Caribbean Costa Rica each year were not mentioned. The often 

 rumored and long term capturing and buying of sea turtles in 

 other countries around the Caribbean Basin by fishermen in 

 vessels from Cayman Islands, from Martinique, and from Guadaloupe 

 were not accounted for. The table for Lepidochelys kempi in WATS 

 I Proceedings (p. 70) had no entries under "Fishery", yet NMFS 

 reasonably estimate that hundreds of these are caught and killed 

 annually by shrimp vessels of the United States and Mexico. 



We know now that there are large voids in our data base on 

 exploitation of sea turtles in the western Atlantic. We must 

 continue the efforts to learn and report how many, what species 

 of sea turtles are being killed and where, when and for what 

 purposes. Some examples are given from what we have learned of 

 sea turtle exploitation over the past two years. 



Guatemala, on its 50 km of sea turtle nesting beach, records 

 an estimated annual range of 380 to 760 nests of Eretmochelys 

 imbricata, 45 to 90 Chelonia my das nests, and 25 to 50 

 Dermochelys coriacea nests. All of these nests were reported to 

 have been exploited (Resales, WATS II National Report) . 



Venezuela reports the estimated annual range of exploited 

 nests of Chelonia my das to be about 1,500 to 4,200, of exploited 

 nests of Eretmochelys imbricata to be about 200 to 2,000, and 

 lesser amounts of exploited nests of Dermochelys coriacea and 

 Caretta caretta. Venezuela estimates a minimum annual harvest of 

 407 subadults and adults of Chelonia mydas , a minimum of 99 

 Eretmochelys imbricata . 10 Lepidochelys olivacea . and a few 

 Dermochelys and Caretta (G. Medina, pers. comm.).. 



The British Virgin Islands report that the "Sea turtles have 

 played an important role in the cultural and socio-economic 

 development of BVI . " Although there has never been an 

 established commercial export of turtles, they have been 

 extensively exploited at the subsistence level. The local turtle 

 fishery has been family or community oriented, and, although 

 there has been a significant decline in the fishery, that trend 

 continues today. More than 10 Chelonia and 10 Dermochelys are 

 estimated to nest there annually and Eretmochelys . Chelonia, and 

 Dermochelys are harvested each year from the nesting beaches 

 (less than 10 each) . Between 10 and 100 each of Chelonia and 

 Eretmochelys are harvested each year in the water. 



In Costa Rica, during spring and early summer, daily 

 sampling of a five mile section of beach within the Tortuguero 

 National Park recorded 56 nests laid by Chelonia mydas , of which 

 23 were dug up, and 15 nests laid by Eretmochelys imbricata . of 

 which 7 were dug up and removed. These yield a collective 

 percentage of 42% exploitation, while the percentage of nests of 



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