Management Options 



A Philosophical Approach to Population Models 

 (Nathaniel B. Frazer) 



Before I begin my discussion of management options, let me 

 take just a few minutes to put some things into perspective. 

 You've come to this symposium for many different reasons and from 

 many different walks of life. We've spent the last few days 

 discussing virtually every aspect of sea turtle management, 

 biology and conservation. Let me assure you that it is not my 

 intent to review or to repeat all that has been said. But before 

 we decide what our management options are, we must decide what 

 our management objectives are, and why we think it's important to 

 manage sea turtles in the larger context of things. 



I will limit my remarks to a consideration of management 

 options only insofar as they relate to developing and caring for 

 sea turtle populations as potentially renewable natural 

 resources, for it seems to me that most of the national 

 representatives gathered here today are looking for guidance 

 concerning this approach to sea turtle management and 

 conservation. 



The manager of any natural resource must be concerned with 

 several aspects of management. None of us operates in a vacuum, 

 and each of us attempts to respond to the many, often 

 conflicting, demands of society and of the natural world. The 

 manager's concerns include, but are not limited to, the 

 political, social, and economic needs of people as well as the 

 biological requirements of the resource base. 



Natural resource management requires many talents, and 

 managers must display great patience and exercise skilled 

 judgement. It's not a job for the weak-willed or for the faint- 

 hearted. In attempting to manage a resource, we must make rules 

 and regulations that are directed at our fellow human beings. We 

 usually would not attempt to legislate behavioral changes in the 

 resource itself. In the case of sea turtles, I would borrow a 

 phrase from fisheries management and say that "Management plans 

 manage people, not turtles." 



Anyone who has been involved in policy analysis or 

 implementation knows clearly that managing people requires 

 compromise. 



Fishermen — both artisanal and commercial — perceive that they 

 need to catch fish (or turtles) . From the standpoint of the 

 resource manager, fishermen may view that the fish (or turtles) 

 exist only for their use, and that there should be no limit to 

 the degree to which they can utilize the resource. Even when 



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