World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

DOMINICAN REPUBLICMost of the "carey" was exported to Puerto Rico, although between 1979 and1983, 1519 kg went to Guadeloupe, 6332 kg to Martinique, and 988 kg toFrance, with 40 kg to St Maarten in 1982.All of the oil was exported to the USA, as was 8 kg of meat in 1984. Theremainder of the meat went to France and Martinique. Although the export ofraw shell has been illegal since 1967, a measure to protect the localartisans, Ottenwalder (1987b) revealed that some tortoiseshell has beenexported illicitly to Amsterdam. Further evidence of shell exports comesfrom the Japanese Customs statistics (Table 55) which show that 4366 kg wereimported from Dominican Republic from 1972 to 1986. This does not representa major source of shell for Japan and supports Ottenwalder ' s (1987b)assertion that most of the shell caught is used locally. He further claimedthat in the last ten years, about 60-707. of the shell used had been importedfrom St Maarten, Panama and the Bahamas.Table 55. Imports of Turtle shell products to Japan from the DominicanRepublic 1972-86 (kg) recorded in Japanese Customs statistics.Year 1972 '73 '74 '75 '76 '77 '78 '79 '80 '81 "82 '83 '84 '85 '86Bekko 62 4 11 31 113 507 - 219 534 357 872 248 636 203 569Other ----__ 62-- 44-----The Dominican Republic became a Party to CITES with effect from 17 March1987. All transactions, bar two, of Green Turtles or Hawksbills or theirproducts reported by CITES involving the Dominican Republic have been to theUSA in the years 1980-84. The exceptions are one body of Chelonia mydas andfour of Eretmochelys imbricata imported by Italy in 1985 and classified asfor "educational" purposes.Table 56. Summarised exports of turtle products (excluding eggs) fromDominican Republic to the USA as reported to CITES 1977-1985. No exportswere recorded for the years 1977-1979 and 1985-86. A = declared as originDominican Republic. B = re-exports from Dominican Republic. Figures inparentheses indicate number of whole shells or bodies recorded; otherfigures indicate total number of items recorded.1980 1981 1982 1983 1984C .mydas