About the conference
Mediterranean Conferences on Marine Turtle: the Past and the Present
It has been 17 years since the 1st Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles in Rome 2001. However, the history of the Mediterranean Marine Turtle Conferences actually goes back 20 years ago. The organisation of a Mediterranean conference on marine turtles was proposed by the Secretariat of the Convention on Migratory Species (Bonn Convention) at the RAC/SPA meeting for the revision of the Action Plan for the Conservation of Mediterranean Marine Turtles in Arta, Greece in October 1998. The initiative was endorsed at the RAC/SPA Meeting of Experts for Priority Actions for the above-mentioned Action Plan (Tunis, February 1999), and the proposal was adopted formally by the Fourth Meeting of the National Focal Points for SPAs in the context of the Barcelona Convention (Tunis, April 1999). The Secretariat of the Bern Convention enthusiastically supported the idea, and eventually the above three supra-national Conventions (Barcelona, Bern, Bonn) proceeded in organizing the First Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles, which gathered over 170 registered participants from 18 countries.
The Mediterranean Conferences on Marine Turtles remained supported by the UNEP MAP-RAC/SPA, Bern Convention, Convention on Migratory Species and the IUCN/SSC Marine Turtles Specialist Group, and this tradition continues today. As the previous Conferences, this 6th Conference has the same mission: to gather those who share the common goal of the conservation of marine turtles and their environment, and to act as a platform for enhancing collaboration, exchanging ideas and sharing the state of the art knowledge on sea turtle biology and conservation in the Mediterranean.
With the 6th Conference we, however, intend to make a step further. Sea turtles share similar life histories, threats, and research and conservation challenges with other highly mobile marine megafauna. Yet, often, our collaboration with researchers and conservationists working with other large vertebrates, such as marine mammals, elasmobranchs or marine birds has been limited. But, it’s only by joining forces with our colleagues, who often we do not know even when they work close to us, we can move our research and conservation efforts to a higher level and reach our common goal: healthy marine ecosystems.
The 6th Conference aims to start bridging these gaps in the Mediterranean, and this is why the conference theme is “Building Synergies.” We will step out a little from our ‘sea turtle world’, by inviting our prominent colleagues working in the field of conservation science across multi taxa to join us, so that we can discuss collaborative opportunities which can benefit our common conservation goals.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
- Sea turtle researchers and conservation professionals.
- Large marine vertebrate researchers and conservation professionals.
- Students interested in research and conservation of marine turtles and large marine vertebrates in general.
- Local, regional and national authority representatives and stakeholders, having an interest in marine turtles and potential opportunities for future cooperation.
- Past and future sea turtle non-professionals and volunteers
- Environmentalist and environmental organizations active in the field of marine conservation.
Registration deadlines & Fees
| Registration Type | Fee (EUR) | Payment Deadline | Remark |
| Early Bird | 130 | 10th July 2018 | Mandatory for all non-student presenting authors |
| Regular | 180 | 1st October 2018 | |
| Student | 90 | 1st July 2018 | Mandatory for all student presenting authors |
| Accompanying person | 90 | 1st October 2018 | |
| Field Trip | 50 | 1st October 2018 | Visit to Sea Turtle Rescue Center of the Aquarium Pula and tour to Brijuni National Park |
Early bird, Regular and Student registration fees include all conference materials, coffee breaks, attendance to plenary talks, all conference sessions, workshops and social events (Welcome reception, Conference dinner).
Accompanying person registration fee includes attendance to welcome reception and conference dinner.
Attendance to the field trip is optional. Field trip program includes visit to Sea Turtle Rescue Center of the Aquarium Pula and guided tour to the Brijuni National Park, including a lunch in the historic center of the City of Pula.
IMPORTANT DATES
| Early Bird registration deadline | 10th July 2018 |
| Abstract submission deadline | 10th July 2018 |
| Registration fee payment deadline for presenting authors | 10th July 2018 |
| Travel grant application deadline | 10th July 2018 |
| Abstract acceptance notification | 15th August 2018 |
| Travel grant awards notification | 15th August 2018 |
| Regular registration deadline | 1st October 2018 |
| Registration deadlines for accompanying person | 1st October 2018 |
NOTE: In order for abstracts to be accepted, reviewed by the Scientific Committee, and included in the Conference program and the Book of abstracts, the registration fee payment deadline for all presenting authors is July 10th 2018 (student and non-student).
PAYMENTS
Payments should be done of the account of the Blue World Institute of Marine Research and Conservation. Two types of payment are possible:
- By credit card via Pay Pal
- Or by direct bank transfer.
For registration, payment and abstract submission click here.
PRESS PASS
Editors, press reporters and bloggers from verified media outlets will receive free editorial press badges. To obtain a press pass, a reporter should send a formal request to the Organizing Committee (medturtleconf2018@famnit.upr.si) at any time, but no later than 3 days before the conference.
