Contemporary Culture, Use, and Conservation of Sea Turtles
319
12.2.1.6.2 Seychelles
“The people of Seychelles view turtles as an integral part of their culture and
economy” (Mortimer and Collie, 1998). Hawksbill shell has been used for more
than 200 years, exported to Europe and more recently Japan, and fashioned locally
into items for sale to tourists. This ended in the late 1990s, when the government
of Seychelles banned commercial trade in hawksbill products and slaughter within
territorial waters. Artisans were compensated and sold their stockpiles to the government. Stockpiled shell was burned publicly in 1998.
At the Nineteenth Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation,
a resolution was passed acknowledging “that by destroying its stockpile of raw hawksbill shell the Government of Seychelles made a statement to its citizens and to the
world that it recognizes the beauty of the natural environment of Seychelles, of which
healthy populations of free-living sea turtles are an inherent component…” (Plotkin,
1999). Not all sea turtle conservationists agreed with this position, as seen in an
exchange on CTURTLE. Some people criticized the burning as a political gesture that
did little to improve the fate of live hawksbills, or as wasteful; income earned via sale
of the shell could have been used to compensate out-of-work artisans and to pay for
conservation activities. The diversity of values and beliefs about conservation was
highlighted in the exchange, and like many discussions of conservation taking place
in internationalized cyberspace, the voices of local people were absent.
12.2.1.6.3 Palau
In Palau, the large costal hawksbill scutes are molded into polished bowls called
toluk and used as an exchange valuable among women. This form of traditional
money is circulated exclusively by Palauan women to give gratitude for services
and courtesies offered among their families (Smith, 1983). The specific value of
toluk is dependent on its aesthetic and historical characteristics, and is influenced
by the changing economy of toluk circulation. Direct harvest of hawksbill turtles
for toluk and the production of jewelry, mostly for sale to tourists, has led to continual
pressure on local populations. In recognition of the marked declines in nesting and
foraging turtles, the Palau women’s association, Didil Belau, recently called for a
20-year moratorium on hawksbill harvesting (P.K. Mad and M.D. Guilbeaux, personal communication, 2002).
12.2.2 I NCIDENTAL T AKE
12.2.2.1 Fisheries Interactions
Although turtle drownings in shrimp trawls have long been a concern to sea turtle
biologists (Carr highlighted the impacts of shrimping on Kemp’s ridleys in 1977
[Carr, 1977]), other types of fishing activities, for example longline and drift net,
are of increasing concern. The link between culture and such an indirect use of sea
turtles may seem tenuous. However, one of the best-known cases of fisheries interaction with sea turtles, i.e., via shrimping, and the debates about how to solve the
bycatch problem via turtle excluder devices (TEDs), provides an example that can
be examined through the lens of culture in three ways.
1123 book.book Page 319 Thursday, November 14, 2002 11:50 AM
319
12.2.1.6.2 Seychelles
“The people of Seychelles view turtles as an integral part of their culture and
economy” (Mortimer and Collie, 1998). Hawksbill shell has been used for more
than 200 years, exported to Europe and more recently Japan, and fashioned locally
into items for sale to tourists. This ended in the late 1990s, when the government
of Seychelles banned commercial trade in hawksbill products and slaughter within
territorial waters. Artisans were compensated and sold their stockpiles to the government. Stockpiled shell was burned publicly in 1998.
At the Nineteenth Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation,
a resolution was passed acknowledging “that by destroying its stockpile of raw hawksbill shell the Government of Seychelles made a statement to its citizens and to the
world that it recognizes the beauty of the natural environment of Seychelles, of which
healthy populations of free-living sea turtles are an inherent component…” (Plotkin,
1999). Not all sea turtle conservationists agreed with this position, as seen in an
exchange on CTURTLE. Some people criticized the burning as a political gesture that
did little to improve the fate of live hawksbills, or as wasteful; income earned via sale
of the shell could have been used to compensate out-of-work artisans and to pay for
conservation activities. The diversity of values and beliefs about conservation was
highlighted in the exchange, and like many discussions of conservation taking place
in internationalized cyberspace, the voices of local people were absent.
12.2.1.6.3 Palau
In Palau, the large costal hawksbill scutes are molded into polished bowls called
toluk and used as an exchange valuable among women. This form of traditional
money is circulated exclusively by Palauan women to give gratitude for services
and courtesies offered among their families (Smith, 1983). The specific value of
toluk is dependent on its aesthetic and historical characteristics, and is influenced
by the changing economy of toluk circulation. Direct harvest of hawksbill turtles
for toluk and the production of jewelry, mostly for sale to tourists, has led to continual
pressure on local populations. In recognition of the marked declines in nesting and
foraging turtles, the Palau women’s association, Didil Belau, recently called for a
20-year moratorium on hawksbill harvesting (P.K. Mad and M.D. Guilbeaux, personal communication, 2002).
12.2.2 I NCIDENTAL T AKE
12.2.2.1 Fisheries Interactions
Although turtle drownings in shrimp trawls have long been a concern to sea turtle
biologists (Carr highlighted the impacts of shrimping on Kemp’s ridleys in 1977
[Carr, 1977]), other types of fishing activities, for example longline and drift net,
are of increasing concern. The link between culture and such an indirect use of sea
turtles may seem tenuous. However, one of the best-known cases of fisheries interaction with sea turtles, i.e., via shrimping, and the debates about how to solve the
bycatch problem via turtle excluder devices (TEDs), provides an example that can
be examined through the lens of culture in three ways.
1123 book.book Page 319 Thursday, November 14, 2002 11:50 AM