World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

BURMAegg collection, now support minimal nesting, or no nesting at all. Forexample:a. Offshore islands on the southern Arakan coast between Ngapyawchaung andPagoda Point: around 47 000 eggs collected annually at the turn of thecentury (Maxwell, 1911), equivalent to perhaps 140 females nesting in aseason, now nesting is "very rare" (source in Salter, 1982).b. Thamihla Kyun: Complete records are available from the 188S-1886 season(Maxwell, 1911: p. 7). In that season, nestings numbered 19 993, with2 337,000 eggs collected (virtually all C. mydas according to Maxwell),representing perhaps more than 6500 females. Total annual eggproduction was relatively steady at around 1 600 000 in the 1890s.representing about 4800 adult females a season (see Table 31). Theequivalent figures from the present egg harvest of 200 000 (Salter,1983) are 1818 nests and 606 females, indicating a decline of around 90%over the past 80 years.Nesting season On Thamihla Kyun, some nesting occurs all year, but mostis between July and November with the peak in October. Nesting is greatestduring the monsoon or rains generally (Maxwell, 1911: p. 8).Foraging sites No precise information, but see next paragraph.Migration No data are available, but Maxwell (1911: p. 11) stated: "Istrongly suspect that the Andaman group is their (primary) habitat and thatDiamond Island is only visited for the purpose of depositing their eggs.Notwithstanding the hundreds that lay there, the reptile herself Is rarelymet with off the coast of Burma". Maxwell envisaged a gradient ofabundance, centred on the Andamans (India) and progressively decreasingthrough the Cocos and Preparls groups, to Diamond Island (Thamihla Kyun).POPULATION : Eretmochelys imbricataNesting sites Nesting Is sparse and scattered, (Maxwell, 1911: p. 13),except on a small Island in the Bawmi area, Bassein district (Arakan).Salter (1983: p. 46) notes reports from Cheduba Island (north Arakan coast),Irrawaddy Delta islands (including Thamihla, Leikthaung, Kadonlay andGayedgyi), and the Mergui Archipelago (south Tenasserim).Nesting numbers "Very rare" (Maxwell, 1911) or "apparently uncommon andof limited distribution (Salter, 1983). On the island in the Bawml areacited by Maxwell some 10 000 eggs were laid a season, representing perhaps100 nests and around 30 females, in the early years of this century. Noother details available.Trends in nesting numbers No details available, but has probably sharedin the decline of other sea turtles in Burma (a decline of about 90% overthe present century in the case of Green Turtles).Nesting seasonJune-September.THREATSThe reported near-total harvest of eggs is constituting an acute threat tothe population. The fact that the Thamihla Kyun population has declined by113