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I have enjoyed the “Marine Turtle Newsletter” for as long as it has been published; it has been a stimulating experience for me to see so many familiar names over so many years. I have often been tempted to write “To the Editor,” as I was the president, a founder, and a major capitalizer of Mariculture, Ltd., a predecessor to Cayman Turtle Farm. I organized Mariculture with Dr. Robert Schroeder in 1968 and the rest, as they say, is history. I have never before responded to anything which I read in the MTN, but the letter “Cayman Island Turtle Farm: Under Fire by Conservationists” (MTN 113, page 9) was a bit more than I could stomach in silence. The inaccuracies are as spurious today as they were almost 40 years ago and most were addressed by the letter “Cayman Turtle Farm – a Response to NGO Comments” (MTN 113, page 10). However, I do think my unique experience with the (original) turtle farm requires me to add a few thoughts:

1. I have never seen the “evidence submitted by the government of Costa Rica” which “showed that at least some of the founding stock was taken illegally from that country” – but Dr. Schroeder and I were given oral permission and a handshake by Mr. Roberto Morales to take “whatever stock we though necessary.” Mr. Morales was an official with the government whose portfolio included both “natural resources” and air transportation that was Lasca Airlines, then owned/operated by the Costa Rican government. Indeed, all of the “founding stock” was removed from Tortuguero by small private plane to the airport at San Juan and then flown as commercial freight in the hold of Lasca Airlines on their regularly scheduled routes between San Juan, Costa Rica and George Town, Grand Cayman, BWI. It is illogical to aver that the national airline would be party to contraband trafficking!

2. The most important way in which the farm showed “its activity benefited wild populations” is the fact that the original franchise granted by the Island government to Mariculture, Ltd. And included with the license for the Cayman Turtle Farm is the fact that the taking of wild green turtles in Cayman waters was prohibited, except for a few indigenous, licensed persons.

3. And speaking of proof – it has never been proved that “releasing a portion of (the farm’s) overflow of juvenile turtles into surrounding waters could pose serious threats to wild turtle populations.” How any reasonable person could come to such an assumption has, to the best of my knowledge, never made even the theoretical scan, let alone had any scientific merit.

4. To the best of my memory, there has never been a serious allegation made that “diseases occurring in Cayman Farm-raised turtles can be spread to wild populations.” To make such an assertion without peer-reviewed proof is poor science.

On a totally personal basis, it never ceases to amaze me that the few antagonists to Mariculture, Ltd./Cayman Turtle Farm express their “concerns” but never seem to have a better idea than commerce to guarantee the perpetuation of Chelonia mydas. Mariculture Ltd./Cayman Turtle Farm has produced thousands of released turtles. When I first went to Cayman in 1968, it was highly unusual to see a green sea turtle of any size whilst scuba diving; today, it is all but impossible to dive anywhere around the Cayman Islands and not see more than one turtle per dive. This simple barometer of success is probably meaningless to the scientific world – but it’s might practical to those genuinely interested in the perpetuation of the green sea turtle, which could be absolutely guaranteed through its commercial success – a viable theory in 1968 and 2006.

Irvin S. Naylor, 100 Boxwood Lane, York, PA 17403 (E-mail: inaylor@snowtimeinc.com)