Will the Caribbean Hawksbill Turtle survive?

Buitrago, Joaquin

The Hawksbill is certainly the most neglected of all marine turtles. Smaller than the green turtle, the loggerhead, or the leatherback, and lacking the peculiar nesting aggregations of the ridleys, it attracts attention mainly because of the beauty of its shell. This was the primary reason for the massive killing that has driven the hawksbill to the border of extinction. Until recently, the hawksbill nested along almost all the continental and insular coasts of the Caribbean without having sites or seasons of great reproductive activity. This characteristic, strikingly different from the other sea turtle species, was considered advantageous. It supposedly prevented massive extermination of large numbers of adults, juveniles, and eggs from the nesting beach. Following the 1960s, during which fishing for marine turtles was most intense, endangering the existence of all species, most countries in the Caribbean established some type of regulations. In some cases, these prohibited the fishing of marine turtles and, in areas where considerable numbers of some species still nested, urgent protective measures were taken by developing national parks that included the most important turtle rookeries. Since there are no major beaches where great numbers of hawksbills reproduce, however, this species was virtually forgotten in most conservation programs.

Will the Caribbean Hawksbill Turtle survive?

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