Native Oceans / Oceanos Nativos

Native Oceans at Bioneers in San Rafael, October 17th

2008-10-09T21:43:00.000-07:00

Join Native Oceans at the Bioneers Conference:

Native Oceans: Coastal Indigenous Communities in Response to the Ocean Crisis
Ever wonder what you can do to protect the ocean and sea life? Join this intergenerational, international dialogue about the intersection of indigenous communities and ocean conservation. With: Wallace J. Nichols, senior scientist at the Ocean Conservancy and co-director of Ocean Revolution; Roxanne “Roxie” Leigh Dickinson, age 20, Ocean Revolution Youth Leadership Council; Mati Waiya, executive director, Wishtoyo Foundation; and Alberto Mellado Moreno, age 23, Center for Sustainable Environments, Northern Arizona University and advisor to the Comcaac Nation. Moderated by Sharon “Shay” Sloan, co-founder of Bioneers Youth Advisory Council, Native Oceans project manager, Ocean Revolution.

What is Bioneers?

The Bioneers Mission

Bioneers is inspiring a shift to live on Earth in ways that honor the web of life, each other and future generations. Founded in 1990, Bioneers promotes practical environmental solutions and innovative social strategies for restoring Earth’s imperiled ecosystems and healing our human communities.

We act as a forum, featuring a rich ecology of diverse approaches within a broadly progressive framework. We serve as a hub of communications and education, as well as of networks, movements and ideas.

We take a systemic "solve-the-whole-problem" approach. Taking care of nature means taking care of people, and taking care of people means taking care of nature. We connect the dots among most areas of human endeavor including environment, health, justice and spirit.

OpEd: Do we need sea turtles?

2008-07-06T15:39:00.000-07:00

OpEd: Do we need sea turtles?
Santa Cruz Sentinel
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Article Launched: 07/06/2008 01:34:54 AM PDT

In 1996, I was on the first team to attach a satellite transmitter to the back of a sea turtle and track her migration across an entire ocean. Her name was Adelita, after the daughter of a local fisherman. Over the next 368 days, she swam some 7,000 miles from Mexico to Japan, the country where she was born. Adelita swam her way into computers and newspapers and, soon, into the minds and hearts of millions who followed her epic journey.

Earlier this month, the Great Turtle Race II expanded on Adelita's journey. Eleven leatherback turtles navigated the high seas. Thousands of turtle fans monitored their progress online. The race winner and first to cross the International Dateline, traveling almost 4,000 miles, was Saphira, our Santa Cruz hometown favorite.

In a recent New York Times blog covering the race, journalist Andy Revkin dared pose the question, "Do we need sea turtles?" The responses have been passionate and thought-provoking, but inconclusive.

For me, Revkin's query misses the point, begging more important and more provocative questions: Do we need all-you-can-eat shrimp dinners and swordfish steaks that kill so much ocean wildlife? Are endangered sea turtles worth saving at the cost of a few luxury items? How much do we really need?

As a scientist, I understand we know little about the ecological roles of sea turtles. The turtle populations we study are a mere tenth of their former abundance. Stories

from before the age of synthetic nets and outboard motors read like science fiction: clippers cutting through seas full of floating sea turtles, fish being raked into boats and psychedelic reefs exploding with life.

In ways we will never fully appreciate, each lost species weakens us all, but the loss of sea turtles goes far deeper than the loss of a single thread in the fabric of life.
For the Seri Indians of Mexico's Sonoran coast, sea turtles are life itself. To them, leatherback turtles are ancestors. They are at the heart of their songs, stories, dances, ceremonies and, lately, ocean conservation efforts. An ocean away, the Kei Islanders believe that their ancestors gave them the leatherback as a source of food to be hunted by hand from open boats. Always to be shared, but never sold. In Costa Rica, where leatherback turtle numbers have crashed hard, former egg poachers now protect turtles and lead ecotours -- a transformation bolstered in turtle hotspots around the world by Ocean Conservancy's SEE Turtles project.

On a recent flight, soaring high above the ocean, my row-mates described personal connections to sea turtles. "They changed our lives," they said. "Swimming with them, seeing them, on their terms, was the best thing we've ever done."

Thinking of them and pondering the question, "Do we need sea turtles?" I can only imagine the look on the faces of the Seri and the Kei Islanders and the millions of kids tracking turtles online, of a Mexican girl named Adelita, those Costa Rican turtle guides and a few strangers I met on a plane. Each would smile gently, shake their heads and laugh at the very question.

If you would like to ensure a world with sea turtles, visit oceanconservancy.org or seeturtles.org to plan a turtle-friendly vacation to see them in the wild, or join the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup to gather trash that threatens turtles, and, while you are at it, join Ocean Conservancy and become an outspoken advocate for sea turtle protections.

Wallace J. Nichols is senior research scientist at Ocean Conservancy and founder of the SEE Turtles conservation tourism project SEETurtles.org. Visit OceanConservancy.org for more information.

