World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

NICASAGUAwages. Nietschmann (1981) estimated harvest to be around 1000-1200 turtlesper year, noting that the species was subjected to year-round, almostcontinuous exploitation. In 1971 and 1972 surveys of the Pearl Cays regionindicated that 90-95% of Hawlcsbill nests in the region were found andexcavated by turtlemen (Nietschmann, no date).Hunting methods Nietschmann (1981) notes that Hawksbills are caught inCaribbean waters by a variety of means: turtle nets set over coral shoals toentangle Hawksbills when they surface for air; harpoons with detachablepoints and long lines also used when turtles are on the surface; hoopringsand nets dropped from the surface onto sleeping and feeding turtles below;"bay nets" strung up from stak.es in front of nesting beaches. Hawksbillswere also taken by skin and scuba divers, originally largely in pursuit oflobsters, but by the late 1970s often concentrating solely on turtles.Green turtles in Caribbean waters are apparently taken mostly with nets andharpoonsHistorical trends Both commercial and subsistence turtle fishing arelong-established along the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. Nietschmann (1981)notes that the Miskito Indians of the coast of Nicaragua and adjacentHonduras are the foremost Amerindian turtling society in the Caribbean andare, or have been, effectively culturally dependent on Green Turtles. Priorto the late 1960s, when intensive commercial exploitation began, subsistenceturtling (virtually all C. mydas ) provided up to 10% of animal protein inthe diet of coastal Miskito Indians. In one year in the late 1960s, theinhabitants of Tasbapauni village north of Bluefields took 819 Green Turtles(Nietschmann, 1970 cited in Parsons, 1972).The history of commercial turtling in these waters is summarised by Parsons(1962). As early as 1633 Miskito Indians supplied turtles to Englishtraders at Cape Gracias a Dios and by 1722 vessels from Jamaica were buyingturtles from the Miskito to supply the Jamaican market. By the early 19thcentury turtlers from the Cayman Islands were visiting the Miskito Bank tosupply the markets in Belize and Jamaica, mostly with Green Turtle but alsowith tortoiseshell . In summer 1905 there were reportedly 23 Cayman turtlingvessels at the Miskito Cays, each one taking 100-200 turtles. In themid-1950s there were 10-12 Cayman vessels fishing here, taking an estimated2000-3000 Green Turtles each year, for which a nominal fee was paid to theNicaraguan government. Some were slaughtered and the meat sun-dried insitu , while the majority were carried live at the end of the season to GrandCayman. In the 1960s the Nicaraguan Government closed the turtle grounds toCayman Islanders (Nietschmann, 1969).The development of the commercial Green Turtle fishery at the end of the1960s, and consequent decline of subsistence utilisation is described byNietschmann (1979a, 1979b and 1981). In 1969, following the refusal ofNicaragua to accept a three-year moratorium on Green Turtle exploitation,the first of three turtle processing companies began purchasing andexporting turtle meat, calipee, skin and oil. From 1969 to 1976, 5000 to10 000 Green Turtles were exported from Nicaragua annually, with evidence ofdepletion of the population; in 1971, on average two man-days were requiredto take one turtle, by 1975 six man-days were needed (Nietschmann, 1979a,cited in Nietschmann, 1981). The number of turtles taken, however,increased in this period as more Miskito were hunting and were doing soalmost year-round (Nietschmann, 1979a, cited in Nietschmann, 1981). By 1976the three plants were each processing an average of 200 turtles a week atthe height of the turtle season. In 1976 a moratorium was placed on the387