596 L. L. Lopes et al


FIG. 3 Perceived mean relative importance of threats to marine turtle conservation amongst 94 participants, with 95% confidence intervals. Scoring: 1, lesser and least urgent threat; 6, greatest and most urgent threat.


remained the same or did not know.We did not find signifi- cant differences in perceived trade trends between regions (all P .0.1). Regarding online trade, 33%of 94 participants across regions perceived this type of trade to be non-existent in their countries of expertise over the previous 5 years, and 53% reported not knowing whether it existed or not.


Urgency in addressing activities, and conservation priorities


When participants were asked to rank the relative impor- tance of various threats to marine turtles in their countries of expertise, the impacts of fisheries (including bycatch), and illegal harvest, use and trade were perceived as the great- est and most urgent threats that need to be addressed across the regions studied (Fig. 3). Legal harvest, use and tradewere considered the lesser and least urgent threats. Illegal activities were significantly more likely to be perceived as a threat of high importance and urgency in the Mediterranean (t =


−2.21,P= 0.03) and less so in the Central Eastern and South-eastern Atlantic (t = 2.22,P = 0.03). Addressing illegal


activities in participants’ countries of expertise was perceived to be of high priority formarine turtle conservation across the regions considered: of 94 participants, 46% perceived this as essential/high priority, 29% as medium priority, and 23%as


low/no priority. Current efforts to address these issues were generally perceived as insufficient/very insufficient consider- ing what is needed (56%of 94 participants), 28% perceived them as somewhat sufficient, and 16%as sufficient/outstand- ing. There were no significant differences in perceived ad- equacy of efforts among the different regions studied (all P .0.1), but participants working in the Central Eastern and South-eastern Atlantic were more likely to perceive this issue as a high priority (t = 2.25,P,0.02). According to participants, the top three types of mea-


sures that should be prioritized to curb illegal activities involving marine turtles (Fig. 4) were those relating to im- proving law enforcement (77%of 88 participants), improving management, conservation interventions and monitoring (64%), and raising environmental literacy, awareness and participation at levels of governance from communities to governments (59%).


Challenges and recommended actions


With respect to the most important challenges to curb ille- gal activities in their countries of expertise, participants (91) mostly referred to the three following areas: fisheries management (mentioned by 23%), enforcement (26%) and legislation (20%; Fig. 5). Challenges commonly reported con- cerning enforcement and legislation included poor monitor- ing and market surveillance, weak penalizing systems that fail to discourage unlawful practices, little political interest or in- volvement by authorities, and limited local capacity (human and financial) hindering conservation efforts. With respect to fisheries management, bycatch was commonly indicated as a great challenge, which, together with the incursion of foreign nationals, including illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing by foreign vessels, was reported as having the potential to create/support markets for marine turtle specimens. Other challenges reported included unclear legal frameworks, poor understanding of legal harvest quotas, poverty and lack of employment opportunities, outdated fishing gear and techniques in small-scale fisheries, poorly managed hatchery program- mes, and poorly educated communities. Solutions indicated for these challenges included (in


FIG. 4 Measures perceived as priorities to curb illegal harvest, use and trade for the countries of expertise of 88 participants, as number and per cent of response count. Participants could select several measures, and were free to skip the question if they did not wish to answer it.


no particular order): revising legal frameworks; improving land/maritime surveillance, including at landing and border points; locating illegal, undeclared stockpiles that are sold to foreign vessels; appropriately disposing of by- caught or stranded turtle carcasses that may enter illegal markets; improving knowledge of marine turtle reproduc- tive biology and habitat use; improving the understanding and monitoring of human–turtle interactions, including harvest/trade levels; banning commercial egg trade; devel- oping incentives for compliance with legislation and reg- ulations; improving transparency inmonitoring and enforce- ment processes; implementing good fisheries management


Oryx, 2022, 56(4), 592–600 © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605320001210


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