Management Requirements: Basic needs are to: monitor occurrences; enforce protective regulations; conduct educational programs regarding sea turtles, particularly in Mexico, South America, and Malaysia; enact beach lighting ordinances; keep traffic off beaches; remove nest predators (e.g., raccoons, canids, coatis) if needed.

Frazer (1992) emphasized the primary need for clean and productive marine and coastal environments; installation of turtle excluder devices in shrimp trawl nets and use of low pressure sodium lighting on beaches were suggested as appropriate sea turtle conservation technologies, whereas headstarting, captive breeding, and hatcheries were regarded as ineffective at best.

See NMFS (Federal Register, 19 December 1996, pp. 66933-66947) for recent amendments to regulations pertaining to the use of turtle excluder devices along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of the southeastern U.S.

At Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Virgin Islands, nest relocations and protection from poaching possibly have resulted in a doubling of the number of emerging hatchlings (Boulon et al. 1996).

See Chan (1989) for information on handling eggs and artificial incubation.

A recovery plan is available for marine turtles: see Marine Turtle Recovery Team (1984). For detailed information on management and recovery, see also the recovery plans for the St. Croix population (1981), U.S. Pacific populations (NMFS 1998), and South Florida population (USFWS 1998).

Management Research Needs: Determine sustainability of egg harvest. Information needed on ecology, demographics, and migratory movements. Determine nest site tenacity.

Biological Research Needs: Better information is needed on ecology, demographics, migratory movements, nest site tenacity, bycatch, survivorship rates, and the status of stocks throughout the range.