Following reports of turtle hunting at Kilygwyn in last week’s article, Environment TOBAGO and Save Our Sea Turtles (SOS) Tobago would like to remind the general public that while we are now in the ‘open’ hunting season, there are still restrictions on turtle hunting that apply.
The Conservation of Wildlife Act, Ch. 67:01 addresses the protection of all wildlife through providing lists of pest and game species that can be hunted, sea turtles appear on neither list and are therefore, by omission, a protected species. This is the Act under which the ‘open’ and ‘closed’ hunting seasons are enforced by wardens and honorary game wardens under the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment (DNRE) of the THA, which used to be known as the Forestry Department.
However, the Fisheries Ordinance, Ch. 25. No. 9. is much more specific in how it treats with turtle protection both at sea and on land. This Ordinance is actually called “The Protection of Turtle and Turtle Eggs Regulations, 1975” and it is here that we find, in addition to the open and closed season restriction, a detailed, year round prohibition on taking possession of a female turtle and on taking, removing or selling turtle eggs.
In accordance with these regulations, no person shall, at any time, “kill, harpoon, catch or otherwise take possession of any female turtle which is in the sea within any reef or within one thousand yards of the highwater mark of the foreshore where there is no reef.” It is under this law, that the juvenile green turtle captured in a turtle net at Kilygwyn on Sunday 23rd November, should have been protected.
Most turtles caught in the open season are seized in nearshore waters by spear gun or turtle net. There is, for example, the long standing and lucrative tradition of laying turtle nets at Lambeau, Petit Trou, Canoe Bay and Kilygwyn where sea grass beds surrounded by reef provide an ideal feeding ground for young hawksbill and green turtles. There have in fact been reports of as many as twenty turtles being captured in one net at one time in this area with little or no official monitoring by the authorities.
The existing laws make turtle hunting particularly complex to address in the open season in part, because of the whole male/female issue. The only visible way to distinguish between a mature male and female turtle is by tail length, it is almost impossible to make this distinction in young turtles. Some will also argue that it is difficult to prove exactly how far a net is from the shore. While this may be true, it is also true that most turtle nets, like those in the Kilygwyn area, are set within or near areas of reef so the issue of distance from the highwater mark is therefore irrelevant in most cases.
While no comprehensive studies have been done to determine the sustainability of our current levels of sea turtle consumption, almost everyone agrees that the turtles are becoming less and smaller. All turtle species that inhabit in our waters are endangered worldwide and although Trinidad and Tobago is a signatory to many international and regional conventions recognizing the need to protect endangered species, our actual laws remain obviously inadequate with regards to marine turtles.
However, we each have the right and perhaps, in this case, even the responsibility to make an informed and compassionate dietary choice. Marine turtles have played a critical role in the ocean’s food chain for millions of years; their decline disrupts the natural balance of the sea upon which we depend for food and recreation. The possibility that Tobago’s turtles may be hunted to extinction in our lifetime is very real and could have more serious consequences than we will ever fully understand.
The Conservation of Wildlife Act, Ch. 67:01 addresses the protection of all wildlife through providing lists of pest and game species that can be hunted, sea turtles appear on neither list and are therefore, by omission, a protected species. This is the Act under which the ‘open’ and ‘closed’ hunting seasons are enforced by wardens and honorary game wardens under the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment (DNRE) of the THA, which used to be known as the Forestry Department.
However, the Fisheries Ordinance, Ch. 25. No. 9. is much more specific in how it treats with turtle protection both at sea and on land. This Ordinance is actually called “The Protection of Turtle and Turtle Eggs Regulations, 1975” and it is here that we find, in addition to the open and closed season restriction, a detailed, year round prohibition on taking possession of a female turtle and on taking, removing or selling turtle eggs.
In accordance with these regulations, no person shall, at any time, “kill, harpoon, catch or otherwise take possession of any female turtle which is in the sea within any reef or within one thousand yards of the highwater mark of the foreshore where there is no reef.” It is under this law, that the juvenile green turtle captured in a turtle net at Kilygwyn on Sunday 23rd November, should have been protected.
Most turtles caught in the open season are seized in nearshore waters by spear gun or turtle net. There is, for example, the long standing and lucrative tradition of laying turtle nets at Lambeau, Petit Trou, Canoe Bay and Kilygwyn where sea grass beds surrounded by reef provide an ideal feeding ground for young hawksbill and green turtles. There have in fact been reports of as many as twenty turtles being captured in one net at one time in this area with little or no official monitoring by the authorities.
The existing laws make turtle hunting particularly complex to address in the open season in part, because of the whole male/female issue. The only visible way to distinguish between a mature male and female turtle is by tail length, it is almost impossible to make this distinction in young turtles. Some will also argue that it is difficult to prove exactly how far a net is from the shore. While this may be true, it is also true that most turtle nets, like those in the Kilygwyn area, are set within or near areas of reef so the issue of distance from the highwater mark is therefore irrelevant in most cases.
While no comprehensive studies have been done to determine the sustainability of our current levels of sea turtle consumption, almost everyone agrees that the turtles are becoming less and smaller. All turtle species that inhabit in our waters are endangered worldwide and although Trinidad and Tobago is a signatory to many international and regional conventions recognizing the need to protect endangered species, our actual laws remain obviously inadequate with regards to marine turtles.
However, we each have the right and perhaps, in this case, even the responsibility to make an informed and compassionate dietary choice. Marine turtles have played a critical role in the ocean’s food chain for millions of years; their decline disrupts the natural balance of the sea upon which we depend for food and recreation. The possibility that Tobago’s turtles may be hunted to extinction in our lifetime is very real and could have more serious consequences than we will ever fully understand.
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