Proceedings of the Thirty-Sixth Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation

Abstract

Anatomy, Physiology and Health ................................................................................................. 1 ASO Network: Special Session ................................................................................................... 37 Conservation, Management and Policy ..................................................................................... 86 Eastern Pacific Sea Turtles: Special Session ........................................................................... 114 Education, Outreach and Advocacy ........................................................................................ 147 Emerging Threats: Climate Change, Oil Spill and Plastic Pollution: Special Session ........ 175 Fisheries and Threats ................................................................................................................ 187 In-Water Biology ....................................................................................................................... 216 Nesting Biology .......................................................................................................................... 267 Population Biology and Monitoring ......................................................................................... 305 Social, Economic and Cultural studies .................................................................................... 335 Turtles in Time: Special Session .............................................................................................. 347 Video Presentations ................................................................................................................... 349 Author Index .............................................................................................................................. 352 Abstract titles marked with an * at the end of the title denote an Oral Presentation.titles marked with an * at the end of the title denote an Oral Presentation. Proceedings of the 36th Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation iv PRESIDENT’S REPORT 36th Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation 29 February 4 March, 2016, Lima, Peru Joanna Alfaro-Shigueto, President, ISTS The 36th Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation was held in the City of Lima, Peru from February 29 to March 4, 2016. This year the Symposium’s theme was Crossroads, highlighting the need for multi-disciplinary, multi-taxa, multi-national, and multigender efforts in advancing marine conservation worldwide. This meeting aimed to break down barriers and boundaries between people and countries in order to achieve marine conservation through its most global flagship, the sea turtle. The structure of the symposium was similar to past symposia, with pre-symposium workshops and regional meetings, plus 3 days of symposium meetings. Overall the meeting was a success from basically every perspective; details are offered below. A total of 685 people from 52 countries registered for the Symposium. The venue for the symposium was the Maria Angola Convention Center in the city of Lima. A total of 155 oral papers and 305 posters were presented at the symposium. Pre-symposium Workshops & Regional Meetings: Several workshops and meetings were scheduled during the two days prior to the symposium main days. The opening was presented by Sonia Valle Rubio, representative from Cientifica del Sur University, Larry B. Crowder and Joanna Alfaro. A total of 12 workshops were held. These were: In-water capture techniques, GIS Training, Marine mammals, Elasmobranchs, Ghost Fisheries, Survey training, Temperature-dependent Sex Determination (TSD), PhotoIdentification techniques, Turtle Medicine, Leatherback Turtles of the Southeast Pacific, Environmental education and Bycatch of Sea turtles in the East Pacific. A total of five Regional meetings were held. These were: RETOMALA (Latin American), Africa, Mediterranean, East Asia, and Indian Ocean South East Asia. These meetings were successful and contributed to bring attendees early to the symposium. Three meetings were also held: Caribbean Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST), Freshwater Turtle and Tortoise and IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group (MTSG). Key Note Speakers: Two Key Note speakers delivered 20 minute addresses. Colin James Limpus from Australia gave a comprehensive introduction of ‘Marine Turtles at the Crossroads: Complex Life Histories Requiring Local, National and International Action for their Conservation’. Brendan J. Godley immediately followed, speaking to the audience about his 10 tips on being a successful sea turtle researcher. Symposium Sessions: This symposium included traditional sessions held at previous symposia, such as Anatomy, Physiology and Health; In-Water Biology (Ecology, Telemetry, Foraging, Behavior); Nesting Biology (Ecology, Behavior, and Reproductive Success); Population Biology