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Fishery Bulletin 102(2) 



gear. Since 2001, Projeto TAMAR has been developing and 

 implementing (through partnerships with other institu- 

 tions) an action plan whose main objective is to reduce 

 incidental sea turtle capture, including captures occurring 

 in the open sea (Marcovaldi et al., 2002). The action plan 

 includes, among other things, an assessment of fishery- 

 related sea turtle mortality, the development of mitigation 

 methods, and a proposal of adequate conservation and 

 enforcement policies (Marcovaldi et al., 2002). However, 

 because the longline fleet is composed of vessels from many 

 nations, the reduction of incidental capture in the open sea 

 calls for international cooperation ( Eckert and Sarti, 1997; 

 Trono and Salm, 1999; Crowder, 2000). 



The observations reported in this study and the pres- 

 ence of a sizable longline fleet operating in the southwest- 

 ern Atlantic indicate 1) the need for research to clarify 

 habitat use by sea turtles in that part of the ocean (Eckert 

 and Sarti, 1997; Bolten et al., 1998), 2) the need for contin- 

 ued research to quantify the impact of longline fishing on 

 sea turtles in the pelagic realm of that ocean (Balazs and 

 Pooley, 1994; Eckert, 1994), and 3) the implementation of 

 conservation measures for sea turtles in that environment. 

 We suggest the implementation of an International Ob- 

 servers Program on board longliners operating throughout 

 the South Atlantic ocean. 



Acknowledgments 



This note is the result of observations made possible 

 through an agreement between the REVIZEE Program 

 (National Program for the Assessment of the Sustain- 

 able Fishing Potential of the Exclusive Economic Zone 

 Live Resources, a Brazilian Government program) and 

 Projeto TAMAR's station at Ubatuba, State of Sao Paulo. 

 We would like to thank Jose Kowalsky of the Kowalsky 

 fishing company and Marcelino Talavera (Itajai, State of 

 Santa Catarina), owners of the vessels Yamaya III and 

 Basco, respectively, for kindly allowing access to the fish- 

 ing vessels, and the crew of the two longliners, and also 

 the fishing research center Centro de Pesquisa e Extensao 

 Pesqueira do Sudeste-Sul-CEPSUL/IBAMA ( Itajai, State 

 of Santa Catarina), and particularly Jorge Almeida de 

 Albuquerque, for making this research possible. We also 

 thank Larisa Avens and Matthew Godfrey for their gener- 

 ous reviews of the paper, and the two anonymous referees, 

 whose suggestions helped to improve our work. Projeto 

 TAMAR is affiliated with IBAMA (the Brazilian Institute 

 for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), 

 is co-managed by Fundacao Pro-TAMAR, and officially 

 sponsored by Petrobras. In Ubatuba. TAMAR is supported 

 by Ubatuba's municipal government ( Prefeitura Municipal 

 de Ubatuba). S.S. and V.G.A. were supported by CNPq 

 (Brazilian National Research Council). 



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