Native Oceans at the ISTS 2008

2008-02-22T13:19:00.000-08:00

Native Oceans was chosen as the theme of the 28th annual meeting of the International Sea Turtle Society (ISTS) in recognition that sea turtle conservation is not only a modern effort, but a continuation of an ancient tradition that indigenous peoples the worldover have practiced for centuries. Indigenous conservation is critical to international conservation efforts as indigenous peoples are most often living in the closest contact with the natural environment, have the strongest cultural ties to other species and have a direct need to coexist with other animals such as sea turtles. They also maintain age-old traditional knowledge and conservation strategies that are often overlooked in conservation management. Choosing Native Oceans as the theme delivered a clear message of support and interest from the broader ocean and sea turtle conservation community to coastal indigenous communities.

At the ISTS, the theme was reflected not only through the participation of indigenous groups, but also through the scientific presentations as authors responded to the call to re-think conservation efforts, paying special attention to shifting baseline concepts, and placing the current findings and status of marine systems in a socio-historical context. Onsite at ISTS this year, we had the participation of over 50 indigenous people representing 15 indigenous nations from Australia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Palau, Panama, and Venezuela. The Seri, as the official hosts of the ISTS, welcomed the community, with their Leatherback Ceremony and at the Welcome Social.

During the ISTS meeting, the Native Oceans Council met on several occasions, including in a public session in the Loreto town plaza, in which the Seri formally welcomed each indigenous nation and participants exchanged music, art, ritual, stories, questions and information about their respective communities and projects. Additionally, the Seri and the Australian Traditional Owners began a formal knowledge exchange which will continue throughout the year; they will have their second face-to-face meeting in Australia in the fall of 2008.

Through our work at the ISTS, the commitment of the Native Oceans participants was strengthened as new project ideas were born and solutions to pre-existing problems were discovered. Additionally, the exchange of age-old traditional wisdom and 21st century conservation strategies with the international sea turtle conservation community brought new inspiration and deepened the commitment to their work; it also raised new questions and concerns that warrant investigation. From all sides, the desire to grow the Native Oceans project has never been stronger. Native Oceans is an ongoing project of Ocean Revolution> and will play a role at the ISTS 2009 in Brisbane.

Australian Government Makes formal Apology to Stolen Generation of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders

2008-02-17T20:51:00.000-08:00

This is the full text of the speech made by Australian Prime Minister, February 13th 2008. History in the making . . .

February 13, 2008 - 4:08PM
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd

Today we honour the indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

We reflect on their past mistreatment.

We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were stolen generations - this blemished chapter in our nation's history.

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.

For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.

And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.

For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.

We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.

A future where this parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.

A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, indigenous and non-indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.

A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.

A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.
A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia.

There comes a time in the history of nations when their peoples must become fully reconciled to their past if they are to go forward with confidence to embrace their future.

Our nation, Australia, has reached such a time.

That is why the Parliament is today here assembled: to deal with this unfinished business of the nation, to remove a great stain from the nations soul and, in a true spirit of reconciliation, to open a new chapter in the history of this great land, Australia.

Last year I made a commitment to the Australian people that if we formed the next government of the Commonwealth we would in Parliament say sorry to the stolen generations.

Today I honour that commitment.

I said we would do so early in the life of the new Parliament.
Again, today I honour that commitment by doing so at the commencement of this the 42nd parliament of the Commonwealth.

Because the time has come, well and truly come, for all peoples of our great country, for all citizens of our great commonwealth, for all Australians - those who are indigenous and those who are not - to come together to reconcile and together build a new future for our nation.

Some have asked, Why apologise?

Let me begin to answer by telling the Parliament just a little of one person's story - an elegant, eloquent and wonderful woman in her 80s, full of life, full of funny stories, despite what has happened in her life's journey, a woman who has travelled a long way to be with us today, a member of the stolen generation who shared some of her story with me when
I called around to see her just a few days ago.

Nanna Nungala Fejo, as she prefers to be called, was born in the late 1920s.

She remembers her earliest childhood days living with her family and her community in a bush camp just outside Tennant Creek.

She remembers the love and the warmth and the kinship of those days long ago, including traditional dancing around the camp fire at night.

She loved the dancing. She remembers once getting into strife when, as a four-year-old girl, she insisted on dancing with the male tribal elders rather than just sitting and watching the men, as the girls were supposed to do.

But then, sometime around 1932, when she was about four, she remembers the coming of the welfare men.

Her family had feared that day and had dug holes in the creek bank where the children could run and hide.

What they had not expected was that the white welfare men did not come alone. They brought a truck, two white men and an Aboriginal stockman on horseback cracking his stockwhip.

The kids were found; they ran for their mothers, screaming, but they could not get away. They were herded and piled onto the back of the truck.

Tears flowing, her mum tried clinging to the sides of the truck as her children were taken away to the Bungalow in Alice, all in the name of protection.

A few years later, government policy changed. Now the children would be handed over to the missions to be cared for by the churches. But which church would care for them?

