World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

NICARAGUANICARAGUA:CARIBBEANPOPULAT I ON :Chelonia mydasNesting sites It is unclear if C. mydas nests. Carr et al (1982) notedthat they received no reports of C. mydas nesting. In 1980 an aerial surveyof 120 miles (c. 190 km) of the mainland coast from Punta Perlas to Dakurarevealed only eight turtle nesting tracks, all old and partly obscured andnot identifiable as to species. No C. mydas nesting is reported by Montiel(1984); Parsons (1962) stated that the species seldom nested on the MiskitoCoast, although cited no evidence that it did so at all.Nesting numbers See above.Foraging sites Excellent Green Turtle foraging habitat occurs along mostof the coast and offshore cays but most particularly on Miskito bank off thenorthern half of the country (Carr et al , 1978); this is reportedly by farthe largest foraging ground in the entire Atlantic system (Carr et al ,1978) and, according to Carr et al (1982), may be the most extensiveanywhere. Turtles are taken here year round and Carr et al (1978) arguethat this area is a home feeding ground where turtles nesting at Tortugueroin Costa Rica (see below) spend considerable parts of their adult lives.Migration Tag returns Indicate that the waters off Nicaragua,particularly the Miskito bank area, are the principal feeding grounds of theTortuguero nesting colony in Costa Rica; as of 1981, 725 tags fromTortuguero-marked C. mydas had been recovered from the Miskito Cays area ofMiskito Bank, 142 from the Sandy Bay Cays and 263 from localities along themainland coast (see COSTA RICA account). Two C. mydas tagged at Aves IslandIn the western Caribbean have also been recovered at Miskito Cays, implyingthe area may also serve as a feeding ground for at least part of thispopulation (Meylan, 1981).POPULATION : Kretmochelys ImbrlcataNesting sites Nietschmann (undated, based on 1971 field work) noted thatHawksbill nesting beaches were scattered along Isolated areas of themainland and on some of the smaller offshore cays. He stated the majorknown nesting beaches to be found In the following areas: the mainland beachImmediately north and south of Cocal on the southern coast of easternNicaragua (40 km north of San Juan del Norte); scattered sites along the SetNet Peninsula from Parakeet Point to c. 15 km south of Tasbapauni; the SetNet Cays, including Water, Grape, Wild Cane, Crawl, Baboon, Lime, Vincent,Black Mangrove and the two Tangwira Cays, of which the Tangwira Cays werethe most important; the Asking Cay area, notably Big Asking Cay and thesouthern Savanna Cay; the Kings Cay area, notably Swirri Cay and Big KingsCay. They were also suspected to occur on many of the other cays,especially some of those which made up the Miskito Cays. He considered atthat time that the beach around Cocal was the most important Caribbeannesting site for Hawksbills In Nicaragua; later (cited in Carr et al , 1982)he stated that the only unspoiled Nlcaraguan nesting localities forHawksbills were in the Pearl Cays complex (I.e. Including the Set Net,Asking and Kings Cays regions listed above), with Maroon Cay the best ofthese.385