The 6th Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles, organised by the Department of Biodiversity of the Univerza na Primorskem / University of Primorska, in collaboration with the Blue World Institute of Marine Research and Conservation was held in Poreč, Croatia, between 16-19 October 2018. It gathered about 170 participants from all over the Mediterranean and world who share the common goal: the conservation of marine turtles and their environment.

The Conference theme was “Building Synergies”, as it hosted prominent colleagues working in the field of conservation science across multi taxa (marine mammals, elasmobranchs or marine birds) with the common goal: healthy marine ecosystems. Oral and poster presentations were assigned into five thematic sessions: Population Biology and Ecology, At Sea Distribution and Movements, Conservation and Monitoring, Health and Rehabilitation, Threats. On the 2nd day of the Conference dr.sc. Peter Mackelworth (BWI Conservation director), prof. Jelena Basta (BWI Education director), and dr.sc. Draško Holcer (BWI president) organized the workshop „Whose biodiversity, whose value? Engaging with stakeholders to understand their perceptions“. The conference was concluded by the field trip and promotion of the newly developed GPS GSM tags for tracking the sea turtles.

The conference has been supported also by Hrvatski prirodoslovni muzej – HPM, SPA RAC, Bern Convention: Protecting Europe’s biodiversity and IUCN Marine turtles specialist group.