World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

BERMUDAPOPULATION:Chelonia mydasNesting sites There is probably no nesting on Bermuda today. Bacon(1981) considered nesting to be occasional but cited only one incident ofGreen Turtle nesting, at Warwick in 1955. There are no other availablereports of Green Turtle nesting on Bermuda.Nesting numbers See above.Trends in nesting numbers As early as 1620 Green Turtles had becomesufficiently rare for the Bermuda assembly to pass an act prohibiting thekilling of turtles less than 18" (45.7 cm) in width or length (see King,1982). Turtle fishing continued, however; the rookery aggregations becameextinct and by 1934 no turtles at all nested on Bermuda (King, 1982).Foraging sites Foraging Green Turtles were reported to be of mediumabundance (Burnett-Herkes in litt , 18 November 1986). Burnett-Herkes(1984) also reported over 1000 Green Turtles to be foraging around theBermuda Islands.POPULATION : Bretmochelys ImbrlcataNesting sites Burnett-Herkes in litt. (18 November 1986) reported noHawksbills nesting on Bermuda. Bacon (1981), however, considered nesting ofthis species to be occasional but did not cite any examples.Nesting numbers See above.Foraging sites Foraging Hawksbills were reported to be of low abundance(Burnett-Herkes in litt. , 18 November 1986). Burnett-Herkes (1984) alsoreported the number of Hawksbills foraging around Bermuda to be greater than50.EXPLOITATIONBurnett-Herkes ( in litt. , 18 November 1986) stated that there was no harvestof indigenous sea turtle populations in Bermuda. In the past, Green Turtleswere caught in nets, harpooned, and captured when they came ashore to nest(King, 1982). German (1884, cited in King, 1982) reported that two boatswere able to catch 40 turtles a day but 50 years later only 20-60 immatureturtles were netted annually (Rebel, 1974, cited in King, 1982). In 1970,25 immature turtles were captured (King, 1982).CITES Annual Reports for the period 1977-1985 record exports to Bermuda oftwo bodies and four shells of C. mydas from the Cayman Islands and 2000 eggs( C. mydas ) from Costa Rica; the import to Bermuda of 960 cans of soup fromthe UK; and the import from Bermuda by the USA of 25 "specimens" ofC. mydas . Bermuda is covered by the UK's ratification of CITES (2 August1976).RANCHING/HATCHERIESAn experimental hatchery has been operated at Castle Harbour since 1967 inan attempt to re-establish wild turtle populations.97