Reptile Trade: Sea Turtles Endangered Species Handbook

Trade

Reptile Trade: Sea Turtles

Huge sea turtles have been laboring up the beaches of tropical shores for 50 million years, digging deep holes with their flippers and depositing their slippery eggs before making their way back to the sea. Remains of extinct species of sea turtles 12 feet long have been found. The largest living sea turtle is about two-thirds that length. Other than humans, adult sea turtles have few enemies except sharks. Even today, the great turtles are enigmas. How they find their way over thousands of miles of open sea to return to the same beach on which they hatched--often a tiny islet--is not known with certainty. In 1986, scientists discovered that the temperature at which eggs incubate determines the sex of the hatchlings. Cool nests produced males and warm ones, females. This discovery has influenced some conservation programs which hatch eggs in captivity for release to the wild. Research is very slowly unraveling some of their secrets through tagging and radio-tracking by satellite. Within the next few decades, much more will be learned about their movements and life history. Available data indicate that females may not nest until they are at least 10 years of age or older.

All seven species of sea turtles are now endangered. They face myriad threats. Killing for leather, meat, tortoiseshell, and to be stuffed for sale as curios is one of the foremost threats. For centuries, sea turtles were exploited by native peoples, most of whom did not kill large numbers or sell them as a commodity. Only when the products entered international trade and high-volume markets were created did turtle hunting have serious consequences. "They have a unique, and for them disastrous combination of characteristics; they are . . . excellent to eat, ridiculously easy to catch, and with virtually no way of defending themselves," in the words of turtle expert, Dr. Peter Pritchard (Lehrer 1990).

Commercial exploitation of the Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) began in the 1600s in British colonies in Jamaica and Bermuda. Thousands of adult turtles were killed for their meat. As early as 1620, the Bermuda Assembly passed an act to outlaw the killing of young turtles because, even by that early date, they had been decimated (Carr 1973). The British colony in Jamaica sent ships in the mid-1600s to the Cayman Islands, once considered the species' largest breeding grounds in the world, to bring back turtle meat for the colony (Lehrer 1990). By 1688, ships were transporting 13,000 Green Turtles a year to Jamaica, and this meat became a staple food for colonists. By the early 1700s, Jamaican laws protecting the dwindling turtle colonies were enacted, but were not enforced, and by the late 1700s, Green Turtles had been almost eliminated from the Cayman Islands (Lehrer 1990).

In the 20th century, nearly every part of the Green Turtle's body and shell became valuable in international markets. These turtles are found throughout the world in all tropical oceans, and exploitation was relentless. Eggs and meat were sold locally and in gourmet restaurants, and the oil was used in cosmetics; the shell was carved into jewelry, and the neck and flipper skin was tanned for leather. Even baby turtles were stuffed and sold as souvenirs. Turtle hunters discovered their most remote nesting beaches and killed the females as they laid their eggs. Whenever they were spotted on the open ocean, they were caught and slaughtered. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was not unusual to catch Green Turtles that weighed almost 1,000 pounds, but after heavy exploitation, their average size began to decrease. Today, 300-pound animals are considered large (Lehrer 1990). By the early 1970s, Green Turtles were listed as Endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals, but exploitation continued to decimate them. Both families of sea turtles (Cheloniidae and Dermochelyidae) were added to Appendix I of CITES in 1977, banning commercial trade between member nations. Unfortunately, several countries, including Japan, took reservations, a formal refusal to enforce the listing, and in the 14 years before 1994 when Japan finally withdrew its reservation, it imported 130,000 Green Turtles (Thornton 1994).

The U.S. Endangered Species Act finally listed Green Turtles in 1979, seven years after they had been proposed. Breeding populations in Florida and on the Pacific coast of Mexico are listed as Endangered, while the rest of its populations around the world are in the lesser category of Threatened. Green Turtles are still being killed in large numbers in Indonesia, where an estimated 20,000 are slaughtered each year for meat, shell and eggs, according to Reuters (August 1994). The Governor of Bali set a quota of 5,000 per year for use in Hindu festivals on the island; even the latter quota will result in the extinction of these turtles in these islands within a few years. Stuffed sea turtles with polished shells are sold openly in tourist shops throughout Indonesia.

