1 October 24, 2015

2 Endangered Species Act Marine Mammal Protection Act Key Legal Mandates for Protected Species

3 Endangered Species Act Core sections: Section 4 - Listing and Recovery (via Recovery Plans) Section 6 - Cooperation with the States Section 7 - Interagency Cooperation (consultations and biological opinions) Section 9 - Prohibited Acts Section 10 - Exceptions (research, enhancement, and incidental take permits)

4 Marine Mammal Protection Act Issuing permits for direct and indirect take Conducting stock assessments Promulgating regulations Enforcing the prohibitions Coordinating effective responses to strandings and unusual mortality events Entering into co-management and international agreements

5 NOAA’s Protected Species Responsibility NOAA works to conserve and recover primarily marine and anadromous species 300 species of corals, fish, marine mammals, and sea turtles Some of these listings are global, such as sea turtles

6 Science Needed to Support Species Conservation Abundance Estimates Habitat Use Genetic Stock Assessment Observer Data on bycatch of protected species Status Reviews of Listed Species Mitigation Measures, e.g., bycatch reduction devices

7 Loggerhead turtle tracks. 34 satellite tags deployed on pound net by- catch, Tracked for total of 5680 individual days. Turtle size cm SCL. Turtle movement in East China Sea area

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10 Animation of first 70 days

11 East China Sea “Hotspot” covers ~433,549 square kilometers of ocean. Shallow, productive, effects of rivers/currents, multinational, location of many fisheries.  East China Sea “Hotspot”

Aggregated loggerhead track data from many sources Mixture of wild-caught bycatch and reared individuals Loggerhead turtle pelagic habitat closely correlated with temperature

Turtle Watch: A tool to aid in the bycatch reduction of loggerhead turtles in the Hawaii-based LL fishery. Evan Howell, Donald Kobayashi, Denise Parker, George Balazs, Jeffrey Polovina

14 Humpback Whale Conservation

15 Shared Species Sea Turtles – Loggerhead, Green, and Hawksbills Whales -- Humpback, Sei, Sperm, Gray, Blue and Fin

16 Possible Collaborations Sea Turtle Habitat Use Foraging Studies Workshop on the status of sea turtles Marine Mammal