The kids were simply told to line up in three lines. Nanna Fejo and her sister stood in the middle line, her older brother and cousin on her left. Those on the left were told that they had become Catholics, those in the middle Methodists and those on the right Church of England.

That is how the complex questions of post-reformation theology were resolved in the Australian outback in the 1930s. It was as crude as that.

She and her sister were sent to a Methodist mission on Goulburn Island and then Croker Island. Her Catholic brother was sent to work at a cattle station and her cousin to a Catholic mission.

Nanna Fejo's family had been broken up for a second time. She stayed at the mission until after the war, when she was allowed to leave for a prearranged job as a domestic in Darwin. She was 16. Nanna Fejo never saw her mum again.

After she left the mission, her brother let her know that her mum had died years before, a broken woman fretting for the children that had literally been ripped away from her.

I asked Nanna Fejo what she would have me say today about her story. She thought for a few moments then said that what I should say today was that ''all mothers are important''.

And she added: ''Families - keeping them together is very important. It's a good thing that you are surrounded by love and that love is passed down the generations. That's what gives you happiness.''

As I left, later on, Nanna Fejo took one of my staff aside, wanting to make sure that I was not too hard on the Aboriginal stockman who had hunted those kids down all those years ago.

The stockman had found her again decades later, this time himself to say, sorry. And remarkably, extraordinarily, she had forgiven him.

Nanna Fejo's is just one story. There are thousands, tens of thousands of them: stories of forced separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their mums and dads over the better part of a century.

Some of these stories are graphically told in Bringing Them Home, the report commissioned in 1995 by Prime Minister Keating and received in 1997 by Prime Minister Howard.

There is something terribly primal about these firsthand accounts. The pain is searing; it screams from the pages. The hurt, the humiliation, the degradation and the sheer brutality of the act of physically separating a mother from her children is a deep assault on our senses and on our most elemental humanity.

These stories cry out to be heard; they cry out for an apology.

Instead, from the nation's Parliament there has been a stony, stubborn and deafening silence for more than a decade; a view that somehow we, the Parliament, should suspend our most basic instincts of what is right and what is wrong; a view that, instead, we should look for any pretext to push this great wrong to one side, to leave it languishing with the
historians, the academics and the cultural warriors, as if the stolen generations are little more than an interesting sociological phenomenon.

But the stolen generations are not intellectual curiosities. They are human beings, human beings who have been damaged deeply by the decisions of parliaments and governments. But, as of today, the time for denial, the time for delay, has at last come to an end.

The nation is demanding of its political leadership to take us forward.
Decency, human decency, universal human decency, demands that the nation now step forward to right an historical wrong. That is what we are doing in this place today.

But should there still be doubts as to why we must now act, let the Parliament reflect for a moment on the following facts: that, between 1910 and 1970, between 10 and 30% of indigenous children were forcibly taken from their mothers and fathers; that, as a result, up to 50,000 children were forcibly taken from their families; that this was the product
of the deliberate, calculated policies of the state as reflected in the explicit powers given to them under statute; that this policy was taken to such extremes by some in administrative authority that the forced extractions of children of so-called mixed lineage were seen as part of a broader policy of dealing with the problem of the Aboriginal population.

One of the most notorious examples of this approach was from the Northern Territory Protector of Natives, who stated: ''Generally by the fifth and invariably by the sixth generation, all native characteristics of the Australian Aborigine are eradicated. The problem of our half-castes'' - to quote the protector - ''will quickly be eliminated by the complete disappearance of the black race, and the swift submergence of their progeny in the white''.

The Western Australian Protector of Natives expressed not dissimilar views, expounding them at length in Canberra in 1937 at the first national conference on indigenous affairs that brought together the Commonwealth and state protectors of natives.

These are uncomfortable things to be brought out into the light. They are not pleasant. They are profoundly disturbing.

But we must acknowledge these facts if we are to deal once and for all with the argument that the policy of generic forced separation was somehow well motivated, justified by its historical context and, as a result, unworthy of any apology today.

Then we come to the argument of intergenerational responsibility, also used by some to argue against giving an apology today.

But let us remember the fact that the forced removal of Aboriginal children was happening as late as the early 1970s.

The 1970s is not exactly a point in remote antiquity. There are still serving members of this Parliament who were first elected to this place in the early 1970s.

It is well within the adult memory span of many of us.

The uncomfortable truth for us all is that the parliaments of the nation, individually and collectively, enacted statutes and delegated authority under those statutes that made the forced removal of children on racial grounds fully lawful.

There is a further reason for an apology as well: it is that reconciliation is in fact an expression of a core value of our nation - and that value is a fair go for all.

There is a deep and abiding belief in the Australian community that, for the stolen generations, there was no fair go at all.

There is a pretty basic Aussie belief that says that it is time to put right this most outrageous of wrongs.

It is for these reasons, quite apart from concerns of fundamental human decency, that the governments and parliaments of this nation must make this apology - because, put simply, the laws that our parliaments enacted made the stolen generations possible.