CANCELLATION AND REFUND POLICY
Cancellation and refund request must be received in writing via e-mail (medturtleconf2018@famnit.upr.si). A processing fee of 40 EUROs will be charged for cancellations received until 31st August 2018. Refund requests will not be accepted after 31st August 2018. No refunds will be issued for no-shows. Allow up to four weeks for refunds to be processed.
Organizers & Supporters
Organizing institutions
Department of Biodiversity
Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies
University of Primorska
Koper, Slovenia, EU
Blue World Institute of Marine Research and Conservation
Veli Lošinj, Croatia, EU
President of conference
Bojan Lazar (University of Primorska)
Conference secretary
Matic Jančič (University of Primorska & Blue World Institute)
Travel grant chair
Aliki Panagopoulou (ARCHELON – the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece)
Steering committee
Bojan Lazar (University of Primorska)
Draško Holcer (Blue World Institute)
Lobna Ben Nakhla (UNEP MAP-RAC/SPA)
Veronique de Cussac (Bern Convention)
Organizing committee
Bojan Lazar (University of Primorska)
Draško Holcer (Blue World Institute)
Matic Jančič (University of Primorska & Blue World Institute)
Tilen Genov (University of Primorska)
Peter Glasnović (University of Primorska)
Aleš Oven (University of Primorska)
Mitja Tretjak (University of Primorska)
Živa Fišer Pečnikar (University of Primorska)
Manica Balant (University of Primorska)
Mateja Zekan (Blue World Institute)
Martina Lužnik (University of Primorska)
Supporting Organizations
UN Environmental Program – Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP-MAP)
Regional Activity Center for Specially Protected Areas (RAC-SPA)
Council of Europe – Bern Convention
IUCN/SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group (MTSG)
Sponsors
Wildlife Computers (WA, USA)
CLS – Collecte Localisation Satellites (France)
Lotek Wireless (ON, Canada)
Aquarium Pula (Croatia)
Brijuni National Park (Croatia)
Scientific Committee
Paolo Casale, co-chair (University of Pisa, Italy)
Bojan Lazar, co-chair (University of Primorska, Slovenia)
Mustapha Aksissou (Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Morocco)
Luis Cardona (University of Barcelona, Spain)
Sandra Hochscheid (Zoological Station Anton Dohrn, Italy)
Carlos Carreras (University of Barcelona, Spain)
Imed Jribi (University of Sfax, Tunisia)
Yakup Kaska (Pamukkale University, Turkey)
ALan F. Rees (University of Exeter, U.K.)
Oguz Turkozan (Adnan Menderes University, Turkey)
Travel grants
The organizers of the 6th Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles are pleased to announce that travel support is available to assist participants in their efforts to attend the meeting. Travel grants may include accommodation and/or cash award to partially cover transportation costs to the conference venue in Poreč, Croatia. Please note that these grants should not be expected to cover the full cost of travel and accommodation.
Priority for travel support will be given to students, those presenting papers or posters, and to individuals from under-represented countries. The organizers will look favorably upon those who demonstrate efforts to secure additional sources of travel funds or matching grants. If you are in need of assistance for travel to the conference, apply via the website before the deadline, 1st July 2018. No late applications will be considered.
Applicants should follow this procedure (for detailed guidelines see below):
- Register for the conference
- Complete the online travel grant application in full prior to the 1st July 2018 deadline.
- Submit your abstract to the conference for consideration*
* Chances of receiving a travel grant are greatly reduced if not intending to present a paper or poster
Awards will be announced by August 15th 2018. Please contact Aliki Panagopoulou (aliki@leatherback.org) with any questions. Grant recipients are expected to:
- attend the entire conference,
- volunteer for the conference where needed and
- provide proper acknowledgement of travel support to the conference organizers and sponsors.
Registration and abstract submission guidelines
Registration and abstract submission are organized through the provider Indico. In order to register and submit abstract, you should first signing in to Indico. If you don’t have an account, you are required to create one. Remember your sign-up details as you can use them to re-enter Indico to modify your registration details, modify your abstract submission or add an additional abstract.
All abstracts for oral or poster presentations must be submitted online through Indico system. Abstracts received via e-mail will not be considered.
REGISTRATION GUIDELINES
- Click here to sign in the Indico by entering your email and your password. If you don’t have an Indico account yet, you are required to create one.
- To create your account, fill out the Create a new Indico account form. Make sure that your personal details are correct, as the system will use it automatically to fill out some fields in the registration form. Remember your sign-up details as you can use them to re-enter Indico to modify your registration details, modify your abstract submission or add an additional abstract.
- You will receive a confirmation message to the e-mail address specified with instructions to complete your sign-up. If the e-mail does not appear in your inbox, please check your spam folder.
