seaturtle.org : MTN : ARCHIVES : Sign In

Thank you for providing the UK and the Cayman Islands an opportunity to comment on the claims made by various NGOs following the export of 20 live, captive-bred green turtles from the Cayman Islands to the United Kingdom. Whilst we will respond here to some of the points raised by NGOs, we do not think that these issues are best resolved by debate through the pages of this or, indeed, any other newsletter.

First, the import of the 20 live green turtles to aquaria in the UK was only approved after careful consideration and after discussions between Member States in the European Community CITES Committee. The import to the UK was approved on its own merits and not as a precedent for any future trade. We remain confident that the Cayman Turtle Farm (CTF) meets the CITES criteria for captive breeding as defined in Res. Conf. 10.16. This trade was accompanied by the correct CITES permits, met the requirements of all the relevant Articles of the Convention and the EC CITES Regulations and was not, therefore, in violation of CITES.

The EC (and so the UK) does not implement the CITES Resolution for the registration of Appendix I captive breeding operations. Nevertheless, the Cayman Islands sought to achieve such registration for the Cayman Turtle Farm at the 12th Conference of the CITES Parties (CoP12) – see <http://www.ukcites.gov.uk/CTFproposal.htm>. This proposal gained a majority of those votes cast by Parties but did not attract the required two thirds majority required for success. The proposal was not withdrawn by the UK. Nor did, or does, the CTF seek to ‘re-open international markets for sea turtle products’ as claimed. Rather, CTF sought the sale, as personal effects only, of individually and uniquely marked carapaces (which are otherwise currently destroyed) purchased in person from the Farm. These carapaces are a by-product of the primary purpose of the Farm which is to provide turtle meat, at affordable prices, to support the strong Caymanian cultural tradition of consuming turtle meat. By doing so, from a captive bred source, the CTF enables the Cayman Island authorities to reduce the demand for wild turtle meat (there is a small regulated harvest on the island) and so to reduce actual and potential illegal take.

NGOs also claim that the Costa Rican government provided evidence at CoP12 that ‘showed that at least some of the founder stock was taken illegally’. We are surprised to see this claim repeated here. Whilst Costa Rica provided a letter, sent from them to the CTF’s representatives in April 1971, noting that egg collection would not be permitted in the newly created Tortuguero National Park, it does not demonstrate that subsequent acquisitions were necessarily illegal. However, we reiterate that these issues are best resolved by dialogue between the governments of the UK, the Cayman Islands and Costa Rica and through careful and dispassionate examination of all the available evidence (which we do not rehearse here) and not through lobbying or campaigns.

Finally, the issue of head-starting is raised though it is irrelevant to the issue of captive breeding or the legality of trade under CITES. The head-starting programme initiated by CTF in 1980 has been documented widely in the scientific literature (for the most recent paper see Bell et al. 2006. Oryx 38: 137-148) including in the Marine Turtle Newsletter. Work, funded by the UK government, is continuing on the genetic sampling and analysis of both farm-produced animals and wild nesting and foraging populations (as a part of a wider project aimed at the conservation of marine turtles) in the Cayman Islands and other relevant UK Overseas Territories (e.g. see <https://seaturtle.org/mtrg/projects/tcot/finalreport/>). The results of this work will be used to inform future policies on any further releases.

UK CITES Management Authority & Scientific Authority (Fauna) (E-mail: cites.ukma@defra.gsi.gov.uk.)
Cayman Islands Department of the Environment & CITES Scientific Authority (E-mail: DOE@gov.ky)