Conservation and sustainable use of wildlife - an evolving concept

2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grahame J. W. Webb
Keyword(s):  
Wildlife Conservation ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Conservation Strategy ◽  
Eretmochelys Imbricata ◽  
Sensitive Issue ◽  
Crocodylus Porosus ◽  
Wildlife Populations ◽  
Dynamic Population ◽  
Hawksbill Turtles

The proposition that wildlife conservation can sometimes be enhanced through allowing and even promoting the harvesting of wildlife is a sensitive issue. For the last 30 years, conservation has tended to focus on protecting rather than using wildlife. Yet conservation through sustainable use (CSU) is now a mainstream conservation strategy, and research on sustaining rather than stopping uses is commonplace. This paper discusses some of the fundamental and confusing elements of the CSU concept. Two case histories are discussed: Saltwater Crocodiles Crocodylus porosus in the Northern Territory of Australia, and Hawksbill Turtles Eretmochelys imbricata in Cuba. That wildlife populations are themselves highly dynamic entities, capable of adapting to harvest reductions, is well established, but often not appreciated. To advance conservation, research at the dynamic population level of resolution needs to take precedence over research on individual population dynamics.

High-resolution movements of critically endangered hawksbill turtles help elucidate conservation requirements in northern Australia

2016 ◽  
Vol 67 (8) ◽  
pp. 1263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xavier Hoenner ◽  
Scott D. Whiting ◽  
Mark Hamann ◽  
Colin J. Limpus ◽  
Mark A. Hindell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critically Endangered ◽  
Marine Debris ◽  
Conservation Strategy ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Dispersal Patterns ◽  
Eretmochelys Imbricata ◽  
Spatial Use ◽  
Turtle Population ◽  
Seabed Mining ◽  
Hawksbill Turtles

Despite being critically endangered, the at-sea behaviour of hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) remains insufficiently understood to support a global conservation strategy. Habitat location and spatial use are poorly documented, which is particularly true for the globally important Australian hawksbill population. We equipped 10 adult female hawksbill turtles nesting on Groote Eylandt, northern Australia, with Fastloc GPS and Argos satellite transmitters. We quantified fine-scale habitat use and area-restricted search behaviour, and located potential feeding and developmental habitats by simulating hatchling turtle dispersal patterns by using a particle-tracking hydrological model. During the breeding season, females mostly remained near their nesting site. Post-breeding, all turtles migrated to foraging sites on the Australian continental shelf, primarily in the Gulf of Carpentaria in coastal seagrass pastures, but also offshore near coral-reef platforms. The distribution of adult foraging grounds was similar to simulated dispersal patterns of hatchling turtles from distant rookeries, thus highlighting the ecological significance of the Gulf of Carpentaria for hawksbill turtles. Although this hawksbill turtle population is likely to be endemic to Australian waters, national and international conservation initiatives are required to mitigate sources of anthropogenic mortality (e.g. illegal tortoise-shell trade, incidental captures in fishing gear, marine debris, seabed mining exploitation).

scholarly journals Natal foraging philopatry in eastern Pacific hawksbill turtles

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
pp. 170153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander R. Gaos ◽  
Rebecca L. Lewison ◽  
Michael P. Jensen ◽  
Michael J. Liles ◽  
Ana Henriquez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Research ◽  
Eastern Pacific ◽  
Marine Turtle ◽  
Natal Philopatry ◽  
Eretmochelys Imbricata ◽  
Turtle Species ◽  
Marine Turtles ◽  
Complex Processes ◽  
Natal Homing ◽  
Hawksbill Turtles

The complex processes involved with animal migration have long been a subject of biological interest, and broad-scale movement patterns of many marine turtle populations still remain unresolved. While it is widely accepted that once marine turtles reach sexual maturity they home to natal areas for nesting or reproduction, the role of philopatry to natal areas during other life stages has received less scrutiny, despite widespread evidence across the taxa. Here we report on genetic research that indicates that juvenile hawksbill turtles ( Eretmochelys imbricata ) in the eastern Pacific Ocean use foraging grounds in the region of their natal beaches, a pattern we term natal foraging philopatry. Our findings confirm that traditional views of natal homing solely for reproduction are incomplete and that many marine turtle species exhibit philopatry to natal areas to forage. Our results have important implications for life-history research and conservation of marine turtles and may extend to other wide-ranging marine vertebrates that demonstrate natal philopatry.

