World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

PAKISTANAuthority has taken large volumes of sand from the beach for constructionpurposes, but this has now ceased (Firdous pers . comm. , January 1987). Somebeach houses are lit late into the night, which is likely to deter nestingfemales. Host seriously, the Karachi Development Authority is developingtourist facilities west of the main nesting area at Hawkes Bay-Sandspit , andis upgrading the access road running behind the nest beach and beach houses(Firdous, Kabraji pers. comm., 1988). This is currently planned to includefull-scale road lights; if not prevented, this is certain to have severeadverse effects on the Karachi nesting population.The Baluchistan nesting populations have been heavily exploited in recentdecades; this is certain to adversely affect recruitment in future season(see below)EXPLOITATIONCommodities Marine turtles have not traditionally been huntedextensively in Pakistan. In Sind, neither the adults nor the eggs have beenwidely accepted as food, and at the very most, eggs have occasionally beenused in traditional medicines (Hikmat) as a cure for asthma. The fishermen,who are Muslims, consider the turtle products to be "Makru", a term implyingthat it is religiously desirable not to consume them (Kabraji and Firdous,1984). Shockley (1949) reported that at Ras Jiwani in the west ofBaluchistan, the local Baluchis did not use turtles or their eggs as food.Any poaching that does take place is thought to be mostly the work offoreigners (usually South East Asians), and in the past there has been someexploitation for the export market (Kabraji and Firdous, 1984). Recentinformation from Baluchistan (Groombridge et al , 1988) indicates that smallnumbers of eggs are taken from nest beaches in Baluchistan (mainly forfeeding to ailing stock), and that turtles are slaughtered in significantnumbers, although apparently irregularly, primarily for export of oil andskin.Hunting methods Little information is available: most turtles taken inBaluchistan (probably all of them) appear to have been females turned on thenest beach; this seems to have been the case around Karachi also.Hunting intensity There is believed to be very little deliberate huntingof turtles in Sind (Kabraji and Firdous, 1984) although as noted above,there is significant exploitation in Baluchistan. At Ormara and on AstolaIsland local informants reported that collectors would camp on the beachesduring the peak nesting period and slaughter every possible female as shecame up to nest. This apparently occurred during several season in the1970s and 1980s.Historical trends Poaching of turtles and their eggs in Sind is believedto be less important now than it was previously (Kabraji and Firdous, 1984);it was heavy in the early 1970s and probably earlier. Little information isavailable for Baluchistan, although Butler's statement that Arab fishermenfrom Muscat used to take turtles for oil on Astola implies that Baluchistanturtles have long been subject to some exploitation pressure. Noconfirmation was found of exploitation after 1985.Domestic trade There is reported to be very little domestic market forturtle products in Sind, although there may be some trade within theimmigrant community. During the early 1970s (and possibly earlier), eggswere sold as a cheap alternative to poultry eggs in Karachi, mainly to large400