Green Turtle (Chelonia my das ) 



Status Report of the Green Turtle (Larry H. Ogren) 



The green turtle occurs throughout the western Atlantic area 

 from Brazil to northeastern United States and Bermuda, but is 

 most abundant in tropical waters. Intensive exploitation by man 

 since colonial times has greatly reduced many of its former 

 breeding assemblages and extirpated others altogether. There are 

 only three major nesting sites remaining in the Wider Caribbean 

 area today — and they are probably at much lower population levels 

 than formerly existed. They are located in Costa Rica 

 (Tortuguero) , Surinam, and Venezuela (Aves Island) , as described 

 in the WATS I Proceedings (Bacon et al. 1984). 



Many other nesting sites located in 32 circum-Caribbean 

 countries, including North America, have been reported where the 

 numbers of nesting females range from one or two individuals to 

 several hundred per season. These are identified in the WATS I 

 and II National Reports and may be categorized as either remnants 

 of declining populations, incipient colonizers, or naturally rare 

 nesters. 



Significant nesting has recently been recorded for Brazil by 

 Chelonia my das on oceanic island beaches over 100 miles offshore 

 of the mainland (Marcovaldi and Marcovaldi, WATS II National 

 Report) . Detailed information on the size of these breeding 

 aggregations was lacking for WATS I. They are important 

 additions to the total breeding population in the Wider Caribbean 

 area, but are probably reproductively isolated from the other 

 three major breeding aggregations and rank as high, or higher, in 

 number of nesting females as the Aves Island rookery. 



Other smaller nesting populations exist throughout the 

 region, and for countries such as Mexico, where several hundred 

 turtles nest annually, the nesting beaches are widely distributed 

 along the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean coasts, and nesting is not 

 as concentrated. Many of these turtles are vulnerable to capture 

 on the beach, and egg poaching is pervasive. This is resulting 

 in declining numbers. Recovery is not likely if adequate beach 

 protection can not be implemented and maintained. Incidental and 

 directed take of the larger and older subadults and adults at sea 

 continues adversely to impact foraging populations everywhere 

 within their range. Statistics on the magnitude of this "extra" 

 mortality are frequently lacking. 



Slide Presentation . A historical overview of the Tortuguero 

 green turtle colony, Costa Rica; early days at the tagging camp 

 (1950s); local scenery and project personnel; the commercial 

 fishery at the nesting beach and the feeding grounds of Nicaragua 

 and Colombia; developmental habitats, pelagic and benthic; 

 contemporary scenes at the green turtle station (1980s) ; the CCC; 



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