South West Indian Ocean Fishery Project (SWIOFP) Component 5 Mainstreaming biodiversity Maurice 4 – 7 August 2009 French Activity proposed to the 8 others countries of the SWIOFP Movement of sea turtle between nesting sites and feeding grounds in the South West Indian Ocean: regional migratory knowledge and interaction with open sea fisheries for management issues Jérôme BOURJEA IFREMER LA REUNION FRANCE

South West Indian Ocean Fishery Project SWIOFP - Update SWIOFP C5 Mauritius 4 – 7 August Funded by GEF-World Bank & FFEM (France) - Negotiation to implement this project started in Composed of 6 components: 1 : Data Gap Analysis, Data Archiving and Information Technology. 2: Assessment and sustainable utilization of crustaceans 3: Assessment and sustainable utilization of demersal fishes 4: Assessment and sustainable utilization of pelagic fish 5: Mainstreaming biodiversity in national and regional fisheries management 6: Strengthening regional and national fisheries management. - Members : South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Comoros Seychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius and La Réunion (France) - SWIOFP officially started in July 2008

French activity of the component 5 related to Sea Turtle interactions with open sea fisheries and Regional management Movement of sea turtle between nesting sites and feeding grounds in the South West Indian Ocean: regional migratory knowledge and interaction with open sea fisheries for management issues Regional coordinator of the component 5 : Mauritius The component 5: mainstreaming biodiversity SWIOFP C5 Mauritius 4 – 7 August 2009

State of the art of sea turtles status in the SWIO SWIOFP C5 Mauritius 4 – 7 August 2009 Leatherback Status : Critically endangered Nesting site: South Africa Feeding ground: Open sea Loggerhead Status : Endangered Nesting site: South Africa Feeding ground: Open sea Olive Ridley Status : Vulnerable Nesting site : North IO Feeding ground: Open sea Hawksbill Status : Critically endangered Nesting site: Equatorial SWIO Feeding ground: costal SWIO Green Status : Endangered Nesting site: all SWIO Feeding ground: costal SWIO

State of the art of sea turtles status in the SWIO Ex: Green turtle nesting sites SWIOFP C5 Mauritius 4 – 7 August 2009 > < 50 Female per year

SWIOFP C5 Mauritius 4 – 7 August 2009 State of the art of sea turtles status in the SWIO Ex: Green turtle feeding grounds

SWIOFP C5 Mauritius 4 – 7 August 2009 State of the art of sea turtles status in the SWIO Ex: Green turtle migration pattern between nesting sites and sea grass beds Glorieuses

SWIOFP C5 Mauritius 4 – 7 August 2009 State of the art of sea turtles status in the SWIO Ex: Green turtle genetic structure in the SWIO 2 distincts stocks (or more?)

Data available on open sea fishery activities in the SWIO Longliners – IOTC data SWIOFP C5 Mauritius 4 – 7 August 2009 Ex: Catches of swordfish by fleet Ex: October – November – December 5° Square effort (1000 hooks) for the Spanish, Taiwanese and Japanese longline fleet

SWIOFP C5 Mauritius 4 – 7 August 2009 Data available Open sea fisheries activity in the SWIO French Longliners – IFREMER data Ex: ° Square effort (nb hooks) for the La Réunion longline fleet

SWIOFP C5 Mauritius 4 – 7 August 2009 Open sea fisheries activity in the SWIO Oceanic Purse Seine – IOTC/IRD data Ex up: °effort (nb sets) for the french purse seine fleet Ex up: °effort (nb sets) for the french purse seine fleet

SWIOFP C5 Mauritius 4 – 7 August 2009 Open sea fisheries interaction with sea turtles in the SWIO IOTC/IRD/IFREMER data Ex: Purse seine by catch of sea turtle by species Ex: French longline sea turtle by catches by species

SWIOFP C5 Mauritius 4 – 7 August 2009 Environment data available for the SWIO Ex: SST Ex: Monthly evolution of the Sea Surface temperature (SST) in the South West Indian Ocean for 2008 JanuaryFebruaryMarchApril September MayAugustJulyJune DecemberNovemberOctober