We, the parliaments of the nation, are ultimately responsible, not those who gave effect to our laws. And the problem lay with the laws themselves.

As has been said of settler societies elsewhere, we are the bearers of many blessings from our ancestors; therefore we must also be the bearer of their burdens as well.

Therefore, for our nation, the course of action is clear: that is, to deal now with what has become one of the darkest chapters in Australia's history.

In doing so, we are doing more than contending with the facts, the evidence and the often rancorous public debate.

In doing so, we are also wrestling with our own soul.

This is not, as some would argue, a black-armband view of history; it is just the truth: the cold, confronting, uncomfortable truth - facing it, dealing with it, moving on from it.

Until we fully confront that truth, there will always be a shadow hanging over us and our future as a fully united and fully reconciled people.

It is time to reconcile. It is time to recognise the injustices of the past. It is time to say sorry. It is time to move forward together.

To the stolen generations, I say the following: as Prime Minister of Australia, I am sorry.

On behalf of the Government of Australia, I am sorry.

On behalf of the Parliament of Australia, I am sorry.

I offer you this apology without qualification.

We apologise for the hurt, the pain and suffering that we, the parliament, have caused you by the laws that previous parliaments have enacted.

We apologise for the indignity, the degradation and the humiliation these laws embodied.

We offer this apology to the mothers, the fathers, the brothers, the sisters, the families and the communities whose lives were ripped apart by the actions of successive governments under successive parliaments.

In making this apology, I would also like to speak personally to the members of the stolen generations and their families: to those here today, so many of you; to those listening across the nation - from Yuendumu, in the central west of the Northern Territory, to Yabara, in North Queensland, and to Pitjantjatjara in South Australia.

I know that, in offering this apology on behalf of the Government and the Parliament, there is nothing I can say today that can take away the pain you have suffered personally.

Whatever words I speak today, I cannot undo that.

Words alone are not that powerful; grief is a very personal thing.
I ask those non-indigenous Australians listening today who may not fully understand why what we are doing is so important to imagine for a moment that this had happened to you.

I say to honourable members here present: imagine if this had happened to us. Imagine the crippling effect. Imagine how hard it would be to forgive.

My proposal is this: if the apology we extend today is accepted in the spirit of reconciliation, in which it is offered, we can today resolve together that there be a new beginning for Australia.

And it is to such a new beginning that I believe the nation is now calling us.
Australians are a passionate lot. We are also a very practical lot.

For us, symbolism is important but, unless the great symbolism of reconciliation is accompanied by an even greater substance, it is little more than a clanging gong.

It is not sentiment that makes history; it is our actions that make history.
Today's apology, however inadequate, is aimed at righting past wrongs.
It is also aimed at building a bridge between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians - a bridge based on a real respect rather than a thinly veiled contempt.

Our challenge for the future is to cross that bridge and, in so doing, to embrace a new partnership between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians - to embrace, as part of that partnership, expanded Link-up and other critical services to help the stolen generations to trace their families if at all possible and to provide dignity to their lives.

But the core of this partnership for the future is to close the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians on life expectancy, educational achievement and employment opportunities.

This new partnership on closing the gap will set concrete targets for the future: within a decade to halve the widening gap in literacy, numeracy and employment outcomes and opportunities for indigenous Australians, within a decade to halve the appalling gap in infant mortality rates between indigenous and non-indigenous children and, within a generation,
to close the equally appalling 17-year life gap between indigenous and non-indigenous in overall life expectancy.

The truth is: a business as usual approach towards indigenous Australians is not working.

Most old approaches are not working.

We need a new beginning, a new beginning which contains real measures of policy success or policy failure; a new beginning, a new partnership, on closing the gap with sufficient flexibility not to insist on a one-size-fits-all approach for each of the hundreds of remote and regional indigenous communities across the country but instead allowing flexible,
tailored, local approaches to achieve commonly-agreed national objectives that lie at the core of our proposed new partnership; a new beginning that draws intelligently on the experiences of new policy settings across the nation.

However, unless we as a Parliament set a destination for the nation, we have no clear point to guide our policy, our programs or our purpose; we have no centralised organising principle.

Let us resolve today to begin with the little children, a fitting place to start on this day of apology for the stolen generations.

Let us resolve over the next five years to have every indigenous four-year-old in a remote Aboriginal community enrolled in and attending a proper early childhood education centre or opportunity and engaged in proper pre-literacy and pre-numeracy programs.

Let us resolve to build new educational opportunities for these little ones, year by year, step by step, following the completion of their crucial pre-school year.

Let us resolve to use this systematic approach to build future educational opportunities for indigenous children to provide proper primary and preventive health care for the same children, to begin the task of rolling back the obscenity that we find today in infant mortality rates in remote indigenous communities up to four times higher than in other
communities.

None of this will be easy. Most of it will be hard, very hard. But none of it is impossible, and all of it is achievable with clear goals, clear thinking, and by placing an absolute premium on respect, cooperation and mutual responsibility as the guiding principles of this new partnership on closing the gap.

