World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

MOZAMBIQUEmarket for about $8 a kg (US$0. 3A). At Inhassoro, juvenile C. mydas arecaught by the community of Chinese fishermen, and many are prepared and soldas curios to tourists (Hughes, 1971a).The value of Hawksbill shell is widely appreciated, and it is either used bylocal artisans for making tourist items or sold by fishermen at aboutUS$1. 30-4. 30 a kg and then on to European importers at US$9.00 a kg(Frazier, 1980a). Polished shells of juveniles were said to sell for $20(US$0.85) (Hughes, 1971a).International trade Most of the export trade is believed to be centredon Mozambique Island, where a trader was said to have agents in severalports, buying shell from the fishermen. About 600-1000 kg of shell was saidto be exported a year, mainly to Italy and France (Hughes, 1971a).The Customs reports consulted have not contained any reference to trade intortoiseshell with Mozambique since 1977. Prior to that, Singapore, Japanand Italy reported small quantities in their import statistics (see Table1A8) . CITES Annual Reports have indicated no trade in turtle products withMozambique.Table 148. Imports of tortoiseshell from Mozambique reported in theCustoms statistics of importing countries. All quantities in kg (from Wells,1979).1973 1974 1975 1976 1977Italy