- Sign in the Indico website and click on Registration form
- Fill out all required fields in the registration form box.
- Choose the type of registration, select the appropriate registration fee and select whether you wish to attend at the field trip.
- In the Registration for workshops box select the workshops you wish to attend (attendance to all workshops is free).
- In the Travel grant application form:
- Select, whether you wish to apply for a grant or not.
- Provide a short justification on how attending the conference will help with your sea turtle research and/or conservation work.
- Please provide a detailed budget on estimated costs to attend the conference. Budget must include travel (airfare, train, bus etc.), accommodation, food costs.
- Provide names and contact information (e-mail) for two referees.
- Click Submit button, to finish your registration.
You will receive a confirmation e-mail with payment details.
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
- Follow this link to sign in the Indico (if you don’t have an account, see description above).
- Click on Abstract submission button
- Your submission must include:
- Presenters name and surname,
- A title and an abstract, which are limited to 250 and 2000 characters respectively,
- The list of authors, which should follow the template:
Surname Name (Initial)1, Surname Name (Initial)2 – e.g. Lazar B.1, Jančič M.2
Numbers represent the authors affiliation. When listing the authors, please use commas only. Please do not leave spaces between surname and number. - Authors affiliations, which should follow the template:
1Department, Institution, Street and street number, ZIP code and City, Country, 2Department, Institution, Street and street number, ZIP code and City, Country
e.g. 1Department of Biodiversity, Faculty of Matematichs, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, Glagoljaška 8, 6000 Koper, Slovenia
Numbers must match the authors and their affiliations. - Key words, limited to maximum of 5 words.
- Due to Indico requirements, you must also specify one Primary author.
- Click on Add primary author button and choose Search user.
- In the window that opens automatically, type the surname that you have used for creating Indico account into Family name
- Click Search button and select your account in the results displayed below by clicking on it.
- Click Add button to finish. Your name and affiliation should be listed.
- To edit your submission, you must be Logged into Indico system. Click on the “View my abstracts” button and select the abstract you wish to modify. Click “Submit” button to save the changes you have made. Saving a revised version overwrites and replaces the existing one. The abstract for review can be updated until the extended submission deadline 10 July 2018.
Authors retain the copyright to all submitted work. By submitting the abstract authors accept that the title, abstract and author names are included in the conference program, book of abstracts and publicly displayed on the web. Each submission must have a designated presenter.
The same presenting author can submit maximum 2 abstracts and can give maximum 1 oral presentation.
It is recommended that you write your submission in whichever text editor you prefer and copy it into appropriate fields in the Abstract submission form on the web page. Make sure that your submission complies with the character limits, as the system will not allow longer submissions.
EXAMPLE OF ABSTRACT FORMAT
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF MARINE CONSERVATION SCIENCE: TOWARDS EDUCATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING IN INTEGRATED EVIDENCE-BASED MARINE CONSERVATION
Lazar B.1,2, Jančič M.1,3, Mackelworth P.1,3, Heppell S.S.4, Heppel S.A.4
1Department of Biodiversity, Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, Glagoljaška 8, 6000 Koper, Slovenia, 2Blue World Institute of Marine Research and Conservation, Kaštel 24, HR-51551Veli Lošinj, Croatia, 3Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, 104 Nash Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
The world’s oceans …
NOTICE OF ABSTRACT ACCEPTANCE
Final decisions on abstract acceptance will be made by the Scientific Committee. All presenting authors will be notified of the acceptance of their oral or poster presentations by 15th August 2018.
Guidelines for presenters
Official Conference language is English. All oral presentations and posters are expected to be prepared and presented in English.
ORAL PRESENTATIONS
Oral presentations will be limited to 15 minutes: 10-12 minutes for presentation and 3-5 minutes for questions. Oral presentations will be grouped by topic. If your abstract is accepted but cannot be accommodated as an oral presentation, we may offer you the opportunity to present it as a poster and vice versa.
Conference center is equipped with a computer and a projector. The projectors in the Conference center support either 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio and has high resolution output.
Supported software for presentations are Microsoft Office PowerPoint and Prezi. To avoid technical problems, it is recommended that presentations are uploaded to the on-site computer, not streamed from a USB-stick or Cloud.
Unfortunately, we will not be able to support Keynote software on-site. So, in case a presenter uses Apple computers (Mac) and Keynote software to create presentations it is imperative that they convert their presentation(s) into MS PowerPoint or Prezi format prior to the conference. In case of any difficulties with conversion, the presenter should contact the organisers, who will provide the technical assistance.
For presentations including videos or photos, presenters should use the video and photo integration format built into PowerPoint or Prezi in order to create a seamless presentation with minimal delays. Please keep a copy of all photos and videos used in your presentation in a folder with the presentation to reduce the risk that the presentation is unable to fetch the photo or video data. For videos, use standard formats such as .MP4, .MOV, .AVI, and .WMA with high resolution (i.e. 720p or 1080p.)
