World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

COOK ISLANDSPalmerston. About 50 turtles a year were taken on Penrhyn for the shell(Balazs, 1982c).Hunting methods The use of spearguns for catching turles was banned onPalmerston in 1977 (Balazs, 1982c).Historical trends No information, but Balazs (1982c) indicated that thetourist trade in shell products was growing.Domestic trade In 1979, turtle meat shipped Into Rarotonga fromPalmerston was said to sell for US$0. 45-0. 90 a kg. Large shells fetchedUS$50 each, and there was some Inter-lsland trade.International trade Turtle shells are sold to tourists and visitingfishing boats. Some juvenile turtles preserved in formalin were said tohave been sent to New Zealand (Balazs, 1982c). Fijian Customs statisticsindicate the export of small quantities of worked tortoiseshell products tothe Cook Islands in 1970, 1971 and 1984; and import from the Cook Islands in1972 and 1973.The Cook Islands are not party to CITES, and CITES Annual Reports indicatedno trade with them in turtle products.LEGISLATIONThe Ministry of Marine Resources (N. Sims in lltt. . 28 August 1986) hasconfirmed that there are no legislative controls on turtle exploitation inthe Cook Islands.RANCHINC/HATCHBRIESFollowing a recommendation in the 1950s, a local turtle-rearing effort wasestablished on Palmerston. Each family on the atoll was said to rear 15hatchlings in floating cages for 1-3 months for release to the wild in arestocking effort (Balazs, 1982c). Sims ( in litt. , 28 August 1986)confirmed that each family was still rearing two C. mydas a year to a lengthof about six inches. Balazs (1982c) related suspicions that some of thejuvenile turtles were injected with formalin and sent to relatives in NewZealand, and indicated that a similar enterprise was occurring on Manihikl.Experiments on turtle rearing were carried out on Rarotonga from 1974 to1977 with support from the South Pacific Commission but problems withdisease and the expense of food caused the project to be abandoned (Balazs,1982c).145