Hawksbill Turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) have been slaughtered to near-extinction worldwide, mainly for their beautiful shells, which are made

into tortoiseshell jewelry and other items. Like the Green Turtle, the Hawksbill is found in all tropical oceans but is most commonly seen in coral reefs and along coastlines in mangroves and marshes. This 3-foot-long turtle received the protection of the U.S. Endangered Species Act as early as 1969, an indication of the depletions that it had undergone throughout the century. About 10 to 12 pounds of tortoiseshell are obtained from each turtle (Ernst and Barbour 1989). Cutting off the U.S. market did not stop slaughter of these turtles, however. Tortoiseshell from Hawksbill Turtles is made into eyeglass frames that sell for up to $4,000 in Tokyo luxury stores. The shell is also fashioned into bracelets, earrings and other trinkets. The meat and eggs are consumed, and hatchlings--as well as adults--are killed and sold as stuffed curios. Listing on Appendix I of CITES in 1977 hardly slowed the trade because Japan and several other countries took reservations on the species and continued trading. International trade in Hawksbills totaled more than 250,000 animals in 1976 and 1977, and shells from 500,000 of these turtles were traded in 1978, primarily exported from Asian and Central American countries to Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan (Fitzgerald 1989). Between 1970 and 1986, Japan imported 570,000 stuffed Hawksbills, which were used to adorn the walls of houses (Fitzgerald 1989). In an average year during the 1980s, Japan imported the shells of 28,000 adult Hawksbills that had been killed in the Comoros Islands, Jamaica, Haiti, the Maldives and Cuba; the latter country was the largest supplier (Fitzgerald 1989). By 1994, when Japan withdrew its CITES reservation on Hawksbill Turtles, it had imported 400,000 of these endangered animals in the previous 14 years (Thornton 1994).

Although the Hawksbill originally nested in 60 countries in the tropics and sub-tropics (WCMC 1993), decades of heavy exploitation caused major declines and the extinction of many nesting populations. Vietnam now kills and markets thousands of these highly endangered sea turtles. They are processed at seven nesting sites along the Vietnamese coast, and tortoiseshell and stuffed turtles are sold openly in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) and in other cities (Duc and Broad 1995). The number of Hawksbills killed in Vietnam has increased greatly in recent years. Also, eggs are collected, and local operations hatch them--another loss to wild populations. Japan announced in 1994 that it is developing a simulated tortoiseshell made of laminated silk, but it continues to provide an illegal market for Hawksbill tortoiseshell. Urgent action is needed to protect nesting turtles and stop Vietnamese exploitation to prevent extinction of Hawksbills in this region (Duc and Broad 1995). Scientists and conservationists are pessimistic about the long-term survival of the Hawksbill Turtle because of continued killing for its valuable shell. The 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists it as Critically Endangered.

The Olive or Pacific Ridley Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) is found only in the Pacific region, with the majority of nests located along the coasts of Mexico and Central America. They have been slaughtered mercilessly on their nesting beaches, where they gather by the thousands. The market was controlled by one man in Mexico, Antonio Suarez, a Spanish national. In 1978, one of Suarez' plants processed 50,000 Olive Ridleys, 90 percent of which were females; this was 16,000 more than the quota permitted. Mexican government quotas were far higher than the turtle populations could sustain, and catches fell precipitously in 1979 and 1980. This exploitation endangered Pacific Ridley turtles on Mexico's coasts, which brought about listing on the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 1979 of breeding populations on the Pacific coast of Mexico as Endangered and other populations as Threatened. Prior to this, skins, shells and meat from hundreds of thousands of Mexican Olive Ridleys had been imported into the United States, the major consumer of these animals.

In 1980, some 106,000 pounds of Olive Ridley meat were seized as they were being smuggled in from Mexico to various dealers in the United States; the meat came from an estimated 8,800 turtles. Turtle slaughterhouses were still operating in Mexico in 1990, and Suarez owned three processing plants. Not only was Suarez indicted for smuggling thousands of pounds of turtle meat into the United States, but his purchases of turtles from fishermen in Mexico exceeded government quotas. The species is still exploited for other markets, and the 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists the species as Endangered.

Rarest of all the sea turtles, the Kemp's or Atlantic Ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) was once widely distributed throughout the Caribbean region. By the 1940s, it had become restricted to one nesting beach in northeastern Mexico on the Gulf of Mexico. In the 1960s, a mass nesting aggregation, or "arribada," of Kemp's Ridleys, totaling an estimated 40,000 animals, was filmed. A few days of slaughter over several consecutive years reduced the enormous arribadas to only 500 nesting female turtles by 1978. This species was listed on the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 1969 as Endangered, but this did not stop the slaughter. In 1995, nests totaled 1,430, showing a gradual recovery of the species as a result of intensive protection of nesting females and their eggs by the combined work of Mexican and U.S. patrols (Hastings 1996).

Between 1978 and 1988, more than 22,000 eggs were taken from the Mexican nesting beach to Padre Island off the south Texas coast, where they were allowed to hatch and were then kept in captivity for one year prior to releasing them into the wild. For many years, this project was thought a failure, but to the surprise of all, two female Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtles that had been released from Padre Island, one in 1983 and the other in 1986, returned to nest in 1996 (Hastings 1996). The only effective way of tagging young sea turtles is a skin graft of a special light-colored spot placed on the shell, and these turtles' grafts indicated the year each was released (Hastings 1996). One female was 11 years old, and the other 14. This highly unusual project is the first known success story for sea turtle egg transplants. These turtles are also dying in large numbers in the nets of shrimp fishermen, and hundreds more die when they become disoriented while migrating in the fall, ending up in cold New England waters. The 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species classifies the Kemp's Ridley as Critically Endangered.

