Sea Turtle Recovery Action Plan for St. Kitts and Nevis - WIDECAST

St. Kitts and Nevis Sea Turtles…
It is a recommendation of this Recovery Action Plan that Government approach the
challenge of enforcement with a unified attitude. Fisheries Officers cannot shoulder the burden
alone -- even if they had the power to arrest, which they do not. Administrative, judicial, and
police cooperation are essential.
4.23 Propose new regulations where needed
In keeping with the long-standing OECS position that the harvest of endangered sea
turtles and the collection of their eggs should be phased out in OECS member States (and
throughout the Caribbean region), the draft Fisheries Regulations of 1992 prohibit persons from
fishing for, taking, selling, purchasing or possessing any turtle or part thereof; disturbing, taking,
selling, purchasing or possessing any turtle eggs; or interfering with any turtle nest (see section
4.21). It is a recommendation of this Recovery Action Plan that the Government adopt and
implement these regulations and that the ban remain in effect until such time as credible
scientific studies show that a regulated take will not adversely effect sea turtle populations. The
persistent decline of sea turtles in St. Kitts/Nevis and throughout the region is a reflection of
more than a century of harvest -- especially of eggs and egg-bearing females -- with no regard
for natural population sizes or rates of recruitment. In light of the depleted status of remaining
sea turtle stocks, there is no credible alternative to a moratorium if the long-term objective is to
retain sea turtles as a vibrant component of the local fauna. It is noteworthy that recovery will be
slow, even if a moratorium was enforced immediately. Sexual maturity in Caribbean sea turtles
is often not attained before 20-35 years of age. Thus, the fruit of the conservation agenda we
adopt today will not be fully seen until our smallest children are grown.
4.231 Eggs
Female turtles produce hundreds and often thousands of eggs over the course of their
reproductive years. Each turtle lays several clutches of eggs during the years in which she is
reproductively active. Furthermore, it is common for females tagged on the nesting beach to be
seen nesting regularly (generally every 2-3 years) for a decade or more, laying literally thousands
of eggs. Only a fraction of these eggs will hatch and very few hatchlings will survive the
decades preceding sexual maturity. High productivity on the part of the females serves to
balance high natural rates of young juvenile mortality. It is vital that eggs laid on the beaches of
St. Kitts and Nevis be allowed to incubate undisturbed so that as many hatchlings as possible are
produced. Even under the best of circumstances, the measurable recovery of depleted sea turtle
stocks will come slowly. Without sufficient recruitment into local nesting populations, these
populations will diminish until they are completely gone. It is an unambiguous biological fact
that the continued over-harvest of eggs will guarantee the extinction of local nesting populations,
regardless of any other conservation measures. Therefore, it must be a recommendation of this
Recovery Action Plan that the draft Fisheries Regulations of 1992, which include full protection
for sea turtle eggs, be adopted and implemented without delay.
4.232 Immature turtles
Any continued harvest of the already depleted sea turtle resource is viewed as
counter-productive to the objective of sustained recovery of local sea turtle populations. An in-
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