Australian

Title: Australian Sea Turtles mini-symposium

Geographic scope: Australia

Language of meeting: English

Who is welcome: Everyone

Specific goals of the 2009 meeting: Marine habitats of Australia are a sea turtle hot zone. Six of the world's seven species including flatback, leatherback, loggerhead, hawksbill, green, and olive ridley turtles occur in this area, occupying near shore habitats as well as open ocean habitats throughout the region. The oceanographic conditions that make Australia an epicenter of sea turtle activity also promote the existence of artisanal and industrial fishing efforts that, coupled with coastal and industrial development and turtle use by communities in the region, has lead to concern about several turtle stocks in the region.

However, conservation efforts of the state and federal governments have combined forces with community and industry groups, the result of which has been the steady buildup of a conservation ethic within the region. Sea turtles are among the most recognisable conservation icons in northern Australia. They have immense social, cultural and economic significance to Indigenous people, they are a tourist draw card in the million-dollar tourist industry and in many places they are the “poster children” for marine conservation initiatives.

The Sea Turtles of the Australia mini-symposium captures these conservation advances and highlights many of the amazing biological stories about sea turtles of Australia, including everything from flatback turtle biology, the use of sea turtles by Indigenous cultures along shores of northern Australia and community-based initiatives to protect nesting or stranded turtles. We expect this mini-symposium to be an ideal start to the most important sea turtle meeting ever to be convened in Australia, and we encourage everyone to attend so that they can get a jumpstart on learning about the local sea turtle populations and the people that are working to protect them.

The Australian Mini-symposium is proudly sponsored by Chevron Australia