Legal harvest of marine turtles tops 42,000 each year

[News Bot]

A new study has found that 42 countries or territories around the world permit the harvest of marine turtles -- and estimates that more than 42,000 turtles are caught each year by these fisheries. All seven marine turtle species are currently listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The direct take of turtles has continued legally in many regions and countries, often for traditional coastal communities to support themselves or small-scale fisheries supplying local markets with meat, and sometimes shell. The fisheries are an important source of finance, protein and cultural identity, but information can be scarce on their status -- despite often being listed as one of the major threats to turtle populations.

Published On: 21-Feb-14 10:35 AM
Source: ScienceDaily

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[mikey_mike]

42 countries including Australia

 

[butters]

In Australia only by traditional owners.

 

[longqi]

and what control is made on numbers being collected in Australia???

 

[butters]

None that I know of longqi but the numbers taken in Australia I imagine would be far less than other countries.
I'm friends with a few who hunt "traditionally" and whilst they love eating turtle and do so it is not a major part,of their diet.

i would love to see some actual figures of what is taken in Australia.

 

[Umbral]

As it is not a commercial trade in Australia and are taken as food by the fisherman, exact numbers would be nearly impossible to gather.

 

[Bushman]

This is a difficult issue to resolve. Whilst I understand and respect the traditions of tribal cultures worldwide, when species become endangered I think that we need to have a very close look at all the causes of decline and do something about it. If this means restricting the take by TO's then so be it, but I reckon that there are other more significant causes for their decline that should be addressed first.

 

[butters]

The issue with sea turtles is they cross borders. Whilst in Australia the take of turtles is probably sustainable the same may not be true for northern neighbors.

You're in Bali longqi what's the situation in Indonesia?

 

[DanN]

The issue is that sea turtles in general are not endangered at all. The status is maintained because donors give lots of money to conservation. If people weren't fed the sob story then those conservation dollars would dry up.

The fact is that there is little evidence that, for most sea turtle populations, trade is having a detrimental effect. Certainly not in Australia!

 

[longqi]

The issue with sea turtles is they cross borders. Whilst in Australia the take of turtles is probably sustainable the same may not be true for northern neighbors.

You're in Bali longqi what's the situation in Indonesia?

Because they are flavour of the month/decade with conservationists many of them do get good protection here
Easy for groups to get money to protect them
Bali culture includes them in meals during some ceremonies
All over Borneo you can buy sate turtle and kura kura oil [turtle]

Numbers are probably declining but probably not as endangered as conservationists say
Freshwater turtles on the other hand are really getting knocked about
[but no money for them so nobody cares]

Its sad in some ways
We get calls about nesting turtles so go down and watch them until the experts arrive
But the same people who rang about the turtles happily kill any sea snakes they see

Some animals are easy to raise money for,,, cetaceans, primates, big cats turtles etc
Others that really need help get ignored