Scientific aims of the project: 1/ Identification of sea turtle Hotspots in the south west Indian Ocean and assessment of the main populations based on existing data 2/ Regional migration routes of the sea turtles 3/ Understanding migration behaviour of the sea turtles according to Environmental conditions (currents, SST…) and available genetic data (haplotypes frequencies and structure) 4/ Building a migratory map for those population in the WIO SWIOFP Activity related to Sea Turtle interactions with open sea fisheries and Regional management SWIOFP C5 Mauritius 4 – 7 August 2009

Application aims: -To set up a classification of risks areas for the species, according to the interaction with the open sea fishing activities (longline and pure seine) -To propose local and regional mitigate measures of management for the sea turtles, according to population abundance and migratory behaviour, which can be compatible with the local lasting development, as the eco-tourism - To contribute to the Marine Turtle Task Force (MTTF) in the creation of a reliable research and application network dedicated to sea turtles, SWIOFP Activity related to Sea Turtle interactions with open sea fisheries and Regional management SWIOFP C5 Mauritius 4 – 7 August 2009

Mains gaps of the project SWIOFP C5 Mauritius 4 – 7 August / Lack in a reliable assessment of the currents status of sea turtle in some countries of the SWIO (Nesting sites abundance, feeding grounds…) 2/ Lack of knowledge origine of the turtle nesting in the other countries of the SWIO 3/ Few by-catch assessment available for some area This project is an opportunity to fill in some of these gaps gathering all countries in a same regional project

HOW TO DO THAT PROJECT? WPEB – IOTC Bangkok, October 2008

1/ Based on the sea turtle biology, ecology and population assessment in all the SWOI = compilation of data available 2/ Based on Satellite tags deployed in nesting sites (Female) and at sea (immature/adult by-catch) 3/ Effort, catches and CPUE data of open sea fisheries (IOTC database on pure seine and longline 5°x5°) 4/ environmental and oceanic data (CLS, NOAA: SST, Currents, altimetry, chlorophyll) 5/ local knowledge on by-catch rate in open sea fisheries SWIOFP C5 Mauritius 4 – 7 August 2009 HOW TO DO THAT PROJECT?

Maximum of satellite tracks + Biological/abundance/repartition data/ species + Oceanographic data + Open sea fishing Data + Known data on by catch in the area Probabilistic model (in development by australia) Risk map of interaction of open sea fisheries and sea turtles in the SWIO / Mozambique Channel Application of the model in other areas WPEB – IOTC Bangkok, October 2008 HOW TO DO THAT PROJECT?

WPEB – IOTC Bangkok, October 2008 WHERE? POST NESTING France SWIOFP

WPEB – IOTC Bangkok, October 2008 WHERE? 12 Post Nesting of green From Glorieuses, June 2008

WPEB – IOTC Bangkok, October 2008 WHERE? POST NESTING France SWIOFP OPEN SEA STAGES Longline release Purse seine release?

WPEB – IOTC Bangkok, October 2008 WHERE? Release of a loggerhead By caught by a longliner, October 2008

Time Schedule July 2008 : Start of SWIOFP/ Turtle project Oct 2009 July 2011 July 2012 Gap analysis Aug 2009 : SWIOFP workshop component 5 Field time Data Analysis SWIOFP Preparation of field trip Target species identification Maturity stage Sites and number of PTT Collecting past tracks French project Field time Fixing PTT Tracking Collecting others data Data analysis Testing the model Adapting the model Validating the model SWIOFP C5 Mauritius 4 – 7 August 2009 TRAINING

THANK YOU SWIOFP C5 Mauritius 4 – 7 August 2009

Calculates the spatial distribution of turtle open sea effort and open sea fishing effort Overlap index creates a risk to capture in every 5° grid box Combination of overlap index with data on actual bycatch rates can be used to create an entire SWIO bycatch map. Based on spatial distribution of sea turtle open sea effort, the incidental mortalities can be attributed to individual populations and these data incorporated into a population viability analysis (PVA) if desired. This will determine the most at risk populations based on current levels of fishing and mortality tells us where best to direct mitigation strategies WPEB – IOTC Bangkok, October 2008 ANNEXE: SPATIAL MODEL OF INTERACTION