World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

.INTRODUCTIONSCOPE AND METHODSThe present study was undertaken by the lUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre,under contract to the Secretariat of CITES, primarily between 1 July 1986and 30 April 1987. A draft report was submitted to the CITES Secretariat inJuly 1987. The draft was revised following review, and new data that becameavailable up to 1 November 1988 were incorporated.The primary objectives of the project were as follows:(i) To collect and collate the best available data relating to the statusand distribution of significant populations of Chelonia mydas andEretmochelys imbricata , assess trends in the size of each such population,and identify the reasons for such trends where possible.(ii) To examine the best available data relating to the trade in the twospecies, including their parts and derivatives, and so far as possibleassess the impact of such trade on populations.(iii) To make recommendations for consideration by CITES Parties for eachpopulation, relating to its overall management, to endeavour to ensure itscontinuance at an optimum level, and to the extent to which any exploitationby farming, ranching or culling is consistent with such management.The third objective listed above not only touches on a number of highlycontroversial topics, but is in fact impossible to meet with the degree ofprecision that would be desirable. This arises in part from a lack ofdetailed information on population numbers and trends (this applies to manyC. mydas populations and to E. imbricata almost throughout its range), andin part from the still poorly-known pattern of sea turtle populationdynamicsThere are insurmountable difficulties involved in attempting to develop firmand quantified management procedures for an animal that mainly and mostpredictably enters mankind's perception of the world only while on thenesting beach; and this involves only one sex, one age group of that sex,and a virtually unknown proportion of that age group (in other words, themature females that are reproductively active in any given season).Clearly, management of sea turtles will bear little resemblance tomanagement of, for example, terrestrial ungulates, where in some casesvirtually the entire local population can be enumerated, aged, sexed, andthe reproductive value of individual animals assessed. Given thesepractical limitations, the management recommendations that can be made aregeneral principles, based on the facts of turtle biology and what is knownof the effects of exploitation on turtle populations, notpopulation-specific management programmes based on a detailed assessment ofindividual turtle stocks.A questionnaire designed to elicit basic information, and to apprise us ofrecent research, was circulated to the Management Authorities of all statesParty to CITES and to a number of other individuals. Particular issues werepursued by more detailed correspondence, and by literature search. Alltrade in Chelonia mydas , Eretmochelys imbricata or Cheloniidae recorded inCITES Annual Reports between 1977 and 1985 (reports received before March1987) was analysed and trade in turtle products recorded in publishedCustoms statistics was also considered.