and Monitoring (Status, Modeling, Demography, Genetics, Nesting Trends, In-Water Trends); Fisheries and Threats; Conservation, Management and Policy; Education, Outreach and Advocacy; and Social, Economic and Cultural Studies. There were four special sessions. The session Emerging Threats-Climate Change, Oil Spill and Plastic Pollution had oral presentations on innovative methodologies, and new conservation issues such as plastic debris, sea level rise and oil spills. The second special session was ‘Turtles in Time’ where studies of turtles using historical archives were presented and discussed, and Eastern Pacific Sea Turtles sessions focused in regional aspects in turtle biology and conservation. Proceedings of the 36th Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation v Poster presenters had the opportunity to answer questions and give more details on their presentations during “Meet the Authors”. Social Events: The socializing component of the symposium was comprised of the Welcome Social, Live and Silent Auctions, Video Night (23 videos were projected to symposium attendees as wells as the general public), Student events, Student Awards and Farewell party. Among those events, a Speed Chatting with Experts event was held the night of the first day of the meeting, with the following lineup: Joanna Alfaro Shigueto, Bryan Wallace, Emma Harrison, Colum Muccio, Zoe Meletis, and Andrea Phillot. The Student Committee conducted two activities. One was a workshop to discuss methods to raise funds for research using social media. The second activity was a Social Mixer, letting students meet other students as well as scientists and researchers exposing their latest investigations. Of all these events, the Live Auction and the Farewell party were probably the most popular. Travel grants: More than 200 registrants received a travel grant, 8 from Africa, 34 from US/Canada, 10 from Caribbean, 1 from South Asia, 6 from Asia Pacific, 3 from Middle East, 95 from South America, 18 from Europe, 38 from Mexico/Central America, others). This level of travel grant awards represents about 29% of the total registered participants. Travel grants took the form of cash and room grants, for a total of about 200 persons, which was highly advantageous for the awardees. Auctions: We were able to collect $25,000 through the live and silent auctions, breaking records set from previous symposia. This money will be used to help students to attend future meetings via travel grants. ISTS Awards: During the symposium a series of awards were made to prominent members of our sea turtle society. Earl Possardt, Jeanne Mortimer and Dave Owens were awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for their extensive and significant contributions to the promotion of sea turtle biology and conservation. ICAPO (Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Initiative) was awarded with Championship Award. Hipolito Lima received a Championship Award too. President’s awards were given to Colin Limpus and to the Peruvian organization “Asociacion Amigos de la Naturaleza”, a group of fishermen working with conservation. Debbie Sobel received the Ed Drane Award for Volunteerism. Congratulations to all the awardees. Archie Carr Student Awards: Four students won the Archie Carr award for outstanding presentations at the symposium. Boris Tezak (Biology) and Callie Veelenturf (Conservation) won in the poster category. Karen Panlaew (Biology) and Kimberly Riskas (Conservation) won in the oral category. Resolutions: A very important component of every symposium is the issuing of Resolutions, documents that allow the Society at large to pronounce itself with regard to issues pertaining to sea turtle conservation around the world. During the ISTS 36, there were no resolutions submitted nor discussed in Lima. Board meeting: The Board meeting held during the Lima symposium was fruitful and lasted until midnight of the first day of the symposium. The Board received and discussed reports from the Nominations Committee, Student Committee, Travel Committee, Students Awards Committee, Awards Committee, as well as reports from the Program Officer and Treasurer. Business Meeting: Very important issues were addressed during the plenary business meeting, Travel committee chair, and the Treasurer presented their reports and the attendees approved. Also, it was announced the new President-elect for symposium 2018: Yoshimasa Matsuzawa from Japan. Frank Paladino, future President 2017, unveiled the venue where the next symposium will be held, and gave details on this. We will get together again in JW Marriot hotel & Spa in Las Vegas from 15-23 April 2017. Society Elections: After the voting process ended in Lima, the Society will be led by President: Frank Paladino, President-elect: Yoshimasa Matsuzawa, Past President: Joanna Alfaro Shigueto, Secretary: Manjula Tiwari, and Treasurer: Terry Meyer. The new Board of Directors is comprised by Roldan Valverde (2017), Alejandro Fallabrino (2017), George Balazs (2017), Yakup Kaska (2018), Emma Harris