IFOP researchers attend the International Symposium on Sea Turtles, held in Cartagena Colombia
April 17th, 2023
Researchers Patricia Zárate and Ilia Cari from Ecosystemic Approach of Oceanography and Environment Department Highly Migratory Resources Monitoring project, participated in the 41st International Sea Turtles Symposium held in Cartagena city , Colombia. The symposium, which is being held for the second time in South America, was attended by approximately 700 people.
Researchers presented at LaudOPO Network annual meeting all progress made at the country level with respect to eastern Pacific Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) Recovery Action Plan and binational project results between Fisheries Development Institute (Chile) and Fundación MarViva (Costa Rica) “ To reduce leatherback turtles bycatch in northern Chilean fisheries”. During video night, a regular event of the symposium each year,is the presentation of a clip about experimentation carried out by the researchers it was presented to evaluate circle hook effect on sea turtles caught with longline catches mitigation and mortality when catching dorado in the northern zone of Chile, an activity framed in the binational project.
In addition to this, part of the results carried out on biological samples genetic analysis from stranded turtles and incidentally captured in Chilean fisheries was presented at the scientific symposium, a work that was carried out in collaboration with researchers from the Southwest Fisheries Science Center belonging to the United States National Fisheries Service (NMFS).
Dr. Zárate, as a member, since 2010, of the Sea Turtle Specialist Group (IUCN-SSC-MTSG) of the International Conservation of Nature Union (IUCN), participated in the annual meeting where Members’ commitments and activities for this year regarding the conservation of sea turtles and their habitats were discussed.
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