Social and Economic Aspects of Sea Turtle Conservation
361
value sea turtles in general, but also may place value on an individual turtle’s well being.
Many sea turtles that are encountered by people are given names, an action that seems
to clearly demonstrate a recognized existence value. Sea turtles briefly encountered on
turtle watches, individuals kept in aquarium and rehabilitation facilities, and even turtles
outfitted with telemetry and tracked by biologists all have acquired names as individuals.
The empathy represented in and generated by a name may extend beyond the people
who encounter the individual turtle directly and may multiply a turtle’s existence value
among many thousands of people vicariously tracking the welfare of a turtle on the
Internet or through other media (Godfrey, 1998).
One example of how media attention and perceived value can focus intensely
on an individual turtle involves a loggerhead that stranded in Florida with frontflipper injuries. Following an unusual amount of press coverage (many sea turtles
with similar injuries strand each year in Florida), the turtle’s amputated front flippers
were replaced with rubber prosthetics fashioned by an international tire company
and attached by a local orthopedic surgeon. The estimated cost of the procedure was
$35,000 U.S. dollars (USD) and the reported cost of the prosthetics was $200,000
USD in 1984 (Miami Herald, 25/9/83, 4/10/83, 13/10/83, 17/1/84, 18/1/84). Unfortunately for the loggerhead, named Lucky, the artificial flippers fell off, attempts to
reattach them failed, and the turtle remained in a captive rehabilitation facility
(Miami Herald, 25/1/84, 29/1/84, 23/3/84, 9/4/84).
Although economic value is most easily placed on the individuals in a population,
the population itself, as a potentially sustainable group of interbreeding individuals,
should be more valuable than the sum-value of its members. The consumptive use
value of populations is widely recognized by governmental agencies and nongovernmental watchdog groups who monitor many species of harvested organisms.
Governmental regulation of sea turtle harvests (and prohibition of harvest) attests
that sea turtles too are valued as populations. In early seventeenth-century Bermuda,
where commercial harvest of green turtles first began (Parsons, 1962), colonists
promulgated the first governmental mandate valuing live members of the green turtle
population by issuing a fine for catching turtles smaller than 18 in. (Carr, 1952).
Unfortunately, the nesting colony at Bermuda was extirpated by the English within
the next two centuries (Carr, 1954).
The nonconsumptive use and existence values of sea turtle populations and
species is recognized by governments that have set near prohibitions on taking sea
turtles. One example of a near prohibition is the Endangered Species Act of 1973
(U.S.). This act contains provisions for protecting habitat for endangered species
(including sea turtles), for removing species from protection when populations
recover, and for limited take of individuals that benefits their populations (as from
conservation science).
Additional existence value of sea turtle populations comes from the role of sea
turtles in communities within ecosystems. The role of sea turtles in ecosystems is
just beginning to be understood (see Chapter 10, this volume). For example, green
turtles are reasoned to play an important role in the cycling of nutrients and in
enhancing productivity within seagrass communities, even though this role must
have diminished with orders-of-magnitude decreases in green turtle abundance
(Jackson, 1997). With a sufficiently diminished ecological role and with the potential
1123 book.book Page 361 Monday, November 11, 2002 11:11 AM
361
value sea turtles in general, but also may place value on an individual turtle’s well being.
Many sea turtles that are encountered by people are given names, an action that seems
to clearly demonstrate a recognized existence value. Sea turtles briefly encountered on
turtle watches, individuals kept in aquarium and rehabilitation facilities, and even turtles
outfitted with telemetry and tracked by biologists all have acquired names as individuals.
The empathy represented in and generated by a name may extend beyond the people
who encounter the individual turtle directly and may multiply a turtle’s existence value
among many thousands of people vicariously tracking the welfare of a turtle on the
Internet or through other media (Godfrey, 1998).
One example of how media attention and perceived value can focus intensely
on an individual turtle involves a loggerhead that stranded in Florida with frontflipper injuries. Following an unusual amount of press coverage (many sea turtles
with similar injuries strand each year in Florida), the turtle’s amputated front flippers
were replaced with rubber prosthetics fashioned by an international tire company
and attached by a local orthopedic surgeon. The estimated cost of the procedure was
$35,000 U.S. dollars (USD) and the reported cost of the prosthetics was $200,000
USD in 1984 (Miami Herald, 25/9/83, 4/10/83, 13/10/83, 17/1/84, 18/1/84). Unfortunately for the loggerhead, named Lucky, the artificial flippers fell off, attempts to
reattach them failed, and the turtle remained in a captive rehabilitation facility
(Miami Herald, 25/1/84, 29/1/84, 23/3/84, 9/4/84).
Although economic value is most easily placed on the individuals in a population,
the population itself, as a potentially sustainable group of interbreeding individuals,
should be more valuable than the sum-value of its members. The consumptive use
value of populations is widely recognized by governmental agencies and nongovernmental watchdog groups who monitor many species of harvested organisms.
Governmental regulation of sea turtle harvests (and prohibition of harvest) attests
that sea turtles too are valued as populations. In early seventeenth-century Bermuda,
where commercial harvest of green turtles first began (Parsons, 1962), colonists
promulgated the first governmental mandate valuing live members of the green turtle
population by issuing a fine for catching turtles smaller than 18 in. (Carr, 1952).
Unfortunately, the nesting colony at Bermuda was extirpated by the English within
the next two centuries (Carr, 1954).
The nonconsumptive use and existence values of sea turtle populations and
species is recognized by governments that have set near prohibitions on taking sea
turtles. One example of a near prohibition is the Endangered Species Act of 1973
(U.S.). This act contains provisions for protecting habitat for endangered species
(including sea turtles), for removing species from protection when populations
recover, and for limited take of individuals that benefits their populations (as from
conservation science).
Additional existence value of sea turtle populations comes from the role of sea
turtles in communities within ecosystems. The role of sea turtles in ecosystems is
just beginning to be understood (see Chapter 10, this volume). For example, green
turtles are reasoned to play an important role in the cycling of nutrients and in
enhancing productivity within seagrass communities, even though this role must
have diminished with orders-of-magnitude decreases in green turtle abundance
(Jackson, 1997). With a sufficiently diminished ecological role and with the potential
1123 book.book Page 361 Monday, November 11, 2002 11:11 AM