Under fishery management and economic concepts, 

 not harvesting post-reproductive individuals is 

 wasteful. 



FRAZER ; 



DAMMANN ; 

 ECKERT; 



FOSTER; 



KERR; 



This was an excellent point. No one has presented 

 convincing evidence of senility in sea turtles. 



Most living things appear to undergo senility. 



What is the status of the remaining sea turtle 

 populations in the Caribbean? We know that there 

 have been local extinctions. The population 

 trends in this region need to be determined. Are 

 they increasing, stable, decreasing? How can the 

 status of these populations be determined given 

 the existing data? Turtles have varying cycles. 

 What percent of adult females breed in any given 

 year? What effects has harvesting these turtles 

 had on the populations? 



Saturation tagging programs must be continued for 

 more than a decade to get reliable information on 

 what is happening in these populations. Despite 

 these data gaps, something must be done to protect 

 sea turtles. Priority must be given to protecting 

 the adult females. If there must be a harvest, 

 then the smaller, less reproductively valuable, 

 sea turtles should be used. Also, any schemes to 

 regulate or control taking of sea turtles should 

 be applied in all the countries in the area. 



Based on what was said, there is really only one 

 option. Another category should be added to N. 

 Frazer's list of realities — Management Realities. 



The national representatives have said that 

 enforcement already is a problem. A take option 

 based on size will add to these enforcement 

 problems. Decision makers give great weight to 

 economic and social realities. Models should be a 

 real help to them in making hard decisions. 



Support was given to what N. Frazer said. To 

 undertake realistic management options, 

 administrators must have good information. Our 

 scientists and their research must fully be 

 supported. In Jamaica an education program needs 

 to be developed to inform the people about the 

 benefits of conservation programs. This will help 

 reduce the mortality of sea turtles in our area. 



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