European Ocean Biodiversity Information System

It is increasingly evident that small-scale fisheries of the Eastern Mediterranean likely pose the greatest threat to Mediterranean populations of green and loggerhead turtles. In these fisheries many small boats operate close to shore in areas where turtles aggregate both to forage and reproduce and are particularly active during the turtle nesting season. In 2009 we began to investigate these fisheries taking North Cyprus as a study unit. By tracking both fishing vessels and marine turtles simultaneously we hope to delimit boundaries within which bycatch is greatest and where mitigation options can subsequently be considered and trialled. The project forms part of an ongoing PhD undertaken by Robin Snape at University of Exeter UK and is implemented in collaboration with Eastern Mediterranean University’s Biological Sciences Department through Dr Burak Ali Çiçek.