POSTER PRESENTATIONS
Poster presentations are a visual, concise way to showcase research and projects, exhibited for informal browsing. In this way the presenter has the opportunity to interact with their audience.
To create an appealing poster, sufficently large fonts should be used and text should be limited to brief statements. Altogether, the poster should present the main results of your work. Large images and graphic representations of your data are recommended. Remember, that a presenter will have enough time to explain his/her work next to the poster, but the poster itself is the key to bringing the audience closer.
Posters will be displayed on the poster boards, that fit posters with maximum dimensions of 80cm x 110cm, portrait orientation.
Poster session will not overlap with any other session, so the presenter should plan and be present at poster(s) throughout the session.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POSTER PRESENTERS
- TITLE
The title of the poster should be short but descriptive. Font size should be sufficient that it can be read from 10 feet (3m). 72 point is suggested. - TEXT SIZE
The main text of the poster should be in a font large enough to be read from 1m distance. A font size between 18 and 24 point (6-8mm) is recommended; secondary text (such as acknowledgements and literature cited) may be slightly smaller but no text should be smaller than 14 point (5mm).
- FIGURES
Posters should include figures that illustrate key methods, findings or examples from the study. All text within figures, graphs, charts and tables should be large enough to be read from 3 feet (1m). Use graphs or charts instead of tables whenever possible to make your data easier to “get” at a glance. Remember to use standard deviation/error bars in your graphs and scale bars in your photographs/micrographs. Use arrows to draw attention to specific details in images. - TOPIC
Stick to only one idea/topic in your poster. Including too much information not directly related to your central idea often confuses and frustrates readers. - FLOW
Organize your poster into sections and arrange those sections so that it is easy to follow the “flow” of your presentation. If you refer to figures, make it easy to find those figures and return to the starting point in the text quickly.
STUDENT AWARDS
The Scientific Committee will choose among all oral and poster presentations, and award the best three student presentations.
Nominations for president of the 7th Conference
Call for proposals for a President and host of the 7th Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles (2021)
In agreement with the secretariats of conventions supporting organization of Mediterranean Marine Turtle Conferences and IUCN/SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group, we are opening a call for the president and principle organizer of the next, 7th Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles in 2021!
Until now, conference presidents were selected by a six-member Nominating Committee appointed by the conventions. In order to make the selection process more transparent and democratic, the conventions and MTSG agreed to change the selection procedure. Therefore, the next president will be elected by secret ballot voting, by participants of the 6th Conference in Porec.
On behalf of the conventions, we invite all of you interested in organizing this important event for sea turtle researchers and conservationists in the Mediterranean to submit your nomination proposal for president and host of the 7th Mediterranean Marine Turtle Conference.
The President is responsible for the preparation, organization and running of the Conference in collaboration with the Secretariats of the conventions. The candidate for the President should satisfy the following basic criteria in order to be considered eligible as the principal organizer:
- He/she should be established and well known expert within the Mediterranean sea turtle community, willing to undertake all responsibilities related to organization and realization of the conference, including fund-raising, preparation of the conference program and proceedings, and communication.
- He/she should have adequate institutional backing (e.g., University, NGO), the main use of it being available to receive funds and clearing up the finances of the conference, in compliance with the accounting procedures and financial laws in the respective country.
- He/she should indicate the location of the conference and the existence of the appropriate facilities (i.e. conference venue, accommodation facilities), preferably close to an international airport and well connected.
The proposals should mandatory contain the following information:
- Name, surname, institution position and CV of a candidate for the conference president;
- Description of the institution background and available organizational support, including fund-raising possibilities;
- Description of organizing plans, location, travel possibilities and available venues.
Applications containing all requested information should be sent by e-mail to medturtleconf2018@famnit.upr.si.
The application deadline is October 17th 2018, 12:00 h, CET. All applications will be uploaded on web page of the 6th Conference (marine-turtles.eu).
The next president will be elected through secret ballot voting by all registered participants of the 6th Conference, on October 18th. The election process will be supervised by the conference Steering Committee. The president and host of the next, 7th conference will be officially announced at the banquet dinner on the same day, and through the MedTurtle list server.
We encourage all of you interested in organizing this important event to submit your proposals within the above deadline.
If you have any question, we will be happy to assist you!
Mustapha Aksissou: Proposal for hosting 7th Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles (download)
Aliki Panagopoulou: Proposal for hosting 7th Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles (download)
UNIVERSITY OF PRIMORSKA • UNIVERSITA DEL LITORALE •UNIVERZA NA PRIMORSKEM
Department of Biodiversity
Faculty of Matematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies
Glagoljaška 8, SI-6000 Koper, Slovenia, EU
Tel +386 5 6117 570, Fax +386 5 6117 571
info@famnit.upr.si