World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

ETHIOPIAPOPULATION: Chelonia mydaa . Eretmochelys imbricataBoth Green Turtles and Hawksbills have been reported from the DahlakArchipelago region, off the Eritrea coast (Hoofien and Yaron, 1964; Urban,1970). Green Turtles are said to nest wherever suitable beaches occur(Anon., 1972). Recorded localities include: Sciununa Island, 20 March 1969,one female nesting, signs of two other nests seen; Assarca Island (10 kmeast of Sciumma), 21 March, signs of at least three fresh nests; Ito UmmNarus (IS km south of Sciumma), 22 March, ten fresh and two older nests(Urban, 1970). A Hawksbill skeleton was found on Entedebir (Hoofien andYaron, 1964). The Dahlak Archipelago comprises several hundred islands,many uninhabited, spread over some 200 sq. km; if the level of nesting notedby Urban occurs widely, the group as a whole would be a moderately importantnesting area. No information is available for the mainland. One femaleC. mydas tagged in Oman was recovered at Assab in the Ethiopian Red Sea(Ross and Barwani, 1982).EXPLOITATIONCommodity Any exploitation appears likely to involve mainly eggs andmeat, though these are indication of an export trade in shell.Hunting intensity Green Turtles have reportedly been heavily exploitedon most of the more accessible Dahlak Islands (Anon., 1972).Domestic trade Hoofien and Yaron (1964) reported that they had purchasedtwo Green Turtle carapaces and a live Hawksbill from fishermen on Nakara(= Nocra)International trade The ancient port of Adulis in Abyssinia was said byParsons (1972) to have featured prominently in the ancient trade routes bywhich tortoiseshell reached Rome from sources in the Indian Ocean. Thereare no records in CITES Annual Reports of trade in turtle products withEthiopia which is not a Party to CITES. However, Japanese Customsstatistics have recorded the import of bekko (shell of E. imbricata ) fromEthiopia in a few years (Table 58)Table 58. Imports of bekko from Ethiopia recorded in Japanese Customsstatistics (kg). There were no other imports between 1950 and 1985.1968