single nest each was recorded in 1985 and again in 1986. No 

 verified reports exist for 1987. 



^■^ U.S. Virgin Islands . The Virgin Islands National Park on 

 St. John has monitored sea turtle nesting activity since 1980. 

 Question marks to the right of the numbers given in Table 4 

 denote suspected, but not confirmed, nests (Zullo 1986) . Buck 

 Island has also been monitored since 1980 and has a significant 

 level of hawksbill nesting. Numbers of nests per year were not 

 available. 



The WATS meetings have stimulated the reconnaissance of many 

 miles of Caribbean nesting beaches, and have resulted in the 

 discovery of at least two important sites of nesting by the 

 hawksbill turtle. However, that more sites have not been 

 discovered is discouraging, and that the chances are diminishing 

 for the finding of new major nesting beaches for this species in 

 the Caribbean. 



The outline provided to us by the WATS Executive Committee 

 for our status reports asked that we address the issue of nesting 

 beach productivity. Because there are few sites of concentrated 

 hawksbill nesting, few data of this nature are available. No 

 exact figures are available for Tortuguero, Costa Rica, but 

 hatching productivity can be expected to be moderately high at 

 this location. While there is some poaching of nests near both 

 ends of the 2 2 -mile beach, most nesting occurs within Tortuguero 

 National Park, which is vigilantly patrolled. Nearly all losses 

 can be attributed to natural predators and erosion. 



At Isla Aguada, Mexico, 52.2% of the nests were lost in 

 1985, and 54.6% in 1986 (Marquez et al. 1987b). This tremendous 

 loss was due almost exclusively to poaching by humans. Nearly 

 all of the remaining nests are removed from the beach and 

 artificially incubated, with hatching success rates of 58.5% in 

 1985 and 63.6% in 1986. 



Only 26% of the 114 nests at Rio Lagartos, in the Yucatan, 

 were lost in 1985 (Castaneda 1987) . This was due to careful 

 surveillance by fisheries personnel. Hatching success of the 

 transplanted eggs was 49%. 



Feral pigs represent the primary threat to hawksbill nests 

 on Mona Island, Puerto Rico (Kontos 1988). Nest loss was 17.2% 

 in 1984, 48.2% in 1985, 39.7% in 1986 and 49.3% in 1987. Fencing 

 of important nesting beaches has been recommended since 1974, but 

 has never been carried out. 



Another issue that needs to be addressed in the evaluation 

 of the status of a species is the degree of threat that current 

 populations are experiencing. In the case of the hawksbill, 

 trade in tortoiseshell has been identified as the single greatest 



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