Cuba Bans Endangered Sea Turtle Harvesting

Cuba Bans Endangered Sea Turtle Harvesting

Feb, 2008  - Cuba has banned the harvesting of 
all marine turtle species and products from its beaches and seas for an 
indefinite period, according to a Ministry of Fisheries Ministerial 
Resolution. The move extends hope for survival of the critically 
endangered hawksbill turtle, which feeds in Cuban waters. 
Conservationists praised the resolution, passed January 19, which they say 
will benefit all the Caribbean's endangered marine turtles - greens, 
loggerheads, and hawksbills. Greens and loggerheads are considered 
endangered, while hawksbills are critically endangered, according to the 
Red List of Threatened Species complied by the IUCN-World Conservation 
Union. 
"For many years, Cuba retained a legal fishery of 500 hawksbills a year, 
with the hope of being able to trade their shells internationally," said 
Dr. Susan Lieberman, director of WWF International's Species Programme, 
which worked with the Cuban and Canadian governments to establish the new 
policy. 

The phaseout of the marine turtle fishery in Cuba is the result of a joint 
effort by WWF and the Cuban Ministry of Fisheries, with financial support 
from the Canadian International Development Agency, CIDA. 
"This far-sighted decision represents an outstanding outcome for Cuba, for 
the wider Caribbean, and for conservation. Cuba is to be commended for the 
example it has set in intelligent decisionmaking informed by science and 
the long term best interests of its people," Lieberman said. 
The two fishing communities in southern Cuba that used to harvest marine 
turtles will be helped to find sustainable economic alternatives with 
funds and technical assistance. They will modernize their fishing fleets, 
re-train their residents and engage them in hawksbill turtle protection 
activities by forming Brigades for the Protection of Marine Turtles, the 
Cuban government said. 
The WWF/CIDA grant of over $US400,000 also will support the Ministry's 
Centre for Fisheries Research to become a regional hub for marine turtle 
conservation and research, capitalizing on decades of experience by Cuban 
scientists. 
It will also strengthen the Cuban Fisheries law enforcement group, the 
Office for Fisheries Inspection, to ensure compliance with the ban. 
Along with other marine turtles, hawksbill turtles are threatened by the 
loss of nesting and feeding habitats, egg collection, entanglement in 
fishing gear, climate change, and pollution. 
But the main threat to the hawksbills comes from continuing illegal trade 
in tortoiseshell although international trade in marine turtle products 
has been banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered 
Species, CITES, since 1977.

Small in size compared to other marine turtles, hawksbills are famous for 
their ornate shells, which are dark amber with radiating streaks of brown 
or black. Their shells have been made into jewelry, combs, eyeglass 
frames, and tabletops. 
The hawksbill turtle is classified as critically endangered after 
population declines estimated at 80 percent over the last 100 years. 
The hawksbill's preference for feeding on sponges means it plays a 
significant but until recently unappreciated role in the continued health 
of coral reefs, by opening up new feeding opportunities for some varieties 
of reef fish, says WWF. 
Cuban government agencies that will help enforce the ban are Departments 
of the Interior, Tourism, Education, Foreign Investment and the Economic 
Collaboration, and the Department of Science, Tecnology and the 
Environment. 
Nongovernmental organizations involved include the Committees of Defense 
of Revolucion, the Federation of Cuban Women, the group Cuba Fishing, and 
the Federation of Sport Fishing. 

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