For decades ARCHELON has been at the forefront of global research and conservation of sea turtles. During the 1990’s our members participated in the elaboration of the Global Strategy for the Conservation of Marine Turtles, with the understanding that without active intervention and management, marine turtle populations would be expected to continue their decline to extinction. The Strategy was published in 1995 by the Marine Turtle Specialist Group- MTSG of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), covering a wide thematic range from research and monitoring to funding for marine turtle conservation. https://www.iucn.org/resources/publication/global-strategy-conservation-marine-turtles

The Strategy provided the necessary guidance for main research and conservation activities, so that sea turtle populations would fulfill their ecological role. In order to achieve this goal, it is important that the institutions dealing with sea turtle conservation collect data with a specific methodology so that results can be quality controlled and comparable. The Marine Turtle Specialist Group later on, in 1999, published the Research and Management Techniques for the Conservation of Marine Turtles https://www.iucn-mtsg.org/techniques-manual-english.

The guidebook describes the appropriate methodology in different research themes and is essential for every scientist or scientific organization dealing with sea turtles. Today, 25 years after its first edition, the second- revised – edition of the guidebook is under elaboration by the MTSG. The revision was deemed necessary as there are new developments in research and conservation methods as well as the relevant technology.

Three collaborators of ARCHELON are currently participating in the writing of the revised guidebook. Alan F. Rees is contributing on the Chapter about the use of drones in research, Aliki Panagopoulou is writing on the methods for sociological research (questionnaires, interviews etc.) and Kostas Papafitsoros is contributing to the techniques for photo- identification of sea turtles at sea. All three subjects are related to very important new research and conservation tools. Alan will also be one of the editors of the revised guidebook. We are proud for all three of them, for, not only they provide scientific support to the projects of ARCHELON every year, but they also contribute to this very important publication and the further systematization of data collection and research on sea turtles.