scholarly journals Achieving mangrove conservation and sustainable use in Mexico through community-based Management Units for Wildlife Conservation within and beyond Protected Areas

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Fajardo ◽  
Ignacio Valdez Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Wildlife Conservation ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Conservation Strategy ◽  
Close Monitoring ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Management Units ◽  
Alternative Scheme

Mangroves are valuable socio-ecological ecosystems that provide vital goods and services to millions of people, including wood, a renewable natural capital, which is the primary source of energy and construction material for several coastal communities in developing countries. Unfortunately, mangrove loss and degradation occur at alarming rates. Regardless of the protection and close monitoring of mangrove ecosystems in Mexico during the last two decades, mangrove degradation and the loss of biodiversity is still ongoing. In some regions, unregulated and unsustainable mangrove wood harvesting are important causes of degradation. In this context, community-based mangrove forestry through Management Units for Wildlife Conservation could be a cost-effective alternative scheme to manage and conserve mangrove forests, their ecosystem services and biological diversity within and beyond protected areas while providing sustainable local livelihoods and helping reduce illegal logging. The objective of the Management Units is to promote alternative means of production with the rational and planned use of renewable resources based on Management Plans. If implemented with a multidisciplinary perspective that incorporates scientific assessments this conservation strategy may contribute to achieving national and international environmental and biodiversity agreements providing multiple social, ecological and economic benefits from local to global scales.

scholarly journals Nesting ecology of hawksbill turtles, Eretmochelys imbricata, in an extreme environmental setting

PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. e0203257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Chatting ◽  
David Smyth ◽  
Ibrahim Al-Maslamani ◽  
Jeffrey Obbard ◽  
Mehsin Al-Ansi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nesting Ecology ◽  
Eretmochelys Imbricata ◽  
Environmental Setting ◽  
Hawksbill Turtles

Single nucleotide polymorphism markers for genotyping hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata)

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-356
Author(s):  
Shreya M. Banerjee ◽  
Lisa M. Komoroske ◽  
Amy Frey ◽  
Brittany Hancock-Hanser ◽  
Phillip A. Morin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Single Nucleotide Polymorphism ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphism ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Eretmochelys Imbricata ◽  
Hawksbill Turtles

Use them or lose them? Conservation and the consumptive use of marine turtle eggs at Ostional, Costa Rica

1998 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 305-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
LISA M. CAMPBELL
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Wildlife Conservation ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Community Support ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Marine Turtle ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Based Conservation ◽  
And Control

'Sustainable use' of wildlife resources and 'community based conservation' are two themes recurrent in contemporary statements of wildlife conservation policy, and their use is in response to a perceived 'deep conservation crisis' which has in part arisen from exclusionary and restrictive conservation practices. The extent to which the legal harvest of marine turtle eggs in Ostional, Costa Rica, is an example of sustainable use and community based conservation is evaluated in this paper. Field research using in-depth interviewing and a household questionnaire was undertaken in Ostional during 1994 and 1995, to investigate local perceptions of the egg harvesting project, both positive and negative. Socio-economic benefits from, and legal and administrative structures supporting, the project were found to be fundamental to community support for a limited egg harvest and allowed for community participation in, and control of, resource use. Participation and control were key to local support for conservation of nesting marine turtles and their eggs. Attempts to use wildlife sustainably must be considered on a case by case basis, to account for the biological nature of the wildlife resource and environment in question and for local socio-economic, political and historical conditions. Nevertheless, some of the lessons learned from the attempt to implement sustainable use and community based conservation in Ostional may be more widely generalized, and may help inform other efforts to reconcile wildlife conservation objectives with local development needs.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document