World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

SEYCHELLESHunting intensity The numbers of C. mydas harvested in the southernislands have been estimated by Mortimer (1984) and the annual averages aregiven in Table 173. The average sex ratios (H/F) were 2.39 on Cosmoledo,0.54 on Astove, and 1.08 on Farquhar. Mortimer (1984) estimated that thisrepresented annual harvests of 8-13%, 10-25% and 13-19% of the nestingfemale population for the three islands respectively.In 1979, the Government revived an old regulation requiring fishermen todeclare to the police stations the numbers of Hawksbills that they hadcaught. Harvests in the Granitic Islands alone amounted to 560 in 1980-81,537 in 1981-82 and 647 in 1982-83. The average declared harvests from 1980to 1983 are given in Table 175. On several of the islands, Mortimer wasable to confirm that the true numbers of E. imbricata captured wereconsiderably higher than the declared figures. Furthermore, the declaredharvests from 1979 to 1983 represented only 47-58% of the tortoiseshell thatwas known to have been exported over the period. Mortimer (1984) concludedthat on the Granitic Seychelles the vast majority of females that came tonest each year were killed. Mortimer's (1984) report includedrecommendations that the killing of all female Hawksbills should beprohibited, that males should be harvested under a quota system and thatexports of raw shell should be prohibited. In 1985, a proposal wassubmitted to the 7th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES totransfer the Seychelles population of E. imbricata to Appendix II. Theproposal claimed that the Government had approved these recommendations andthat they had been "added to the Seychellois law", although no legislativetexts have been located to confirm this (see below). In spite of this, itappears that females continue to be killed in the Seychelles (Mortimer,pers . comm. )Hunting methods Harpooning and turning females on the beaches are thetraditional methods of capture. Nets ars said not to be used (Frazier,1980a). Formerly, all turtles were harpooned from the surface, either witha wooden harpoon or else with a lead-weighted "baton-fon" which was used tospear animals seen (using a glass-bottomed box) resting near the sea bed.The introduction of face masks, around 1960, enabled fishermen to dive belowthe surface to spear turtles, and this greatly Increased the huntingefficiency. Spear guns were also used for a while until their use wasbanned (Mortimer, 1984).Historical trends The past history of Green Turtle exploitation in theSeychelles has been the subject of some controversy. Frazier (1974) claimedthat some 12 000 had been harvested from Aldabra in 1890, and that harvestshad declined substantially since then. Stoddart (1976) systematicallyreviewed Frazier* s data and produced the revised estimates given in Table176. He concluded that there was no continuous cropping of C. mydas onAldabra before 1890. Although according to Hornell (1927) Green Turtles hadbeen sent from the southern islands to Mah^, for local meat consumption,since at least the 1850s, the Intensity of this harvest is now uncertain;the more concentrated trade for calipee dates from the mld-1900s.Exploitation on Aldabra ceased in 1968, when It became a nature reserve.Green Turtle calipee and other products were formerly exported in largequantities, and the Customs statistics shown in Table 177 indicate that thevolume has declined substantially since the beginning of the century. Atthe peak year, 1912, 16 762 kg of calipee were exported, which Stoddart(1976) estimated was equivalent Lo 11 175 turtles. The numbers of turtlesused for domestic consumption have not been calculated, although it ispossible that they could largely have been included in this total, as the462