The mood of the nation is for reconciliation now, between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. The mood of the nation on indigenous policy and politics is now very simple.

The nation is calling on us, the politicians, to move beyond our infantile bickering, our point-scoring and our mindlessly partisan politics and to elevate this one core area of national responsibility to a rare position beyond the partisan divide.

Surely this is the unfulfilled spirit of the 1967 referendum. Surely, at least from this day forward, we should give it a go.

Let me take this one step further and take what some may see as a piece of political posturing and make a practical proposal to the opposition on this day, the first full sitting day of the new Parliament.

I said before the election that the nation needed a kind of war cabinet on parts of indigenous policy, because the challenges are too great and the consequences are too great to allow it all to become a political football, as it has been so often in the past.

I therefore propose a joint policy commission, to be led by the Leader of the Opposition and me, with a mandate to develop and implement, to begin with, an effective housing strategy for remote communities over the next five years.

It will be consistent with the Government's policy framework, a new partnership for closing the gap. If this commission operates well, I then propose that it work on the further task of constitutional recognition of the first Australians, consistent with the longstanding platform commitments of my party and the pre-election position of the opposition.

This would probably be desirable in any event because, unless such a proposition were absolutely bipartisan, it would fail at a referendum. As I have said before, the time has come for new approaches to enduring problems.

Working constructively together on such defined projects would, I believe, meet with the support of the nation. It is time for fresh ideas to fashion the nation's future.

Mr Speaker, today the Parliament has come together to right a great wrong. We have come together to deal with the past so that we might fully embrace the future. We have had sufficient audacity of faith to advance a pathway to that future, with arms extended rather than with fists still clenched.

So let us seize the day. Let it not become a moment of mere sentimental reflection.

Let us take it with both hands and allow this day, this day of national reconciliation, to become one of those rare moments in which we might just be able to transform the way in which the nation thinks about itself, whereby the injustice administered to the stolen generations in the name of these, our parliaments, causes all of us to reappraise, at the deepest
level of our beliefs, the real possibility of reconciliation writ large: reconciliation across all indigenous Australia; reconciliation across the entire history of the often bloody encounter between those who emerged from the Dreamtime a thousand generations ago and those who, like me, came across the seas only yesterday; reconciliation which opens up whole new possibilities for the future.

It is for the nation to bring the first two centuries of our settled history to a close, as we begin a new chapter. We embrace with pride, admiration and awe these great and ancient cultures we are truly blessed to have among us cultures that provide a unique, uninterrupted human thread linking our Australian continent to the most ancient prehistory of our planet.

Growing from this new respect, we see our indigenous brothers and sisters with fresh eyes, with new eyes, and we have our minds wide open as to how we might tackle, together, the great practical challenges that indigenous Australia faces in the future.

Let us turn this page together: indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, government and opposition, Commonwealth and state, and write this new chapter in our nation's story together.

First Australians, First Fleeters, and those who first took the oath of allegiance just a few weeks ago. Let's grasp this opportunity to craft a new future for this great land: Australia. I commend the motion to the House.

AAP

Piñita

2008-02-12T17:03:00.001-08:00

Francisco Rogdriguez, or Piñita, from Venezuela representing the Wayuu and Añu communities.

Native Oceans at the ISTS in Loreto, Baja

2008-02-12T16:44:00.000-08:00

Native Oceans ISTS 2008

Native Oceans was chosen as the theme of the 28th annual ISTS in recognition that sea turtle conservation is not only a modern effort, but a continuation of an ancient tradition that indigenous peoples the worldover have practiced for centuries. Moreover, it is known that indigenous conservation is critical to international conservation efforts as indigenous peoples are most often living in the closest contact with the natural environment, have the strongest cultural ties to other species and have a direct need to coexist with other animals such as sea turtles. This theme was reflected not only through the participation of indigenous groups, but also through the scientific presentations as authors responded to the call to re-think conservation efforts, paying special attention to shifting baseline concepts, and placing the current findings and status of marine systems in a socio-historical context. Onsite at ISTS this year, we had the participation of over 50 indigenous people representing 15 indigenous nations from Australia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Palau, Panama, and Venezuela. The Seri, as the official hosts of the ISTS, welcomed the community, with their Leatherback Ceremony and at the Welcome Social.

During the ISTS meeting, the Native Oceans Council met on several occasions, including in a public session in the Loreto town plaza, in which the Seri formally welcomed each indigenous nation and participants exchanged music, art, ritual, stories, questions and information about their respective communities and projects. Additionally, the Seri and the Australian Traditional Owners began a formal knowledge exchange which will continue throughout the year and culminate in a meeting in Australia in the fall of 2008.

Through our work at the ISTS, the commitment of the Native Oceans participants was strengthened as new project ideas were born and solutions to pre-existing problems were discovered. Additionally, the exchange of age-old traditional wisdom and 21st century conservation strategies with the international sea turtle conservation community brought new inspiration and deepened the commitment to their work; it also raised new questions and concerns that warrant investigation. From all sides, the desire to grow the Native Oceans project has never been stronger. Native Oceans is an ongoing project of Ocean Revolution and will play a role at the ISTS 2009 in Brisbane.

