World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

SRILANKAPOPULATION :Chelonia mydasNesting sites Some sources (eg. Deraniyagala, 1939) suggest that nestingin Sri Lanka is extremely sparse; more recent information (Wickremasinghe1981, 1982; Dattatri and Samarajiva, 1983) is that the species does nest atseveral sites. The main sites are Batticalao and Kalmunai in the east; YalaNational Park, Bundala Sanctuary and Hambantota, in the south-east; andKosgoda in the south-west (Dattatri and Samarajiva, 1983).Nesting numbers Few numerical data are available. At the 3 km Kosgodabeach, one of the three main Sri Lankan nest sites for this species (andprobably the island's single most important turtle beach), 12 C. mydas wereseen ashore in one night (Dattatri and Samarajiva, 1983). Only Yala N.P.and Bundala Sanctuary are likely to be comparable. No estimates of totalannual nesting or of seasonal female numbers are available. Overall, thespecies is considered uncommon in Sri Lanka (Dattatri and Samarajiva, 1983)Trends in nesting numbers No quantitative data are available, butaccording to Dattatri and Samarajiva (1983) the species is declining rapidlydue to exploitation and disturbance (it is not clear whether this statementrefers to nesting numbers in particular, or to nesting and feedingpopulation in general).Nesting season Some nesting (at Kosgoda, in the south-west) occursthroughout the year but with a peak in April-May (i.e. just before thesouth-west Monsoon during May-September) (Dattatri and Samarajiva, 1983).Foraging sites Little recent or detailed information is available.Deraniyagala (1939) considered C. mydas to be very common in Sri Lankanwaters, particularly in the larger gulfs and lagoons; Puttalam lagoon (westcoast) and Tamblegam lagoon (east) were cited as examples. The species issaid to be relatively common over the extensive seagrass beds in the Gulf ofManaar (Salm. 1981)POPULATION : Kretmochelys imbricataNesting sites Sparse nesting appears to occur at several places aroundthe island, wherever suitable habitat is present, but there is no evidenceat present to suggest that any site holds other than small numbers.According to Dattatri and Samarajiva (1983) the main nesting areas areBatticalao and Kalmunai in the east; Yala National Park, Bundala Sanctuaryand Hambantota in the south-east; and Kosgoda in the south-west; also on thesouth coast.Nesting numbers No numerical data are available. Overall, the speciesis considered uncommon in Sri Lanka (Dattatri and Samarajiva, 1983).Trends in nesting numbers Little quantitative information is available;however. Deraniyagala (1939) states that numbers were greatly depleted athis time of writing, although the species had been so abundant off thesouthern coast (eg. Palutupana and Amaidhuva) in the mid-19th century thatthe Government leased the right to harvest E. imbricata for its scutes.Dattatri and Samarajiva (1983) believe that the species is uncommon andprobably declining.Nesting season Deraniyagala (1939) suggests that peak nesting varies indifferent parts of the island: primarily in November-February on western485