World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

YEMEN,PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICPOPULATION:Chelonift mydasNesting sites Sparse or moderate nesting occurs at many points along thecoast, with dense nesting on at least three beaches east of Mukalla.Perim Island, which lies in the Straits of Bal al Mandab, at the junction ofthe Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, is used mainly by Hawksbills (see below) butsmall numbers of old nests, presumed to be Green Turtles, were found in asurvey in December 1966 (Hirth, 1968). On the mainland, there is dispersedlow-level nesting along the approximately 175-lun stretch of coast betweenBab al Handab and the Aden Peninsula, but apparently no sites ofconcentrated nesting. Conditions appear to be similar along the 500 km ofcoast extending from Aden east to Mukalla, with scattered beach records ofnests, carapaces, and dead turtles presumed drowned in seines (Hirth, 1968).More concentrated nesting is reported on five beaches all east of Mukalla:Shuhair, 40 km from Mukalla, 5 . 6 km long; Shihr, nearly 45 km from Mukalla,0.4 km long; Musa, nearly 105 km from Mukalla, 0.24 km long; Sharma, 105 kmfrom Mukalla, 1 . 8 km long; Ithmun, about 106 km from Mukalla, nearly 4 . 8 kmlong (Hirth, 1968).There are an additional 400 km (approximately) of coastline, extendingeastward from Ithmun to the border with the Dhofar region of Oman, that havenot yet been surveyed for sea turtles. On topographic grounds, at least,there would seem to be a good chance that this area supports significantnesting.Some nesting reportedly takes place on the north coast of Sokotra, probablyby Green Turtles but possibly also by Hawksbills (Hirth, 1968).Nesting numbers On present evidence, it appears that none of the beachesbetween Bab al Mandab and Mukalla supports nesting by more than a very fewGreen Turtles nightly at most.In contrast, large numbers nest at the five beaches east of Mukalla (namedabove), most notably at Shuhair, Sharma and Ithmun (Hirth, 1968).Shuhair: 25 females per km per night in November 1966; "large numbers" inDecember; about 9 12 per km in January 1967 (Hirth, 1968). Large numbers offemales were taken from this beach in November-December 1966 and manyhundreds had been taken in prevous years (Hirth and Carr, 1970). Theturtles were taken as they emerged from the sea and taken to the exportersplant at Mukalla (Hirth, 1968).Sharma: at least 30 females per km per night in November 1966; 9-12 per kmin January; 5 on one night in March 1967; (Hirth, 1968); estimated 25 pernight (apparently on the entire beach, not per km) in 4-8 July 1972 (Hirthand Holl ingworth , 1973). Some nesting appears to occur throughout the year(Hirth and Hollingworth , 1973). "This is without any doubt one of the bestnesting beaches remaining in the world" (Hirth and Carr, 1970).Ithmun: few specific data, but stated to be similar to Sharma beach and thus"one of the most active" Green Turtle beaches in the world; about 40 turtlesnested on one night in July 1972 (Hirth and Hollingworth, 1973).Hirth (1968: p. 27) stressed that nesting density at these three beachesexceeded that at certain other major sites, such as Tortuguero (Costa Rica)and Ascension, and that at least 25 30 females could be seen per km of beach564