World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

KIRIBATILine and Gilbert groups; Balazs (1982c) cited reports that turtles aboundedat Fanning (Line gfoup) i" the 1850s, but are now seen only in smallnumbers, and similarly, that very large numbers occurred on Christmas at thetime of Captain Cook's visit in December 1777, but after years ofexploitation and human disturbance such numbers no longer occur.Nesting season Whilst sporadic nesting reportedly occurs throughout theyear on Canton there appears to be a distinct main nest period inOctober-November (Balazs, 1975); similar conditions seem likely to applythroughout Kiribati. Anon. (1979c) reported a second peak in April-May.Foraging sites Green Turtles appear to occur widely in Kiribati (Anon.,1979c); for example, being seen commonly at Canton, either in the lagoon orover the reef on the ocean side of the atoll (Teebaki, 1986). Noinformation is available on the relative importance of the various islandsin terms of feeding habitat.POPULATION : Eretmochelys imbrlcataAccording to Anon. (1979c), the Hawksbill is common in Kiribati, but nocorroborative details are provided. Nesting has not been recorded on any ofthe inhabited islands but might be suspected to occur on those that are notinhabited. The species has been recorded at sea in the Tarawa lagoon, and(although the source cited is not consistent) at Butaritari and Kuria andsome of the other northern Gilberts (Anon., 1979c). According toB. Yee Ting ( in litt. ,3 September 1986) the species may not nest inKiribati .THREATSWhilst exploitation of turtle eggs (apparently) and of foraging and nestingturtles (certainly) appears to be widely practised, it appears generally tobe of low intensity and primarily non-commercial, and is probably notcurrently a major threat. However, the introduction of nylon nets hasimproved the efficiency of capture and the demand for meat is growing instep with the increasing human population. Past exploitation, including onKintimati, Sydney and Hull, may have been intense on occasion; the statement(Balazs, 1982c) that residents on Fanning take turtles "whenever possible"suggests that it may be of more than minimal significance in parts ofKiribati. The US occupation of Canton has resulted in considerable beachdisturbance (Teebaki, 1986), and the use of Kirimati (Christmas) for nuclearweapons testing by UK and USA seems likely to have had an impact on turtlepopulations. Feral cats and domestic pigs on Canton seem unlikely to pose asignificant threat to nesting turtles.EXPLOITATIONComnodity Both turtle eggs and meat constitute important items of dietin Kiribati, though they are eaten less often than fish. They areconsidered as totem creatures, and there are several traditional constraintson eating them. E. imbricata is sacred in some areas and is not oftencaught by divers. This may be linked to the fact that there are tworeported cases of fatal poisoning following consumption of Hawksbills. Mostturtles are caught for subsistence purposes, but some divers are said tocatch turtles primarily to sell the carapace (Anon., 1979c).293