World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

CHINA,PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OFPOPULATION :Chelonia mydasNesting sites The species occurs widely through the South China Seas,and has been recorded in waters off the Chinese mainland from ShandongProvince south and west to Guangdong Province, also Hainan Island and theDongsha, Xisha and Nansha island groups. Nesting, however, appears to belargely restricted to the islands, and only the Xisha (Paracel) Islands areat present k.nown to hold significant numbers (Huang Chu-Chien, 1982; Frazierand Frazier, 198S). Nesting is sporadic and of little significance onHainan and on the mainland (Frazier and Frazier, 1985) with the exception ofHuidong County (where the nesting beach was declared a Nature Reserve in1984). Some nesting also occurs in Huiyang and Haifeng Counties. All knownmainland and Island nest sites are within Guangdong Province (Wang Xiaoyanin lltt. . 20 November 1986).Nesting numbers The only detailed information on nesting numbers, seeTable 40, concerns the protected turtle beach In Huidong County.Table AC. Nesting data from Huidong Nature Reserve (Wang Xiaoyanin lltt. , 20 tlovember 1986) (n.b. it seems possible that data in columns twoand three have been transposed; as given, hatching success would have beenover 90%, whereas the 55-60% rate indicated if the figures were transposedwould be closer to the mean value for several C. mydas sites).Year Nesting Nests Hatchllngsfemales1985 87 47 39331986 122 78 7490Elsewhere on the mainland, possibly around a dozen C. mydas nest betweenFujlan and Hainan Island; very few, if any, appear to nest on Hainan Itself(Frazier and Frazier, 1985), but numbers nesting In the Xisha group aresuspected to be large (Frazier and Frazier, 1985, Huang Chu-Chien, 1982).Turtle fishery data (Table 41) Indicate that a few hundred turtles (notexluslvely C. mydas , but probably mainly this species) have been caughtannually in the Xisha region over the past two decades, suggesting thatannual nesting numbers here may be in the low hundreds. There is noinformation on numbers in the Dongsha and Nansha Islands. Nesting andforaging habitat appears to be widespread in the Nansha Islands and thegroup may be suspected to hold significant nesting numbers.Trends in nesting numbers Although no comparative data are available,Wang Xiaoyan ( in lltt. . 20 November 1986) and Frazier and Frazier (1985)state that turtle numbers have declined; the latter authors cite numerousinstances where local Informants reported that significant nesting onceoccurred but now there Is none. Decline is attributed (Frazier and Frazier,1985) to over-fishing and habitat loss.Nesting season Most C. mydas nesting in the Xisha Islands occurs inMay-July (Huan Chu-Chlen, 1982).Foraging sites The South China Seas Islands, including the Xisha, Nanshaand Dongsha groups, and to some extent Hainan, appear to provide suitableforaging grounds, but no information is available on important sites.131