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The turtles are generally slaughtered on Friday and Sunday mornings, when sufficient customers have gathered to share the meat. The customers were also observed to drink the blood of the turtles. This practice is carried out, mainly by women, in the belief that it provides strength and increases fertility. If there are too few customers, the turtles are left alive until the following week, during which period they are left lying on their backs without food or water.

Customers include both Muslims and Coptic Christians. Meat is sold for 15 Egyptian Pounds/kg (approximately U.S. $4/kg) and shells are dried with salt and sold to shops or to students of the Faculty of Fine Art. The majority of customers are locals, living near the fish market. Some turtles are also sold to fish restaurants, where although not appearing on the menu, turtle meat is available on order.

In interviews with fishermen, they claimed to capture the turtles accidentally. The turtles are then kept for personal consumption or sold to the fish markets.

On the 28th of June, 1999, MEDASSET issued a press release signalling the commencement of action to halt this exploitation of sea turtles in Egypt. As a result of the ensuing campaign, the Egyptian Minister of the Environment, Her Excellency Nadia Makram Ebeid took steps to end this trade. It has become known that the police will no longer allow the trade and, at the time of writing (1st December 1999), no turtles are publicly on sale in Alexandria fish market.

Only time will tell whether the efforts of the Egyptian authorities will be a total success, or whether the trade will merely operate in circumstances less obvious to the police. We must acknowledge however that this is a welcome move in the right direction. Hopefully these steps, in combination with current awareness campaigns in Egypt (Clarke & Campbell 2000) will pave the way towards a more secure future for marine turtles found in Egyptian waters.

Anyone wishing to encourage the Minister in her efforts to balance the often conflicting demands of government with the need for environmental protection, can contact her by E-mail: N_makram@idsc.gov.eg or Fax: +202 3784285, 3755488.

CLARKE, M & A. CAMPBELL. 2000. Egypt Project Update. Marine Turtle Newsletter 87:19-20

KASPAREK, M. 1993. Marine turtle conservation in the Mediterranean. Marine turtles in Egypt. Phase I: Survey of the Mediterranean coast between Alexandria and El-Salum. MEDASSET (U.K.), RAC/SPA (Tunisia) in co-operation with the National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries Egypt (NIOF). 82 pp.

LAURENT, L., E.M. ABD EL-MAWLA, M.N. BRADAI, F. DEMIRAYAK & A. ORUC. 1996. Reducing sea turtle mortality induced by Mediterranean fisheries. Trawling activity in Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey. Report for the WWF International Mediterranean Programme. WWF Project 9E0103: 32 pp.