Nesting occurs on a number of the Antilles. An estimated 

 300 females nest annually in the Dominican Republic (Ross and 

 Ottenwalder 1983) , and nesting is significant on certain 

 Caribbean Islands under U.S. jurisdiction, including Puerto Rico 

 and its associated islands of Culebra and Vieques, and in the 

 U.S. Virgin Islands, principally St. Croix, where they have been 

 exhaustively studied by K. and S. Eckert and Earthwatch 

 volunteers for a number of years. A few nestings occur annually 

 on most of the Lesser Antilles, including St. Kitts, Nevis, 

 Dominica, and St. Lucia, but the aggregate number there is very 

 small compared to mainland populations (Carr et al. 1982; Meylan 

 1983; Caldwell and Rathjen 1969). 



The leatherback turtle is considered endangered by the U.S. 

 Dept. of the Interior and by the International Union for the 

 Conservation of Nature (lUCN) , and is listed as Appendix I (i.e., 

 prohibited from international commerce between signatory nations) 

 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of 

 Flora and Fauna (CITES) . These designations may be accurate, but 

 they were for the most part established before many of the now- 

 known nesting beaches were discovered, and discussion of the 

 actual status of the species is appropriate today. For more 

 detailed discussion, see Mrosovsky (1983a) and Pritchard (1982) . 



The assessment of the status of a species should include 

 discussion of at least four criteria: (1) total geographic 

 distribution, past and present; (2) absolute numbers of 

 individuals in existence; (3) demonstrable population trends, 

 either globally or in specific areas; and (4) identifiable 

 stresses upon populations that may lead to future decline. 



Total Geographic Distribution. Past and Present 



By this criterion, the leatherback is in no trouble at all. 

 It is probably the most wide-ranging of all vertebrate species, 

 occupying tropical to svibartic habitats, both near-shore and 

 pelagic, in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, and in 

 associated seas such as the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Mexico. 

 There is no evidence that the overall range has diminished in any 

 way. 



Absolute Numbers of Individuals in Existence 



For the leatherback, estimating the world, or even a local 

 population, in its entirety, i.e., including all life stages, is 

 not feasible for several reasons. The number of adults in the 

 population would almost certainly be swamped by the numbers of 

 hatchlings generated during the hatching season each year (the 

 summer months on Atlantic beaches) . A very large percentage of 

 these hatchlings (probably over 98%) would be expected to live 

 for only a few hours to a few weeks before succumbing to 

 predators, and their absolute number is thus rather unimportant. 



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