Seri Aquaculture Project

2008-01-31T23:46:00.000-08:00

Check out this project of the Comcaa'c community. Indigenous traditional knowledge and modern science partner together in support of a positive future for the community and the environment. Alberto Mellado Moreno, the first Seri engineer, is the project coordinator.

Revisen este proyecto de la comunidad Comcaa'c. Conocimiento tradicional combina con ciencia para un futuro positivo tanto en la comunidad como el medioambiente. Alberto Mellado Moreno, el primer ingeniero Seri, es el coordinador del proyecto.

La Reunión del Grupo Tortuguero

2007-12-16T11:51:00.000-08:00

En la decima reunión del Grupo Tortuguero, hará gente de más que estas 30 comunidades . . .

¿Qué es el Grupo Tortuguero? Se puede aprender más en el sitio, www.grupotortuguero.org

Acapulco, Guerrero
Agua Verde
Bahia de los Angeles
Cabo Pulmo
Campamento Cerro Hermoso, San Pedro Tututepec, Oaxaca
Campamento La Tuza, Santiago Jamiltepec, Oaxaca
Campamento La Ventanilla, Santa María Tonameca, Oaxaca
Cerro Cabezón
Desemboque y Punta Chueca (Los Seri)
El Pardito
El Tortugo
Guasave
Guayabitos, Nayarit
Guerrero Negro
La Paz
La Pitahaya
Laguna San Ignacio
Puerto A. Lopez Mateos
Loreto
Mayto, Cabo Corrientes, Jalisco
Mulegé
Pescadero
Petatlán, Guerrero
Playa Chila, Zacualpan, Nayarit
Puerto San Carlos
Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco
Punta Abreojos
San Cristobal, Cabo San Lucas
San Jose del Cabo
San Juanico
Sipacate Escuintla, Guatemala
Tecolutla, Veracruz
Todos Santos

Reunión: 19-20 de Enero, 2008 en Loreto, Baja

The 10th annual meeting of Grupo Tortuguero will welcome people from these communities.

What is Grupo Tortuguero? See www.grupotortuguero.org

Acapulco, Guerrero
Agua Verde
Bahia de los Angeles
Cabo Pulmo
Campamento Cerro Hermoso, San Pedro Tututepec, Oaxaca
Campamento La Tuza, Santiago Jamiltepec, Oaxaca
Campamento La Ventanilla, Santa María Tonameca, Oaxaca
Cerro Cabezón
Desemboque y Punta Chueca (Los Seri)
El Pardito
El Tortugo
Guasave
Guayabitos, Nayarit
Guerrero Negro
La Paz
La Pitahaya
Laguna San Ignacio
Puerto A. Lopez Mateos
Loreto
Mayto, Cabo Corrientes, Jalisco
Mulegé
Pescadero
Petatlán, Guerrero
Playa Chila, Zacualpan, Nayarit
Puerto San Carlos
Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco
Punta Abreojos
San Cristobal, Cabo San Lucas
San Jose del Cabo
San Juanico
Sipacate Escuintla, Guatemala
Tecolutla, Veracruz
Todos Santos

Grupo Tortuguero Meeting, January 19-20th, Loreto Baja

sweet, beautiful turtles

2007-12-16T11:50:00.000-08:00

Los Wayuu from Venezuela

2007-12-14T18:15:00.000-08:00

Check out this video from the Wayuu in Venezuela to get a sense of their work . . .

Se puede ver este video de los Wayuu de Venezuela para entender sus proyectos . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzR_Szjpwak

No-Fishing Zones in Tropics Yield Fast Payoffs for Reefs - New York Times: Palauian Participants Native Oceans

2007-12-14T18:12:00.000-08:00

Get a view of some of the Native Oceans participants from Palau. Where is Palau? The New York Times reports . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/science/earth/17fish.html?_r=1&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/R/Reefs&oref=slogin

International Sea Turtle Society annual Symposium

2007-12-01T22:31:00.000-08:00

adapted from http://www.seaturtle.org/mtn/archives/mtn117/mtn117p15.shtml

28th Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico January 19-26, 2008

Wallace J. Nichols
President, International Sea Turtle Society
c/o, Ocean Conservancy, POB 324, Davenport, California 95017 USA (E-mail: wallacejnichols@mac.com)

