Monitoring and conservation of important sea turtle foraging grounds in the Patok area of Albania.

Kuriat Island © MN BRADAI

PROCEeDINGs OF Third Mediterranean Conference on marine turtles Yassmine Hammamet, Tunisia 20-23 October 2008

EDITORS: MOHAMED NEJMEDDINE BRADAI & PAOLO CASALE

ERR RANE EAN CON NFER RENCE E ON MARIN DIN NGS S, THIR RD MEDIITE NE TURTLES S, YASSMINE E HAMMA AMET T, 2 0 0 8 PROCEED

PROCEeDINGs OF Third Mediterranean Conference on marine turtles Ya asm mine Ham mmame et, Tu unisia 20-23 October 2008 8 Editors: Moha amed d nejme eddine e br rad daii & Paolo ca asale

CELO ONA CONVENTIO ON - BERN CONVENTIO ON - BONN CONVEN NTION (CMS ) BARC TUNISIA,, 2012

Disclaimer: The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the organizations involved in the organization of the Conference concerning the legal status of any State, Territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of their frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this volume are those of the authors of each paper and do not necessarily represent the views of the above mentioned organizations.

This publication should be cited as follows: BRADAI M.N. and P. Casale (Editors). 2012. Proceedings of the Third Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles, Barcelona Convention - Bern convention - Bonn Convention (CMS). Tunis, Tunisia: 130 pp.

ISBN: 978-9938-05-295-4

NFEREN NCE ON MARINE TUR RTL LES, YASSMINE E HAMM MAME ET, 200 GS, THIRD MEDITERRAN NEAN CON PROCEEEDING 08

MONITORING AND CONSERVATION OF IMPORTANT SEA TURTLE FORAGING GROUNDS IN THE PATOK AREA OF ALBANIA 1

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Michael WHITE , Idriz HAXHIU , Stephanos KOURIS , Prue ROBINSON , Merita RUMANO , & Lily VENIZELOS1 1

MEDASSET- The Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles 2 Tirana University, Natural History Museum, Tirana, Albania 3 Ministry of Environment, Forest and Water Administration, Nature Protection Policy, Tirana, Albania

Research investigating the population dynamics of sea turtles began at Patok, Albania, in June 2008, where their presence has been known for several years; Professor Haxhiu has tagged turtles caught as bycatch since 2002. White et al.

(2006) confirmed the distribution patterns of turtles in coastal waters by interviewing fishermen throughout Albania. The Patok project will investigate: reasons for the presence of large numbers of loggerheads in Gjiri i Drinit, possibly oceanography or food; consider habitat purpose (e.g. year-round or summer-only foraging, overwintering, or transient use by migrating animals); and identify instances of inter- and intra-annual site-fidelity by individual turtles. Captured turtles will be tagged prior to release, morphometric and photo-recognition studies will be undertaken (White, 2007).

Researchers from Tirana University will be trained in field techniques; and workshops undertaken with local fishermen; strong links will be developed with schools and other local stake-holders (capacity-building). The project will enable tertiary-level students to conduct fieldwork with turtles towards their diploma or PhD studies. Awareness-raising activities are planned, such as school visits and various media presentations. Conservation programmes will be developed by MEDASSET and ECAT (Tirana). A central tagging-database will be established for Albania; building on Haxhiu’s previous work. Extensive artisanal fishing in the area (fish-traps, trawls, and longlines) means that turtles will be caught as bycatch; however, we aim through education to reduce mortality levels of captured turtles using RAC/SPA’s Sea Turtle Handling Guide for Fishermen. Management plans will be passed to the Ministry of Environment, with recommendations for best fishing practices.

N2: MANAGEMENT T AND CONSER RVATIION N MEASU URES (ORAL PRESE ENT TATION NS) SESSIION

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