In 1979 Japanese fishing vessels began using monofilament mesh driftnets to catch squid in international waters north-west of the Hawaiian Islands, between 35° and 45° N. This new fishery threatens the survival of leatherback turtles Dermochelys coriacea in their North Pacific feeding grounds and migration routes. It is only recently that the existence of leatherbacks in this remote oceanic area has been discovered and made known.

The progressive loss of marshes, bogs and others wetlands through drainage and “improvement” led the Executive Board and the Ecology Commission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature to undertake a special project—project MAR—on the conservation and management of temperate wetlands. As with their African Special Project, the work is divided into three stages. First came the collection of data on the status and importance of wetlands and the methods by which they might most profitably be conserved: also the compiling of an inventory of important wetland areas in Europe and north-west Africa.

Early in 1971 the pygmy hog, widely believed by scientists to be extinct (though many people in the Himalayan foothills must have known otherwise) was ‘re-discovered’ in the Manas Sanctuary in north-west Assam (Oryx September 1971). Since then attempts to breed the species in captivity have been largely unsuccessful, and nothing has been done to protect them in the wild.

The author, who has studied and advised on wildlife management and park problems in Africa, describes some of the differences he noted in India. He looks at the effects of management in Kanha National Park, where the bans on stock grazing and tree felling and the removal of villages have benefited two endangered species—tiger and barasingha—and shows the need for more study and understanding of the large herbivores in order to manage the park successfully.

The Mediterranean flora is characterized by a high number of narrow endemic plant species that are often restricted to a few small populations. One of these species, Valeriana amazonum, a perennial plant occurring only in the Supramontes region of central eastern Sardinia, is categorized as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List because of its restricted range, small population size and an inferred decline caused by several threats. During 2007–2022, we monitored all mature individuals of this plant annually and surveyed ecologically suitable sites for the species. We identified two previously unknown populations and also learnt of two successful translocations carried out independently by an unknown local citizen. As our monitoring data indicate there has been no decline in the number of mature individuals over the period of monitoring, the species’ conservation status requires reassessment. We recommend that V. amazonum should be recategorized as Near Threatened as it seems to be poorly known rather than highly threatened. This could also be the case with other narrow Mediterranean endemics, especially those that grow in inaccessible habitats for which long-term studies are needed to assess conservation status.

It is, I think, common knowledge that in the course of the war the defences of Gibraltar were strengthened, the garrison reinforced, and the civilian population largely evacuated. But there was another notable measure taken which, so far as I know, has escaped publicity. It is not easy to come by information on the affairs of Gibraltar, but the local belief is that during a brief official visit to the Rock, Mr. Churchill became aware that the famous Apes had so decreased in numbers as to make their continued existence precarious. Conscious, no doubt, of our Society's good purpose, and aware, perhaps, of the age-long belief that if ever the Apes should come to an end a like fate would befall our possession of Gibraltar, the Prime Minister gave an urgent order that the Apes should be increased by such a number as would ensure their preservation. This was done by an importation of monkeys of the same species (Macaca, sylvana) from Barbary, across the Straits, and these are now, to all appearance, well established in their new home. Their location is about half-way up the Rock, and accessible by road. A soldier of the garrison has charge of them and notice boards here and there request visitors “not to touch or feed the roaming Apes”, but in practice no objection is made if anyone wishes to give them fruit. Judging by the number of young ones, the Apes have multiplied since their arrival and the total colony appears to amount now to about twenty.

Is bushmeat just another conservation bandwagon?

There is currently great interest in the sustainability of bushmeat hunting (bushmeat being any wild animal by hunted for human consumption). All the big conservation ‘players’ have contributed to the debate, issued statements or funded research. IUCN's World Conservation Congress in October 2000 and the CITES Bushmeat Conference of the Parties in April 2000 both discussed bushmeat. Both organisations have since sponsored initiatives in West and Central Africa aimed at obtaining action on the issue. Major conservation organisations are funding research, including the Wildlife Conservation Society (which has a long track-record in this field) and Conservation International. The World Bank has commissioned a major report on the issue (Bennett & Robinson, 2000). Fauna & Flora International (FFI) is a partner in a UK government-commissioned project identifying priority research areas. Conservation organisations have formed the US-based Bushmeat Crisis Task Force (see http://www.bushmeat.org), of which FFI is a member, and the UK-based Bushmeat Working Group of the Tropical Forest Forum (see http://www.forestforum.org.uk), where academic conservationists and government policy makers can exchange experience and ideas.

Last year the Indian Government imposed a total ban on the export of tiger and leopard skins, and goods made from such skins. Also all the Indian states banned tiger shooting — none too soon — and possibly too late, for the latest census figures suggest that tigers may now have dropped as low as 1500 for the whole of India. In this article, written in the first place for the Junior Statesman in India, Anne Wright, our FPS correspondent in India and a member of the Cat Group of the Survival Service Commission, who lives hi Calcutta, describes what she saw on several visits to the back streets of Calcutta. This explains one of the biggest drams on tigers and leopards in India.

Krill fishing in the Southern Ocean has raised in acute form the question of wildlife conservation in Antarctica: what will be the effect on the ecosystem? how much krill can be taken? who can take part? what regulations are needed? The author, a scientist of the British Antarctic Survey, considers the answers in the light of the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 and the Canberra Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources of 1980, and looks at some criticisms of the latter put forward in a recently published book. He suggests that the Convention, while not ideal, is to be welcomed because it provides a framework for conservation and rational exploitation that can be made to work – if the nations that signed it are determined to make it do so.