World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

JAPANPOPULATION:Chelonia mydasNesting sites Whilst the species is recorded at sea around Honshu, andsmaller islands to the south, nesting is restricted to the Nansei Shotogroup (Ryukyu Archipelago) and the Ogasawara group (Bonin Islands). Withinthe Nansei Shoto, confirmed nesting records are from Yaku in the Osumi groupin the north, and the Sakishima group in the south (Uchida, 1982 and 1985).In the Ogasawara Islands, nesting is known on Chichi jima and Hahajima, andsome adjacent islets, and may occur more widely (H. Tachikawa andH. Suganuma in litt. , 19 December 1986).Nesting numbers No information is available on the nesting population inthe Nansei Shoto; however, there is no indication that large numbers areinvolved. Numbers appear to be relatively low in the Ogasawara group;Table 99 indicates the number of nests recorded on Chichi jima (acknowledgednot to be all nests laid). If similar numbers occur on Hahajima and alesser number on other smaller islands, the annual nesting total in thegroup seems likely to be in the low hundreds. The Ogasawara group is themost important C. mydas nest site in Japan (Kurata, 1979).Table 99.- Number of nests recorded on Chichijima, Ogasawara Islands (datafrom H. Tachikawa and H. Suganuma in litt , 19 December 1986).1978