Farm breeds Sea Turtles for meat trade & conservation – What do you think of this?

[findi]

Galophorus,

Thanks! Green Turtles are hard to track, they crisscross oceans, young difficult to locate, etc. Some populations appear to be doing ok, others in sharp decline. Crossing international borders always complicates matters; concentrated nesting, delayed reproduction and bycatch potential in trawlers predisposes them to quick declines if all is not well. Best, Frank

 

[Tarac]

We in the US, many of us, are not under the same constraints as some others (of course, all suffer in a species used for food disappears, but long-term views often do not seem to be well-accepted). Wealthier nations got to where they are by exploiting their resources, etc - this is always brought up by undeveloped nation representatives at conferences...

Long-term views are very rarely considered, I think that is one of the main problems. There is no easy solution of course. Perhaps if we simply all made an effort not to do something for our own benefit unless it is necessary then we could alleviate the pressure on the earth to keep up with the dramatic changes we subject it to. And I mean that in the least 'fluffy' way, I'm a pragmatist too. I just fail to see how farming turtles is necessary since they are only a luxury food item. Like shark fin soup. There are tons of domestic, more easily farmed animals out there. Underdeveloped nations usually have large feral populations of these types of animals. In this specific case we are talking about Chinese cuisine which is notoriously ruthless as far as environmental regard goes. There is a long tradition of eating all kinds of rare animals in an almost fetish-like way. Should we encourage this to continue by making legal concessions to facilitate it?

On the underdeveloped subject- these nations generally never had resources to exploit which makes a really big difference. Also, there are lots of other things that go into the advancement of a nation besides exploiting resources, one of which is how those resources are conserved (the obvious Easter Island example goes here). Political management is another major factor that sticks out like a sore thumb. If your country is constantly being turned over and destroyed and rebuilt and you happen to live in an extremely resource deficient location (which is usually why the regimes change- population constantly unhappy due to not being provided for, etc.) what hope of advancing did you have? Also, take a look at how the scant resources available are being managed. Mostly feudal or agrarian which means absolutely no wild area left, rapid deforestation. Haiti is a great example. Just not much there in the first place to exploit and then ruined to the point of no return by the population that is there. There is no question that better management would have alleviated the problem at least in part as evidenced by the other half of the island, which also had a sordid political past that was extremely devastating to the island's status.

I do agree and understand that large corporate bodies are responsible for much conservation in many ways, including some that are indirect- large scale factory farms prevent complete conversion of all available land into local farms amongst other things. You can't conserve if you have to farm every last square inch of land/sea just to feed your population. It's more the insidious stuff that could be prevented which I take issue with as far as the corporate world goes- dumping of waste, contaminating land, irresponsible release of organisms, etc. Just like better long-term resource management in underdeveloped nations, there are things that could be done to alleviate the practice so our impact is minimized. These things all point back to long-term prospectives or rather the lack there of.

I'm not saying that we aren't all so lucky to be where we are by simple virtue of being born, however there are plenty of things that could be done globally that would reduce much of the extra stress put on the environment. Eat chickens, not sea turtles. So much easier and more affordable anyway. That's the part of argument which I can't reconcile. Why eat any imperiled animal, farmed or not, when there are cheaper, easier alternatives to work with which are available absolutely everywhere? So when you say you've been in this business for so long that you are forced to be practical, I fail to see the practicality in this scenario. It isn't practical to farm and eat sea turtles no matter how you cut it, it's practical to eat chickens instead that can be raised, produce eggs, reproduce, and then be eaten themselves all within a single small box and in a much much shorter period of time. It's not very nice treatment, but the point is that it can be, and is, done. Nothing practical about a luxury food item and that is the question at hand, right? Take it off the menu (rather than institutionalize it) and Voilà!

 

[Galapoheros]

Galophorus,

Thanks! Green Turtles are hard to track, they crisscross oceans, young difficult to locate, etc. Some populations appear to be doing ok, others in sharp decline. Crossing international borders always complicates matters; concentrated nesting, delayed reproduction and bycatch potential in trawlers predisposes them to quick declines if all is not well. Best, Frank

Galophorus? hmm, ....I like that user name even better!

 

[findi]

I wrote that "unconsciously"...didn't realize!, thanks, Frank

---------- Post added 10-06-2012 at 01:38 PM ----------

Hi Tarac,

Sorry for the delay and thanks for the thoughtful input. I agree with much of what you say, but as with everything there are so many complications...the factors you allude to - politics, resource allocation etc. really do drive the process more than does simple conservation methods. Many years ago I read of very realistic studies that showed how the world could easily support its population in an environmentally conscious way, but the degree of cooperation between nations, etc, required would never be possible.

I have worked in regions where marine turtles were a necessary food item; also in places where a single hawksbill shell was worth as much as the average person could earn in a year. Luxury foods are a different matter; the trade is softshell turtles, needed for weddings in much of China, seems a good example. Now that Chinese softshells (Pelodiscus sinensis) are captive bred in large numbers, collection may ease. Older folks still prefer wild caught turtles, but that should change as younger people age and become the prime consumers, thanks, best, Frank