World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

mydasVIET NAMPOPULATION: Chelonia mydas , Eretmocheiys imb ricat aAccorditig Lo Bourrot (1941), both C.__nixdas and E. unbri_cata occurred allalong Lho coast of Lho former French possessions in Indochina, whichincluded VicL Nam, and at the time of his writing, wore considered to becommon. Nesting appears tu have been mainly limited to the offshoreislands, but very little detailed information is available. Hawksbillsoccurred at Quan Phu Quoc island, and apparently nested. The Poulo Waigroup is the only other nest site specifically named in available literature(Bourrct, 1941), but this seems likely to be identical to the Ko Way group,apparently within Kampuchean territory. Both C . mydas and E^ i mbricataappear to have nested at Foulo Wai, and eggs for the Hawksbill rearingoperation near Ha Tien (Vict Nam) wore taken from this site. The harvestingof eggs of E . imb ric ata was said to have resulted in significant populationreduction in Cochin China as early as 1923, when the first protectivelegislation was introduced (Le Poulain, 1941). Hawksbill nesting in theislands off the west coast of the Cochin China region takes place inDecember February.It is not clear whether the fishery for C . in the Con Son group (PouloCondore) off the Mekong Delta mentioned by Parsons (1962) was based onnesting or foraging populations.No information is available on recent population levels.EXPLOITATIONCommodity Bourret (1941) said that C. mydas was hunted for meat andE . imbricata for its shell all along the coast of Cochin China.Hunting intensity No information is available on recent levels ofexploitation. Kakidachi and Uchida (1973) reported that E. imbricata werecaught for stuffing in the Ha Tien area, possibly on feeding grounds amongthe nearby coral islands, and some proportion of these was exported toSingapore.Hunting methods Presumably the methods of hunting described by Bourret(1941) for Kampuchea (i.e. nets, trawls and turning on the beaches) werealso used in neighbouring Viet Nam.Historical trends Parsons (1962) cited reports from the voyages ofDampier around the end of the 17th century that there was a flourishingindustry extracting C. mydas oil in the Con Son group. Le Poulain (1941)estimated that the total Hawksbill shell production in the Province ofHa-Tien was about 200 kg a year. This presumably will have included theproduction from the farms. He said that the catches had declinedconsiderably, and that this had caused the Governor to forbid the sale ofturtle eggs in 1925.Domestic trade Bourret (1941) reported that a tortoiseshell industry (hecites boxes and brushes among the products) existed in Tonkin, northern VietNam, based on shell sent from the Cochin China region of southern Viet Nam.International trade Viet Nam is not a party to CITES. CITES AnnualReports contain only six records of trade in turtle products with Viet Nam:four bodies of E imbricata and one Cheloniidae leather item imported to theUSA; one Cheloniidae shell imported to France, and a shipment of 7110555