TRAFFIC Logo

 

Turning the tide for marine turtles

Published 12 June 2007

Caribbean marine turtles: CITES action on over-exploitation

The Hague, Netherlands, 12 June 2007—Over-exploitation of marine turtles in legal fisheries and through illegal harvest and trade poses a major threat to the survival of marine turtles across the Wider Caribbean Region, according to a new report launched today by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network.

Turning the tide for marine turtles

Report author(s):
A. Bräutigam and K.L. Eckert

Publication date:
June 2007


Notes:

* The six Caribbean species affected are: hawksbill, green, loggerhead, Kemp’s ridley, olive ridley and leatherback—all classified by IUCN as either “Endangered” or “Critically Endangered”.

Turning the Tide: Exploitation, Trade and management of Marine Turtles in the Lesser Antilles, Central America, Colombia and Venzuela, by Amie Bräutigam and Karen L. Eckert, was commissioned by the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and funded by CITES Secretariat, Perry Institute for Marine Science (PIMS), Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST), Manfred Hermsen Foundation, Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation and WWF.

* TRAFFIC is grateful for Lufthansa’s support towards its CoP14 CITES-related conservation work.