World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

YEMEN,PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICThere are extensive seagrass pastures off the Somali coast as well asimportant nest beaches and significant exploitation (Travis, 1967);exploitation in Somalia will thus affect turtles nesting in Yemen (FDR) aswell as turtles nesting locally.POPULATION: Eretmochelya imbricataNesting sites Significant Hawksbill nesting has been recorded on PerimIsland in the Straits of Bab al Mandab (the western extremity of mainlandPDRY) , and on Jabal Aziz Island, just off Ras Imran , around 50 km west ofAden. At least three beach zones exist on Perim: False Bay Beach, 365 mlong; Shand Bay Beach, 360 m; Ras Sheikh Berkhud, a series of smallscalloped beaches each c . 20 m long; and an unnamed beach midway between thelast site and Obstruction Point. The Jabal Aziz nest site is a single1.6 km beach facing Bandar Imran. There may also be some nesting onSokotra. (Hirth, 1968).Nesting numbers No new nests were seen on a survey of Jabal Aziz inOctober 1966, but moderate numbers were found in 1967: 30 January, 5 nests;1 February, 17; 2 February, 8; 8 February, 16. On Perim, no nestingactivity was observed 3-7 December, but there were signs of its occurrencein the "rather recent" past. Six old nests were seen on Shand Bay Beach andabout 30 on Ras Sheikh Berkhud. Small numbers of Hawksbills were seen offshore. One female emerged to nest on 24 January.The sparse data do not allow firm estimates of nesting numbers. The JabalAziz figures suggest a mean nightly emergence of about 11 females, if thisis continued throughout January and February, there may be around 650Hawksbill nests a season, with perhaps 200 females (if each nests threetimes). According to published evidence, Perim has considerably lessnesting habitat and there is less direct evidence of nesting; if nestingtakes place at half the Jabal Aziz rate, some 100 females may be involved aseason. Ross and Barwani (1982) suggest an approximate total of 500Hawksbills nesting annually in PDRY.Nesting season Nest body pits found on Perim on 3-7 December 1966suggested that "some rather recent" nesting had occurred. Local inhabitantsreported that December and January are the main nesting months. Nesting hasbeen directly recorded in late January and early February, but presence oftwo sets of ovidical eggs in a Jabal Aziz female that laid on 1 Februarysuggests that laying continues until at least the end of February. Similarfinding apply to Perim Island also (Hirth, 1968).Migration No direct information. All Hawksbills observed on Jabal Azizwere heavily encrusted with barnacles (Hirth, 1968), possibly suggestingrelatively sedentary habits.EXPLOITATIONCommodity The coastal Arabs and the Bedu eat both the meat and eggs ofC^ mydas , but not on a large scale. Hirth (1968) reported that turtle wasusually only consumed in villages where fish was not readily available. Heindicated that the Kuria Muria Islands was the only locality where turtleswere actively hunted for local consumption. In Socotra too, C^ niydas wascaught when the opportunity arises, the females being generally preferred.Out of 22 localities along the southern Yemen coast, Hirth (1968) reported066