Marine Turtle Newsletter 52:2, © 1991
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Marine Turtle Newsletter 52:2, © 1991
The Japan Sea Turtle-Shell Merchant Union Federation (Japanese Bekko Association) agreed to reduce its current "bekko" or hawksbill tortoiseshell (Eretmochelys imbricata) annual import quota from 30 metric tons to 20 metric tons effective 1 April 1990. Current Japanese prohibitions on trade with CITES parties which do not have a corresponding reservation will remain in effect. In addition, all trade with Jamaica, a non-party, will cease. Japanese officials have received confirmation from Jamaica that that country's domestic legislation prohibits the export of sea turtle products. Under the Jamaican Wildlife Protection Act Regulations of July 1982, the hunting and possession of five species of sea turtles, including the hawksbill, or their parts is completely prohibited. Since that prohibition, from 1983 to 1989 Japan imported from Jamaica 13,836 kilos of bekko, estimated to represent over 13,000 hawksbill turtles (based on a conversion rate of 1.06 kilo of shell per hawksbill turtle). The Japanese are also reviewing the legal status of sea turtles in Haiti and the Maldives, also major suppliers of bekko to Japan.
Only Japan and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have a reservation on the hawksbill turtle. However, based on November 1989 custom statistics, Japan imported 37 kilos of tortoiseshell from Tanzania and 243 kilos from the Cayman Islands, a dependency of the United Kingdom. The statistics were modified by the Japanese government and the December 1989 statistics do not report these imports. TRAFFIC(Japan) is attempting to confirm that these imports were record errors.
At the 1989 CITES meeting, Japan announced its intention to withdraw its reservation on the olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) by the 1992 CITES meeting to be held in Japan. The Japanese reptile industry imports turtle skins for belts, wallets, handbags, and shoes as well as other leather products. Next to crocodilian skin, olive ridley is the most valued by the industry for its fine grain and use in small leather products. During Japan's nine years as a CITES party the country imported 46,718 kilos of processed turtle leather which represents an estimated 156,000 olive ridley turtles (based on a conversion rate of 0.3 kilos per set of leather). About 98% or 45,952 kilos of these were from Mexico and are estimated to represent over 153,000 Mexican turtles. In addition, from 1981 to 1987 Japan imported 88,408 kilos of raw turtle skins from Ecuador and Panama, estimated to represent over 35,000 Latin American olive ridley turtles (based on a conversion rate of 2.5 kilos per set of skin). Source: excerpted from WWF TRAFFIC (USA), 1990, 10(1):20-21.