Burning Issues
Since 2003, the MTSG has led an ongoing effort, called the Burning Issues process, to identify and describe “burning issues” in sea turtle research and conservation, and to set global priorities for sea turtle research and conservation action. The process was initiated at the MTSG vision and mission retreat in December 2003, and there have since been five dedicated Burning Issues Meetings, in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2011. A seventh Burning Issues Meeting will take place online in 2021.
The goal of the Burning Issues process is:
“To fulfill the mission of the Marine Turtle Specialist Group, using the best available science, input from the MTSG global network, and a consensus among key experts to determine a dynamic set of priority sea turtle populations, critical issues, and recommended actions for conservation and research that will help to raise awareness, enhance the image of the MTSG, direct funding and encourage on-the-ground action in places where the MTSG believes it is most urgent and can have the largest impact in preventing sea turtle extinctions.”
Past outputs of the Burning Issues Working Group have included:
The first definition and delineation of Regional Management Units (subpopulations) for all sea turtle species (2011)
A framework for research and conservation priority setting among those management units and a resulting portfolio of “global conservation priorities” (2010)
The identification and description of the five major hazards to marine turtles (2005)
The identification of key unsolved mysteries of marine turtle natural history (2006).
More information on each of these outputs is provided below.
7th Burning Issues (BI-7) Workshop
(In-Progress)
The primary goal of BI-7 is to improve how we assess sea turtle conservation status and priorities, and to go beyond the limits of Red List criteria (that principally assess the level of extinction risk) by providing specific indications for priority conservation measures.
Goals of BI-7:
Formally update the Regional Management Units (RMUs) for all 7 species of sea turtles.
Update the Conservation Priorities Portfolio originally published in 2011. This involves expanding and assessing the criteria used to classify population vulnerability and threats.
Develop a process for defining global “Important Marine Turtle Areas” (IMTAs) for all sea turtle species, using the best available data and expert opinion. This would be the world’s first global delineation and prioritization of in-water habitats for sea turtles and would serve as an urgently needed tool to inform fisheries managers, governments, and organizations who are working to protect sea turtles and their habitats worldwide.
Burning Issues Products
Marine Turtle Regional Management Units 2.0 (2023)
As part of the 7th Burning Issues process, MTSG members used new data and information to refine the boundaries of “regional management units” (RMUs), or subpopulations. The purpose of RMUs is to be able to evaluate sea turtles below the species scale and above the management unit scale. This process involved:
Collating 279 papers pertaining to sea turtle biogeography and genetics
Georeferencing 959 maps and 167 distinct genetic stocks
Creating a custom, interactive GIS platform for collecting edits and feedback from 49 global experts
Writing and publishing a peer-reviewed article with 48 updated RMU boundaries
Important Marine Turtle Areas (2021)
In 2021, as part of the 7th Burning Issues (BI-7) process, the MTSG members worked to develop a set of criteria and a framework for defining Important Marine Turtle Areas (IMTAs). IMTAs are discrete areas within existing marine turtle regional management units (RMUs) that are of particular biological significance for the persistence of marine turtles, and/or where the contributions of marine turtles to traditions and cultures of local people are particularly significant. The IMTA framework is the world’s first global delineation and prioritization of in-water habitats for sea turtles. The guidelines can be found here.
Global Conservation Priorities (2011)
In 2011 MTSG members published the first comprehensive global evaluation of conservation priorities for marine turtles. The study, designed to provide a blueprint for conservation and research, evaluated the risk and threat of each of the 58 marine turtle “Regional Management Units” and identified the 11 most threatened populations, the 12 healthiest populations, and 12 “critical data needs.” The full paper is available here.
Regional Management Units (2010)
In 2010, MTSG members published the first global delineation of Regional Management Units (RMUs), or subpopulations, for marine turtles in an article entitled “Regional Management Units for Marine Turtles: A Novel Framework for Prioritizing Conservation and Research Across Multiple Scales.” The RMU framework offers a solution to the challenge of how to organize marine turtles into units of protection above the level of nesting populations, but below the level of species, within regional entities that might be on independent evolutionary trajectories. This paper is the product of more than two years of work by the MTSG’s Burning Issues Working Group and input from the entire MTSG membership.
Key Unsolved Mysteries (2006)
Although there has been substantial study of marine turtles over the past 50+ years, their complex lives and elusive behaviors mean that some key questions about their natural history remain unanswered.
MTSG members compiled a list that provided a glimpse of the primary unsolved mysteries of marine turtle natural history. These unanswered questions were intended to highlight the great unknowns about marine turtles and to help guide research effort, focus investments, and serve as a framework for public relations efforts to generate interest in conserving marine turtles and their habitats.
Major Hazards to Marine Turtles (2005)
Through its 2005 Burning Issues Assessment process, the MTSG identified the most significant hazards to sea turtles at the time, which, If uncontrolled, will result in decline, local extinction and/or prevent recovery of sea turtles. They were:
Fisheries Impacts. Sea turtles virtually everywhere are impacted by fisheries—especially by longlines, gill nets, and trawls. Bycatch mortality, habitat destruction, and food web changes are the most severe of these impacts.
Direct Take. Throughout the world, people kill sea turtles and consume their eggs for food and for products such as oil, leather, and shell.
Coastal Development. Sea turtle habitats are degraded and destroyed by coastal development. This includes both shoreline and seafloor alterations such as nesting beach degradation, seafloor dredging, vessel traffic, construction, and alteration of vegetation.
Pollution and Pathogens. Marine pollution—plastics, discarded fishing gear, petroleum byproducts, and other debris—directly impact sea turtles through ingestion and entanglement. Light pollution disrupts nesting behavior and hatchling orientation, leading to hatchling mortality. Chemical pollutants can weaken sea turtles’ immune systems, making them susceptible to pathogens.
Global Warming. Global warming may impact natural sex ratios of hatchlings; escalate the frequency of extreme weather events; increase the likelihood of disease outbreaks among sea turtles; and result in loss of nesting beaches, destruction of coral reefs, and other alterations critical to sea turtle habitats and basic oceanographic processes.
The Top Ten Burning Issues in Global Sea Turtle Conservation (2005)
As part of its 2005 Burning Issues Assessment process, the MTSG took a first step toward global conservation priority setting for marine turtles by developing a list of “The Top Ten Burning Issues in Global Sea Turtle Conservation.” The Top Ten list aimed to draw attention to some of the sea turtle populations that are most in need of urgent conservation attention, considering one or more of the following criteria: recent precipitous declines, small population size, high degree of threat, or irreplaceability. The list was developed by the Burning Issues working group and was based on a combination of the best-available data and expert opinion.