Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation. Brisbane, Australia, 14-19 February 2009 ORAL BUILDING BRIDGES: SEA TURTLE CAPACITY BUILDING AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION OUTREACH, PATOK ALBANIA Dr Michael White Prof Dr Idriz Haxhiu Enerit Saรงdanaku Lazion Petritaj Merita Rumano Lily Venizelos, Stephanos Kouris Prue Robinson Principal investigator & project leader; CRTM Lampedusa, Italy Director of the Museum of Natural Sciences, University of Tirana Student of Biology, University of Tirana Student of Biology, University of Tirana Ministry of Environment MEDASSET MEDASSET MEDASSET
Regional cooperation in addressing threats facing the marine environment and endangered sea turtle species is paramount. Few project deliverables involving local communities and international researchers could be effective, long-term, without an educational, capacity building component. Under the project Monitoring and Conservation of Important Sea Turtle Feeding Grounds in the Patok Area of Albania, May to October 2008, capacity building and environmental education outreach played a key role in building bridges between local fisherman and the principle researcher and field-team. A full time Albanian researcher was employed for the project developing project management skills. Despite its richness in biological and landscape diversity, Albania is considered to have the highest rate of biodiversity loss in Europe (UNEP/MAP, 2007). Educational programmes are needed to provide the population with some kind of incentive to preserve its rich biodiversity; this should include conservation of sea turtles and their habitats in Albania. Collaboration with the University of Tirana enabled undergraduate biology students to visit the field-site, despite difficult road conditions, drawing local media crews to conduct documentaries and news spots. This project drew on the knowledge of a sea turtle specialist to demonstrate sea turtle handling, morphometrics, photo-recognition techniques and lectures on biology, ecology and the presence of Caretta caretta at Gjiri i Drinit. Three groups of students attended (50 on the 3rd of June, 50 on the 4th June, and another 50 on the 21st of June, 2008). There was a useful teaching opportunity on the second day, when a juvenile green turtle Chelonia mydas was released and so aspects of its morphology and behaviour could be compared with those of loggerhead turtles. The university visits were televised on all three days. Releasing sea turtles after learning of their biology is an effective experiential way of building understanding and affinity for this flagship species. Accompanying local fishermen, daily visits by the principle researcher to the traditional stavnike fish traps established trust and understanding. Fishermen from other regions were drawn in to the project through local fishing associations and word of mouth. Collaboration on a local
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Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation. Brisbane, Australia, 14-19 February 2009 level with fishermen was essential as 99% of sea turtle captured came as incidental bycatch in the stavnike fish traps. Working on a local level in environmental education and outreach has the benefit of working on the grass-root level, effectively bypassing any difficulties faced in environmental education on a nation-wide scale.
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