World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

HAWAIIaround 1100 km, thus mating off the nest beaches may involve turtlesseparated for most of their life by some 2200 km (Balazs, 1980 and 1983).Only one tagged turtle, tagged on Midway and recovered on Wake, around1900 km to the south-west, has been recorded outside the HawaiianArchipelago (this individual was suspected to have been in an unhealthycondition) (Balazs, 1980).POPULATION: Kretmochelys ImbricataNesting sites Nesting is known to have occurred on the main islands, atHalawa Beach on Molokai , and at Punaluu, Kawa, Orr's Beach and Kalpana, allon Hawaii. Nesting is suspected at Malaekahana and Kailua on Oahu (Balazs,1978).Nesting numbers Little information is available, evidently only "a few"nestings have been recorded in recent years (Balazs, 1980).EXPLOITATIONCommodity Green Turtles have been exploited for meat in the HawaiianIslands, probably since their colonisation around A.D. 600 (Balazs, 1980).There was not much traditional usage of Hawksbill shell, though it was usedoccasionally for combs and fans, and possibly for medicinal purposes(Johannes, 1986). There is apparently no established tradition ofcollecting turtle eggs in the Hawaiian Islands. The appearance of eggs inHonolulu market in 1867 was remarked on as a rare occurrence (Balazs, 1980).Hunting intensity So far as is known, the deliberate catch of turtleshas all but ceased in Hawaii. Commercial fishing no longer occurs, althoughit is acknowledged that subsistence hunting may still take place in somerural locations (Balazs, 1980).Hunting methods Balazs (1980) and Johannes (1986) have documented thetraditional techniques used for hunting turtles. The commercial fisherywhich operated between 1948 and 1973 relied mainly on nets (49.5% of theturtles caught), with lesser quantites being caught by gaff (10.2%), scuba(5.6%), spear (3.4%), hand (2.3%) and other minor techniques (Balazs, 1980).Historical trends The traditional use of turtles was said to have beenlimited by the "kapu" system, which only allowed nobles and priests to eattheir meat (Balazs, 1980), although Johannes (1986) cited evidence thatother sections of society also ate turtles. The kapu system broke downaround 1819, after which both the local use and the commercial take byvisiting vessels from Japan and North America increased, and proceededvirtually without control until 1974. Data exist for the numbers of turtlesinspected and sold annually in the Honolulu fish market at the turn of thecentury, and these are given in Table 73. Commercial fishermen have beenlicensed and required to fill in catch reports since at least 1944. Therecorded harvests are given in Table 73, but Balazs cautioned that thesewere probably underestimates, as data were missing in some years and catcheswere known to be higher on some islands. There were also some commercialcatches on the north-western islands which were not Included in thesetotals. The subsistence take was not recorded prior to 1974 but it,combined with the sport take, was thought to exceed the commercial take byfar. From 1974 until 1977, a total of 49 turtles were said to have beentaken for subsistence purposes (Balazs, 1980).221