World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

ECUADORsuberosus and removal of sand from beaches for construction purposes. Pigsare a particularly serious problem at Espumilla on Santiago, where as aresult of their activity hatching and emergence rates for nests were lessthan 2%; they are also a problem on the two main beaches on Isabela (QuintaPlaya and Bahia Barahona) . T. suberosus also appears to have considerableInfluence on emergence rates at Quinta Playa and has been found in nests atBahia Barahona and Bartolome on Santiago. It is not known how long thebeetle has been present on the islands or whether it arrived naturally orwas introduced by man, although Allgoewer (cited in Hurtado, 1984)considered it to be native.Removal of sand from nesting beaches for construction is considered apossible long-term problem. Green (1983) stated that most of it came frombeaches where very little nesting occurred; however, some came from Baltra,which island was an important nesting site, although from outside theboundaries of the National Park.Hurtado (1984) also considers that long-term problems may arise from theincrease of tourism and of uncontrolled urban growth of the town of PuertoVillamil on Isabela near the two most important nesting beaches. Concernhas also been expressed that exploitation off mainland South and CentralAmerica will have adverse effect on the migratory part of the population(Green and Ortiz-Crespo, 1981; Hurtado, 1984), although at present there areinadequate data to draw any conclusions.EXPLOITATIONGreen and Ortiz-Crespo (1981) noted that there was very little currentexploitation of Galipagos turtles. Only local inhabitants were allowed tofish for them, and then only on a subsistence basis, and not on nestingbeaches which were all completely protected; they were rarely tak.6n as theirmeat was not highly esteemed. However, military personnel on Baltra took upto six nesting females per season from beaches on that island; Hurtado(1984) noted that recently neonates had also been collected as souvenirs.Exploitation in the past has been heavier. In the years 1971 and 1972 theJapanese refrigerator ship "Chicuzen Harou" collected between 1000 and10 000 turtles (young, sub-adults and adults of both sexes) from thearchipelago; the effect of this on the population is not known. Parsons(1962) gives an account of the harvesting of sea turtles for meat byvisiting ships in the 19th century and earlier. He notes that in generalland tortoises ( Geochelone elephantopus ) were preferred as a source of meat,although Green Turtles were sometimes taken as they were smaller and lessbulky, and thus more easily transported onto the ships.LEGISLATIONJune 1981, the Subsecretaria and the Direccion General de Pesca of theMinisterio de Recursos Naturales y Energ^ticos banned the export ofturtle skin.Ley No. 74. Ley Forestal y de Conservacion de Areas Naturales y de VidaSilvestre. 14 August 1981.This law governs the use of all Ecuadorean living resources, butexcludes fish and marine species. Art. 47 prohibits the export of allnative wildlife and their products except for scientific purposes.17A