Venue and Theme: Our plans for the 28th Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation (STS) are coming together nicely. The Symposium will take place in the coastal town of Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico, from January 19-26, 2008. You may have heard that the symposium will be a different sort of gathering this year. It most definitely will, thanks to both the planning of the 2008 organizing committee, in Mexico and the U.S., and the venue itself. And there are a few things we hope that you will think about and do to make this a successful, unique and memorable week. This year’s theme will be Native Oceans. It asks us to consider the relationship between sea turtles and humans and celebrate and learn about the world’s turtle cultures, both past and present. We are making an extra effort to invite members of various indigenous groups working on sea turtle research and conservation programs. The Seri (Comcáac) Indians of Sonora, Mexico will share their leatherback ceremony throughout the STS. The Native Oceans theme also asks the question: “How many turtles were there?” Please consider taking some space in your presentation to describe your “baseline.” In Baja, we get some fascinating insights into the former abundance of sea turtles based on accounts of native people, explorers and missionaries as well as whalers and early turtle hunters. Combined, this information may give us a sense of what the ocean was once like. Another theme of the symposium this year is sustainability. This year we have an STS “green team” working on making the footprint of the meeting compatible with our values. We ask that you consider this as you make your plans to attend. Michael Coyne and the STS 2007 organizers have left us in good shape financially and have set a high bar for a smooth-running and fun meeting. We hope to build on that and send a healthy, green STS on to Australia in 2009.
Why Baja California? Ten years ago, I worked with STS President Alberto Abreu and Raquel Briseño to help organize the 18th STS in Mazatlán. Afterwards, I sincerely asked Alberto to stop me should we decide to take on the STS in Baja. Years later, here we are planning the 28th STS in Baja (Albertoooooo!!!!). However, the reasons for this are compelling. First, it is an ideal opportunity for the members of the STS from around the world to interact, share and learn with our colleagues on the Baja California Peninsula. What has happened on the peninsula over the past two decades is worth pondering and discussing: a grassroots sea turtle conservation movement emerged out of communities where turtles were hunted to the edge of extinction. We believe there are now many new opportunities for fruitful collaboration between you and our colleagues in northwest Mexico and I’d like the chance to introduce you to them. It’s likely that many members of the Grupo Tortuguero (the growing sea turtle network in northwest Mexico) would not normally attend the STS as many are fishers and low-income coastal residents and therefore wouldn’t be able to afford the travel or the time away from home. Bringing the STS to them in Baja seemed a good idea. In addition, this year the STS coincides with the tenth anniversary of the Grupo Tortuguero (you can read more at: ). Turtles are making a comeback in northwest Mexico and we’ll celebrate that together in Loreto. In a way, having the STS in Baja at the tenth anniversary of the Grupo Tortuguero is a gift to the people working on one of the “front lines” of sea turtle conservation. We think you’ll enjoy meeting them, and vice versa.

Another reason for hosting the meeting in Loreto is because this is the “Year of the Sea Turtle” in Mexico. As the region’s sea turtles return, people are faced with some new decisions about how to manage them. New marine protected areas and sea turtle reserves have been decreed while others have been proposed by fishers and coastal residents and supported by the state and federal governments. A new livelihood alternative associated with the protected areas is ecotourism. While visiting Baja you’ll have the chance to learn about the reserves and participate in an emerging ecotourism economy. We deliberately chose to hold the STS in the town of Loreto rather than one of the existing coastal mega-developments such as Cabo San Lucas. It’s my hope that the ISTS members will understand this choice as one in favor of spreading our dollars among many people and embracing a different model for tourism over the more convenient mega-resort choice. We want to be clear here that this choice begs your patience and planning as well as your responsibility for your own consumption and waste in order to be successful. Think: organic tequila, reusable cups, short showers, biodegradable soap, walks across the plaza and sustainable seafood! We hope that you come early to Baja and stay long. It is gray whale calving season on Baja’s Pacific coast, the birding is excellent and the towns, islands and bays of the peninsula are wonderful to explore. We know that members of the Grupo Tortuguero will be proud to share their work with you.

An Evolving Schedule of Events: The final schedule for the meeting is still under development. The following represents the current thinking of the organizers (regular updates will be posted on www.seaturtle.org and CTURTLE). Due to limited resources and space in Loreto, and in order to accommodate members who make their living as fishers during the week the Grupo Tortuguero/RETOMALA meeting and the STS/regional meetings will be staggered; however, people are welcome to stay for all of the meetings if desired.

Friday (pm), January 18:
• 10th Grupo Tortuguero & Latin American Sea Turtle Specialists (RETOMALA) Meeting – arrival and registration opens
• Pre-Symposium excursions

Saturday, January 19
• 10th Grupo Tortuguero & Latin American Sea Turtle Specialists
(RETOMALA) Meeting – continues
• Pre-Symposium excursions continue
• Registration for STS open

Sunday, January 20
• 10th Grupo Tortuguero & Latin American Sea Turtle Specialists (RETOMALA) Meeting – continues and concludes
• Pre-Symposium excursions continue
• Other Regional Meeting attendees arrive
• Registration for STS open

Monday, January 21
• Pre-Symposium excursions continue
• Other Regional Meetings (WIDECAST, IOSEA, Mediterranean, Africa, etc); Locations TBA
• Registration for STS open

Tuesday, January 22
• Pre-Symposium excursions continue and conclude
• Other Regional Meetings continue and conclude
• Registration for STS open
• Sea Turtles of the Californias session (morning)
• Welcome social & opening remarks, music; Main Plaza, Loreto
• Seri leatherback ceremony begins (4 days)
• Posters go up; Main Plaza and vicinity

Wednesday, January 23
• Poster and oral sessions; Main Plaza and Municipal Auditorium
• Workshops; Locations TBA

Thursday, January 24
• Poster and oral sessions; Reception and awards ceremony sponsored by Costa Rican Ministry of Environment and Energy; Tippling Turtle Bar

Friday, January 25
• Posters, oral sessions and workshops continue
• Awards Banquet, closing remarks

Saturday, January 26
• MTSG meeting
• Post-symposium excursions (go see the gray whales!)

