World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

IffTRODUCTION"rationally and cooperatively managed throughout the range of each nestingpopulation Chelonia can be kept on a permanent basis as a stable source ofprotein food for the people of the seaside tropics. Left to the tendermercies of industry, however, it will everywhere disappear, as in theCaribbean it is disappearing now". Review of the status of Green Turtle andHawksbill populations, and of marine turtles generally, suggests thatsubstantial turtle populations are likely to persist "on a permanent basis"only where there is no tradition of exploitation, or where theinfrastructure exists to enforce restrictions on exploitation or theprotection of nesting beaches and foraging grounds.INTERNATIONAL TRADEThe early history of international trade in Green and Hawksbill turtles hasbeen documented by Parsons (1962) and Parsons (1972) respectively.Hawksbill turtles are traded primarily for their shell, which is known as"tortoiseshell", and there has never been a significant international tradefor other products from the species. Usually the dorsal scutes are removedfrom the carapace and tied in bundles for transport to be used as the rawmaterial for a variety of carving industries. Recently there has been agrowing trade in whole, stuffed turtles. It is mainly the smaller turtlesthat are used for this purpose as the larger animals have thicker scuteswhich are more valuable for carving.In the 19th and 20th centuries, the main markets for Hawksbill shell were inEurope and North America, where they were used for items such as combs,brushes, spectacle frames and other luxury goods. With the advent ofplastics, the need to use tortoiseshell for utilitarian purposes declined,although it retained a place at the high end of the luxury market. Thedropping demand seems to have been reflected in a falling price, which iswell illustrated by the value of shell exported from the Seychelles. In the1890s, tortoiseshell was worth about Rs30-40 a kg. The value rose to Rs51in 1924, before declining to less than RslO a kg in the 1950s. A slightrise was apparent in the 1960s, which increased in pace until the pricereached Rs818 a kg in 1982. This rapidly increasing price (although it isnot corrected for inflation) is almost exactly mirrored by the volume oftortoiseshell imported to Japan. Mack et al (1982) and later Weber et al(1983) and Canin and Luxmoore (1985) examined the world trade intortoiseshell, using primarily Customs reports, and concluded that Japan nowaccounts for the bulk of the market. Other Eastern countries, notably HongKong, China, Taiwan and the Republic of Korea are also shown by Customsstatistics to be major importers of "raw tortoiseshell", but it is nowthought that this broad Customs commodity classification may includesubstantial quantities of other material, such as freshwater turtle shell,which is used for medicinal purposes in the Orient. Raw Hawksbill shell isalmost certainly imported to Taiwan and the Republic of Korea, but it is notpossible from the Customs reports to determine in what quantities. Japan'sCustoms statistics, on the other hand, have been shown by independentanalysis to be extremely reliable, not only in separating the shell ofE. imbricata from that of other Testudinata, but also in overall volume andin the source of the imports (Milliken and Tokunaga, 1987a). It wasconcluded that in 1986, Japan imported the raw shell from about 26 000 largeE. imbricata and about 8 000 small, stuffed E. imbricata . Other countriesin the Far East, notably Republic of Korea and Taiwan, are believed to bemajor importers of raw Hawksbill shell and both export worked products.Fiji also has a substantial trade in worked shell.33