Review on Research, Explotation and Management of the Stocks of Sea Turtles

Bacon, Peter

The Caribbean region contains many important sea turtle nesting colonies. Those of Dermochalya in French Guiana, Chelonia mydas in Costa Rica and Lepidochelys kempi in the Gulf of Mexico are some of the largest known nesting aggregations of these species anywhere in the world. Apart from this, almost every mainland or island sand bench has some nesting turtles. A large amount of important biological research has been conducted in the region, particularly regarding nesting behavior, migrations, and population dynamics of sea turtles; but in most areas conservation programs are still in their infancy. Exploitation and management patterns have been tailored normally to suit the economic and social conditions of the country concerned but it is questionable whether such restricted planning is acceptable today. When the serious world decline in turtle populations and the wide ranging, migratory habits of these animals is taken into account, it is apparent that the conservation policy of one country may affect turtle stocks, not only in a neighboring country but in the whole western Atlantic area. The development of effective national programs depends on the formulation of a coordinated regional research and management plan aimed at the resuscitation and wise utilization of the depleted turtle stocks of the Caribbean region. In the CICAR program sea turtles are the concern of the Working Group on Fisheries Resources. The Assistant International Coordinator for Fisheries, in his report to the Fifth ICG Meeting of CICAR in Havana in 1972, proposed that a group of turtle specialists develop a regional research and management program for sea turtles. He suggested further that a summary was required of the existing knowledge of turtle stocks and the present state of exploitation. The report that follows is an assessment of the current knowledge of turtle stocks, their exploitation and management in the Caribbean region. It is a revision of a paper presented for discussion at the Sixth ICG Meeting of CICAR in Cartagena, Colombia, in July 1973.