Associated Events
One of the highlights of the meeting will be a minisymposium on binational sea turtle conservation and research in the Californias on Tuesday the 22nd; for more information, please contact Jeffrey Seminoff (E-mail: Jeffrey.Seminoff@noaa.gov). The 28th Symposium will also serve as the venue for the 10th Annual Meeting of the Grupo Tortuguero together with the meeting of Latin American Sea Turtle Specialists (RETOMALA), to take place in the Municipal Auditorium in Loreto. The coordinators for this meeting are Omar Chassin (E-mail: chassin@oikos.unam.mx) and Chuy Lucero (E-mail: chuy@grupotortuguero.org). As usual, the MTSG annual general meeting will occur the morning after the banquet, Saturday the 26th. We also welcome all other regional meetings (contact Jeffrey Seminoff to schedule special meetings and events).

Call For Papers, Posters and Resolutions: The program committee will review all abstracts received prior to 15 September 2007. Final details are still being worked out regarding the themes and chairs for the various sessions. Nonetheless, we would like to provide you now with the information required for abstract submission. We urge all potential presenters to review the Symposium website over the coming months to determine the oral or poster sessions most appropriate for their presentation, and we also request that you consider the theme of the Symposium, as described above – Native Oceans – as you conceive your topics for presentation. Use the Symposium web site: to access guidelines and to make your submission. If you wish to submit a Resolution to be considered by the Board of Directors of the ISTS please follow the guidelines on the Symposium website.

Symposium Registration: You must register to attend the Symposium and to submit an abstract. The preferred registration method is to use the Symposium’s web site . There you will find everything you need to know about the Symposium in addition to a user-friendly interface for registration.

Lodging and travel to the ISTS: The Organizers are currently negotiating discounted lodging and airfares, as well as a formal relationship with a travel provider that will allow for the purchase of tickets and the arrangement of pre- and post- symposium travel online. All STS travel and lodging as well as pre- and post- symposium travel will be coordinated by Journey Mexico (contact: Rebecca Scotti (rebecca@journeymexico.com). Because we are organizing such a large group of people and using every hotel, bus and taxi and plane in and to Loreto, we ask that you please coordinate your lodging and travel with Journey Mexico (contact: Rebecca Scotti (rebecca@journeymexico.com). Please keep an eye on CTURTLE, and future articles in the Marine Turtle Newsletter for updates on travel arrangements and tips.

Visas: Please begin the process of getting your visa and updating your passport NOW. If you envision that you may have difficulty obtaining a visa in your home nation, please seek advice from the ISTS website or the Symposium Organizing Committee, c/o Raquel Bernaldez (E-mail: rakelbkin@hotmail.com).

ISTS Travel Assistance: As in past years, the ISTS will provide support for a limited number of qualified presenters at the 28th Symposium from around the world. The deadline for submission of applications will be 15 September 2007. See the symposium website for more information: .

Conclusion. The ISTS Board of Directors, the Organizing Committee and I are all very excited about the 28th Symposium, and are working hard to assure that it will be both a wonderful experience for you, the participants, a positive event for the community of Loreto as well as advancement for the conservation of sea turtles in Baja and around the world. Check our website for regular updates and we will continue to provide additional information through CTURTLE and the MTN. We look forward to seeing you in Mexico next January.
Contacts for the 28th Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation:
ISTS President
Wallace J. Nichols - jnichols@oceanconservancy.org

Program Co-Chairs:
Jeffrey Seminoff - Jeffrey.Seminoff@noaa.gov & Raquel Briseño - raquel@servidor.unam.mx

Symposium Travel and Accommodations
Rebecca Scotti, Journey Mexico - rebecca@journeymexico.com

Symposium Coordinator (Mexico):
Raquel Bernaldez - rakelbkin@hotmail.com

International Travel Chair
Hoyt Peckham - hoyt@propeninsula.org

Welcome to Native Oceans

2007-12-01T22:30:00.000-08:00

Greetings and welcome to Native Oceans. This blog is here to introduce you to a collaborative conservation effort between indigenous and scientific communities. People are gathering from 70 countries to contribute to sea turtle conservation and the overall well-being of our oceans. This year, indigenous peoples are gathering from the world over to share their perspective with the scientific community and to deepen the dialogue about conservation work. It will be the first time that this has taken place, though this gathering has been happening for 28 years. Times are changing . . .