World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

COSTA RICACaribbean Costa Rican waters at this time is not reported. Carr et al.(1978) estimate that the annual take in Costa Rica immediately prior to 1976had been as high as 4000 C. mydas . In 1976 the season on turtling forinternational commerce was closed "indefinitely" leading to the shuttingdown of two turtle packing plants which had been supplying the internationalmarket.Historical trends Demand for and hunting intensity on Hawksbills hasevidently fluctuated. Parsons (1962) reported that the annual take at Lim6n(the centre of the trade) was estimated by the US Consul there as around750. Carr (1966) reported that in the mid-1950s, because of the recentintroduction of plastic substitutes, there was no market in Costa Rica fortortoiseshell; a mature Hawksbill thus had no commercial value except asfood for the small segment of the population which would eat them. By themid-1960s there had been a resurgence in the demand for genuinetortoiseshell as well as a growing market for the skins and a steady tradein Hawksbill "calipee" for the soup trade. A single Hawksbill was worth upto $14 to a fisherman, more than the normal week's wages. Young were alsotaken to be polished and mounted for the curio trade.Domestic trade As noted above, the only legal turtle trade (at least upto 1983) was for local consumption. WATS (1984) reports that the only plantlicensed to process turtle was the Coopepesla Cooperative at Cieneguita. Inthe 1982 season (June-August) it reportedly processed 315 C. mydas .Presumably the remaining 1232 legally taken (see Table 47) were processedlocally. The market value of each turtle was estimated at 750-1000 Colonefor females and 600-900 Colone for males (US$1 = 48.20 Colone, February1985). Meat was valued at c . 50 Colone a kg (WATS, 1984).International trade According to CITES reports, from 1977 to at least1983 there was virtually no legal international trade in turtles or turtleproducts from Costa Rica. In 1977, 2000 C. mydas eggs were exported fromCosta Rica to Bermuda and 70 live C. mydas were exported to the USA. Sincethen the only recorded commercial trade was 191 skins of C. mydas . originCosta Rica, exported from F.R. Germany to South Africa in 1981, reported byF.R. Germany. Some illegal trade is believed to take place, though nodetails are available. From 1966 until 1972, Costa Rica exported up to tentonnes of turtle products per year to the USA (Wells, 1979). The 1976 CostaRican CITES report indicates considerable quantities of C. mydas productsexported to the USA and the Netherlands, including a total of over 27 000 kgof calipee, flippers, trimmings, meat and shell and 2400 litres of oil. TheF.R. Germany reports importing over 12 tonnes of soup and meat from CostaRica between June and December 1976 and 15.5 tonnes apparently from CostaRica via Somalia.There has been some trade in tortoiseshell exported to Japan, at least until1983, although this is not reported in CITES annual reports.Table 48. Exports of bekko from Cost Rica to Japan, reported in Japanesecustoms statistics, 1972-86.Year 1972 '73 '74 '75 '76 '77 '78 '79 '80 '81 '82 '83 '84 '85 '86kg 387 285 175 515 170 260 47 89 - 234 79150