Loggerhead Sea Turtles (Caretta caretta) also drown in shrimp nets and suffer from a loss of nesting habitat. The Loggerhead is a large turtle, up to 7 feet long (213 centimeters), second in size only to the massive Leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea). Museum specimens of Loggerheads taken in past centuries weighed an estimated 1,188 pounds; today, they average only about 330 pounds (Ernst and Barbour 1989). Loggerheads have been so persecuted on their nesting grounds around the world that the original nesting range is unknown. Development of their nesting beaches and losses from drowning in shrimp nets and will probably result in the extinction of North American Atlantic populations, which nest from Florida to the Carolinas (Ernst and Barbour 1989). Within the past five years, Loggerheads of the Florida region have been found suffering from a mysterious disease which causes tumors on the head and neck, and a lethargy. Most do not survive. A sea turtle hospital in the Florida Keys has treated some of these and, in March 2001, found themselves treating more than 35 Loggerheads, only one of which responded to treatment. It is assumed that for every sick turtle found, hundreds more die at sea. The malady may be a virus caused by pollution, a toxin affecting their food supply of crustaceans and other invertebrates, or another cause as yet unknown. Although the 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists this species as Endangered, the U.S. Endangered Species Act classifies it as Threatened.

The Flatback Turtles (Natator depressus) of the Australian region may be more secure than other species but still face losses from accidental drowning and some illegal hunting. This small sea turtle, only about 39 inches in length, is found mainly in shallow, coastal waters (Ernst and Barbour 1989). They are not hunted for their meat, which is considered unpalatable, but their eggs are exploited, which could eliminate the species from many nesting beaches (Ernst and Barbour 1989). The species is listed as Vulnerable by the 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, indicating a decline that might place it in Endangered status.

Largest of all living turtles, Leatherbacks can reach 8 feet in length and weigh up to 1,900 pounds (Ernst and Barbour 1989). They are highly endangered, as a result of overharvesting of their eggs, illegal slaughter and drowning in fishing nets. Of all sea turtles, the Leatherback is the most likely to be seen in temperate areas, even cold waters off Iceland, Labrador and Norway in the north, and Chile and the Cape of Good Hope in the south (Ernst and Barbour 1989). It also ranges through tropical oceans, occasionally entering shallow bays and estuaries. It nests on tropical beaches (Ernst and Barbour 1989). The body temperature of these turtles has been measured at 18^o C. above the sea water temperature, an indication that their large body size retains heat from muscular activity, and their circulatory system in fore and hind limbs allows homeothermy (Ernst and Barbour 1989). Thus, these turtles can hardly be called "cold-blooded."

Until recently, western Mexico had enormous breeding colonies of Leatherbacks, but because of killing and egg-taking, nests at Mexiquillo, a major nesting beach, they declined from 6,500 in 1984 to fewer than 500 in 1995 to 1996, according to the Turtle Newsletter. So many of these huge turtles have drowned in driftnets that the IUCN reclassified the species from Endangered in the 1996 list to Critically Endangered in the 2000 Red List. In spite of having an enormous range worldwide, this species also seems destined to become extinct in the near future.

All of these sea turtles continue to be exploited, either illegally, by local peoples, or by countries not Party to CITES. In spite of CITES and U.S. Endangered Species Act listing, the high rate of mortality from many causes is proving disastrous for these ancient reptiles. An enormous market for meat, leather and shell exists, fueled by countries that provide markets for turtle products. Hawksbills and Leatherbacks, in search of jellyfish, consume balloons and plastic bags, which prove fatal, blocking the turtles' intestines or suffocating them. Globs of floating tar and oil slicks can kill them. Many of their nesting beaches have been developed for tourism or business, discouraging nesting females, and lights at night along nesting beaches cause newly hatched baby turtles to turn away from the sea and proceed inland, instinctively crawling toward the greatest source of light. In natural conditions, this light would come from the direction of the sea and the horizon, but the misdirected hatchlings end up crushed by cars and piled up against buildings. Some seaside towns in the United States and elsewhere are prohibiting any type of beach lighting during the months when sea turtles hatch. Thousands more young sea turtles die when they swim off course during the fall and winter, ending up in frigid waters. In the winter of 1995 to 1996, hundreds of Kemp's Ridley and other species of sea turtles washed ashore on the beaches of the northeastern United States, from Long Island, New York, to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The majority were about a year old, but some adults also died. Rescue centers were set up and saved the lives of some of these turtles.

To kill these fascinating and ancient animals to supply the tables of thoughtless diners in gourmet restaurants, or for knickknacks and eyeglass frames, is unjustifiable. At present, there is no evidence that these turtles, who breed at glacial speed and are dying from many causes that probably already exceed their rate of increase, can ever be taken in a sustained manner. Total protection from killing is needed to prevent the extinction of these venerable reptiles.