal del “Programa de Reducción de Bycatch de Tortugas Marinas del Pacífico Oriental” de WWF.

Allí intercambió experiencias con los pescadores, saliendo a pescar con ellos para entender su actividad, y realizando un pequeño taller para mejorar las técnicas de manipulación de tortugas marinas y de extracción de anzuelos.

Puerto Ángel es un pequeño pueblo de pescadores artesanales, cuyas flotas de palangre de superficie y de fondo llevan 4 años participando en el proyecto de reducción de captura accidental de tortugas marinas. Ambas flotas utilizan actualmente anzuelos circulares, y están llevando a cabo experimentos para reducir los enredos de tortugas marinas, principal problema en la zona. El pueblo se encuentra muy cerca de una de las playas de arribada de tortuga olivácea más importantes del mundo, por lo que la colaboración de los pescadores es esencial para la conservación de esta especie.

Queremos agradecer a los pescadores de Puerto Ángel, y especialmente a Sansón y Sahid, por su acogida en el pueblo y por compartir con nosotros su experiencia y conocimiento de la zona.

Entre los días 27 y 30 de noviembre de 2011 se celebró en Florianópolis, Brasil, la sexta reunión de la Red de tortugas marinas del Atlántico Sur Occidental (red ASO).

Esta red, en la que participan entidades e investigadores de Brasil, Uruguay y Argentina, fue creada en el año 2003 con la finalidad de promover la cooperación técnico-científica en relación al estudio y la conservación de las tortugas marinas en esta área geográfica. La reunión, que actualmente se celebra cada dos años, facilita el intercambio de información y experiencias, y permite la creación de grupos de discusión y de trabajo para avanzar en la creación de protocolos de trabajo conjuntos que permitan comparar datos obtenidos de diferentes programas.

Submon fue invitado a participar en esta reunión dando una clase maestra sobre la manipulación de tortugas capturadas accidentalmente en pesqueros, y la correcta extracción de anzuelos. A esta charla acudieron técnicos de diferentes programas de reducción de captura incidental de tortugas marinas, que participaron activamente compartiendo sus experiencias. Durante la charla se discutieron diferentes técnicas utilizadas actualmente por los pescadores, y se valoró su efecto sobre la mortalidad post-captura de las tortugas liberadas. La pesca accidental de tortugas marinas por redes y palangre es una de las mayores amenazas en la región, por lo que es imperativo formar de manera adecuada tanto a los pescadores como a los técnicos que participan en programas de reducción de bycatch.

Submon, together with the rescue centre of Lampedusa-WWF Italy, the Marine Educational Cente at the Aquarium of Pula (Croatia) and the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre of Dekamer (Turkey) have started a 2-year project to develop an international network of collaboration between Mediterranean countries focused on sea turtle medicine and conservation.

This project, funded by the “Leonardo da Vinci Partnerships” action of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission, will ensure the organization of at least four technical workshops by the four participating partners. Each institution will organize one meeting in its facilities on a specific topic, giving all partners the opportunity to exchange and practice medical techniques and methodologies, as well as to improve their knowledge on care and rehabilitation of sea turtles on each topic. It will be also an occasion to strengthen international cooperation on environmental education between Mediterranean countries.

The first workshop will take place in November at the rescue centre of Lampedusa, host of previous Mediterranean sea turtle veterinarian meetings in 2009 and 2010. The main topic will be medical care of longline accidentally captured turtles, and attendants will learn the main problems related to this issue, as well as how to diagnose and treat different cases. Guided by Professor A. di Bello, from the Veterinary School of the University of Bari, attendants will also have the opportunity to see surgeries for hook and line extractions.

Experts and new staff of other sea turtle rescue centres around the Mediterranean Sea are very welcome to take part in these meetings, to improve the exchange of information and the discussions generated.

Mariluz Parga, head of conservation medicine, presented Submon’s work with surface longline fishermen in the Mediterranean and the Eastern Pacific at the 1st International Symposium on Circle Hooks, which took place in Miami on the 4th-6th of May.

An important problem of longline fisheries around the world is the related bycatch, which affects several species of sharks, cetaceans, birds and sea turtles, but also juvenile forms of tuna and other large fish. The challenge consists of reducing this accidental capture without affecting the catch of target species. Different bycatch reduction measures have been proposed and tried over the years, but probably the most promising of all is the use of circle hooks, although further studies need to be done.

Hosted by NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, the 1st International Symposium on Circle Hooks took place from the 4th to the 6th of May 2011 in Miami. During three days, around 160 scientists, fishermen and fishery managers related both to the commercial and the sports longline fisheries discussed pros and cons of these hooks in different types of longline fisheries, different parts of the world and considering different perspectives.

Submon presented its veterinary work of several years with longline fisheries from the Spanish Mediterranean and the Eastern Pacific, based on assessing hook-related lesions and removal techniques,  and relating them to the probabilities of post-release mortality. During the presentation, Mariluz stressed out the importance of ensuring a good training for fishermen and for fishery observers involved in trials with circle hooks. During this symposium the training DVD for fishermen, completed by OFCF-Japan and the IATTC with the veterinary advice of Submon, was also presented, and was very welcome by different turtle bycatch reduction programs around the world.

OFCF-Japan (Overseas Fisheries Cooperation Foundation) y la Comisión Interamericana del Atún Tropical (CIAT) acaban de publicar el DVD de formación: “Aprendiendo a liberar tortugas marinas”. Este DVD, dirigido principalmente a pescadores artesanales de palangre, ya se ha repartido a todos los países del Pacífico Sudamericano.

La producción de este material se incluye dentro del “Programa de Reducción de la Captura Accidental de Tortugas Marinas por Palangre en el Pacífico Oriental”, ambicioso programa de desarrollo sostenible de las pesquerías de palangre en esta región, iniciado en el año 2003 por diferentes organizaciones, entre las que se incluyen la OFCF y CIAT (ver la entrada “Proyecto de formación de pescadores” para más información).

El DVD se ha realizado a partir de un estudio llevado a cabo en un palangrero ecuatoriano en enero del 2010, en el que participó personal de SUBMON como asesor veterinario. En él se explica la importancia de la pesca artesanal en la región y cómo se desarrolla su actividad, y se describen las mejores prácticas para manipular tortugas marinas capturadas accidentalmente y extraer los anzuelos clavados, así como el material necesario para ello.

Para ver el video clickar sobre la foto