October 2012: The Indian Ocean-South East Asian (IOSEA) Marine Turtle Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) E-News highlights the outcomes of a meeting of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC)’s “Working Party on Ecosystems and Bycatch,” and other news.

The meeting, which was held in Cape Town, South Africa, in September 2012, reflected on the paucity of data on marine turtle bycatch, and made specific recommendations regarding data collection and mitigation measures.

The newsletter notes also that: IOTC and the IOSEA Secretariats are collaborating to prepare an “Ecological Risk Assessment” (ERA) for marine turtles of the Indian Ocean; and preparations for a Regional Workshop and Fourth Meeting of the IOSEA Western Indian Ocean-Marine Turtle Task Force are underway. [IOSEA Website] [IISD RS Sources]