Global challenges and priorities for interventions addressing illegal harvest, use and trade of marine turtles

Abstract

Worldwide, conservation initiatives have attempted to curb illegal harvest, use and trade of marine turtles at least since the 1950s. Despite some declines in local trade and consumption, these illegal activities are still often reported as a key threat to marine turtle populations. Reassessing and refining global conservation priorities for marine turtles allows us to formulate evidence-based strategies and effective interventions to address this threat. We surveyed a total of 103 marine turtle conservation researchers and practitioners globally to understand how conservation efforts can be better allocated to curb illegal harvest, use and trade. We explored the characteristics of these illegal activities, conservation priorities, challenges and lessons learnt. According to participants’ perceptions, progress has been achieved, but illegal harvest, use and trade remain pressing threats globally. Current challenges to addressing illegal activities relate to fisheries management, enforcement and legislation. Recommended priority actions include law and penalty enforcement, enhancing environmental literacy, awareness and stakeholder participation, and improving local conservation leadership and onshore/maritime management based on research. Based on participants' perceptions, we identify priorities for marine turtle conservation interventions that aim to curb illegal harvest, use and trade. Given the challenges of obtaining reliable information on sensitive topics such as illegal harvest, use and trade, further work should seek to validate our findings through empirical research. Further work could also seek to comprehend better how expert elicitation in conservation is influenced by individual experience, perspectives and goals.

Global patterns of illegal marine turtle exploitation

“…Moreover, an evaluation of the conservation status of all marine turtle Regional Management Units (RMUs) globally revealed that exploitation was scored as the threat category with the second highest impact to marine turtle RMUs, behind only fisheries bycatch (Wallace et al, 2011). Assessing the magnitude, impacts, and trends of illegal exploitation would therefore improve our understanding of the drivers of population changes at both regional and global scales (Lopes et al, 2022), while helping researchers and resource managers identify conservation priorities across geographies, species, and populations. Nevertheless, such an assessment has yet to be conducted on a global scale.…”

“…Today, while catch and utilization of marine turtles are still permitted in some parts of the world (see Humber et al, 2014), most countries have regulations that range from full protection (typically with permitted incidental take in commercial fisheries) to regulated take regimes (Brautigam & Eckert, 2006;CITES Secretariat, 2019;Humber et al, 2014;Lopes et al, 2022;Maison et al, 2010).…”

“…Today, while catch and utilization of marine turtles are still permitted in some parts of the world (see Humber et al, 2014), most countries have regulations that range from full protection (typically with permitted incidental take in commercial fisheries) to regulated take regimes (Brautigam & Eckert, 2006; CITES Secretariat, 2019; Humber et al, 2014; Lopes et al, 2022; Maison et al, 2010). Exploitation of marine turtles continues for food, but in some cases is driven by socio‐cultural reasons that vary by region (Barrios‐Garrido et al, 2018; Lam et al, 2012; Mancini & Koch, 2009; von Essen et al, 2014).…”

“…Despite increased awareness of the problem and several measures to curb it, illegal trade of wildlife is growing and worth an estimated 20 billion USD worldwide (Challender & MacMillan, 2014; Milliken & Shaw, 2012; Underwood et al, 2013). High‐profile examples include terrestrial species such as pangolins (Wu et al, 2004), elephants (Underwood et al, 2013), tigers (Sharma et al, 2014), and rhinoceroses (Ferreira et al, 2012), as well as marine species such as sharks (Clarke et al, 2006), totoaba fish (Valenzuela‐Quinonez et al, 2015), cetaceans (Baker et al, 2010), humphead wrasse (Donaldson & Sadovy, 2001), and marine turtles (Lopes et al, 2022; Miller et al, 2019).…”

Perceived Social Benefits and Drawbacks of Sea Turtle Conservation Efforts in a Globally Important Sea Turtle Rookery

“…Robust consideration of human dimensions has often been highlighted as a critical element for the success of sea turtle conservation due to the high degree of overlap between critical sea turtle habitats and human activities (Davenport and Davenport 2006), as well as the cultural and economic importance of sea turtle by-products (Liles et al 2015, Rojas-Canizales et al 2022. Sea turtle harvesting for human consumption is still considered a primary threat in many regions of the world (Senko et al 2022), and illegal supply of sea turtle by-products is still a reality in local, regional and international markets (CITES 2019, Lopes et al 2022). Despite the limited incorporation of social sciences in sea turtle conservation to understand threats and adopt sound management practices co-developed with relevant stakeholders (Godley et al 2020), progress is being made, and increasing attention to interdisciplinary applications in sea turtle conservation is delivering insightful results (e.g.…”