Red Data Book

4.3 Encourage and Support International Cooperation

4.31 CITES

The 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was established to protect certain endangered species from over-exploitation by means of a system of import/export permits. The Convention regulates international commerce in animals and plants whether dead or alive, and any recognisable parts of derivatives thereof. Appendix I lists endangered species (including all species of sea turtle), trade in which is tightly controlled; Appendix II lists species that may become endangered unless trade is regulated; Appendix III lists species that any Party wishes to regulate and requires international cooperation to control trade; Appendix IV contains model permits. Permits are required for species listed in appendices I and II stating that export/import will not be detrimental to the survival of the species. CITES is one of the most widely supported wildlife treaties of all time. With the recent accession of Korea, the Convention has 120 Parties.

St. Lucia ratified the Convention in December 1982 (Bräutigam, 1987) and no imports of hawksbill shell to Japan were recorded after 1983 (Milliken and Tokunaga, 1987) (see also section 3.3). Some nations in the region have taken CITES very seriously, others have been largely unable to maintain the level of Customs surveillance necessary to enforce the treaty, still others do not yet belong. Thus the Caribbean continues to export large quantities of threatened and depleted species products, including sea turtles (Milliken and Tokunaga, 1987). In 1988, Japan imported from the Wider Caribbean the tortoiseshell from nearly 12,000 adult hawksbill turtles (Canin, 1989). Many thousands of sea turtles would be saved each year if all Caribbean nations would ratify CITES and enforce its trade restrictions. CITES has no effect on habitat restriction or the harvest of sea turtles for subsistence or internal markets; these activities must be regulated at the national level.
St. Lucia (represented by Martha Biscette of the Customs and Excise Department and Brian James of the Department of Forestry) attended the Caribbean CITES Implementation Training Seminar held in Trinidad, 14-18 September 1992. This comprehensive seminar, hosted by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and the CITES Secretariat, was convened to familiarise Eastern Caribbean governments, especially non-CITES parties, with the Convention. It is a recommendation of this Recovery Action Plan that Customs officials and other relevant parties be fully supported at all levels of Government in their important and difficult task of implementing the provisions of the CITES treaty.

4.32 Regional treaties

In March, 1983, a Conference of Plenipotentiaries met in Cartagena, Colombia, to negotiate a UNEP Regional Seas Convention in the Caribbean -- the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (Cartagena Convention). Representatives from 16 States participated, including St. Lucia. The Conference adopted both the Convention and a Protocol concerning cooperation in combating oil spills in the region. The Convention describes the responsibilities of Contracting Parties to "prevent, re-duce and control" pollution from a variety of sources (i.e., ships, at-sea dumping, land-based sources, sea-bed activities, and airborne sources). Article 10 is of special interest in that it addresses the responsibilities of Contracting Parties to "individually or jointly, take all appropriate measures to protect and preserve rare or fragile ecosystems, as well as the habitat of depleted, threatened or endangered species, in the Convention area." St. Lucia ratified the Convention on 30 September 1984.

In January 1990, a Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) to the Cartagena Convention was adopted by a Conference of Plenipotentiaries, providing a mechanism whereby species of wild fauna and flora could be protected on a regional scale. The landmark Protocol grants explicit protection to species listed in three categories, or annexes. Annex I includes species of flora exempt from all forms of destruction or disturbance. Annex II ensures total protection and recovery to listed species of fauna, with minor exceptions. Specifically, Annex II listing prohibits (a) the taking, possession or killing (including, to the extent possible, the incidental taking, possession or killing) or commercial trade in such species, their eggs, parts or products, and (b) to the extent possible, the disturbance of such species, particularly during periods of breeding, incubation, estivation or migration, as well as other periods of biological stress. Annex III denotes species in need of "protection and recovery", but subject to a regulated harvest.
On 11 June 1991, Plenipotentiaries again met in Kingston, Jamaica, to formally adopt the Annexes. The Conference voted to include all six species of sea turtle inhabiting the Wider Caribbean (i.e., Caretta caretta, Chelonia mydas, Eretmochelys imbricata, Dermochelys coriacea, Lepidochelys kempii, and L. olivacea) in Annex II (UNEP, 1991; Eckert, 1991). The unanimous vote on this issue is a clear statement on the part of Caribbean governments that the protection of regionally depleted species, including sea turtles, is a priority. It is a recommendation of this Recovery Action Plan that St. Lucia ratify the SPAW Protocol with its Annexes at the earliest possible opportunity. Finally, St. Lucia should attempt whenever possible to ratify other regional conventions in order to strengthen the drive to protect sea turtles, as well as other living resources.

The 1973 MARPOL treaty (with 1978 Protocol) is important to the survival of sea turtles. This Convention has five Annexes that give detailed technical specifications regarding the way in which a ship must be built and equipped to prevent major pollution of the marine environment in case of accidents, and also norms and technical requirements to minimize operational discharges. The five Annexes are for oil, chemicals in bulk, packaged chemicals, liquid sewage, and garbage. Regarding Annex 5 (garbage), it has been proposed to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) by the nations of the Caribbean that the Caribbean Region be declared a "Special Area". This proposal has been accepted, but will only come into force when the nations have put in place the facilities to receive garbage on shore. It is a recommendation of this Recovery Action Plan that St. Lucia ratify MARPOL as soon as practicable.

4.33 Subregional sea turtle management

It is well known that sea turtles are highly migratory. Information on the movement of tagged turtles includes a report in Carr et al. (1982) that a green turtle originally tagged while nesting on Aves Island (Venezuela) was subsequently captured near Vieux-Fort, St. Lucia. Leatherbacks migrate over especially long distances; there are many accounts of females tagged during nesting in the Caribbean and subsequently found in the Gulf of Mexico, New England, and even west Africa. Studies of barnacle colonization on leatherbacks nesting on St. Croix (USVI) indicate that gravid females depart from and later return to north temperate latitudes (Eckert and Eckert, 1988). It is therefore quite obvious that "our" leatherbacks, and other species as well, swim through the waters of many nations on their way to nest on the beaches of St. Lucia. Tagging turtles, as well as watching for tagged turtles on our beaches and in our waters, is a necessary prerequisite to more fully documenting the extent of shared sea turtle stocks. A cooperative tagging and monitoring programme that includes at least St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, and Grenada would be most useful. This is proposed in the WIDECAST Sea Turtle Recovery Plan for Barbados (Horrocks, 1992) and is supported in St. Lucia.

When it is established that nations share sea turtle stocks in common, it will be necessary to discuss ways and means of jointly managing and conserving the shared resource. The fact that all nations of the Wider Caribbean are participating in the sea turtle conservation planning activities of WIDECAST speaks well of the region's willingness to work co-operatively to re-cover depleted populations. It is a recommendation of this Recovery Action Plan that St. Lucia fully support region-wide sea turtle conservation initiatives by ratifying the SPAW Protocol to the Cartagena Convention (section 4.32) and urging neighbouring countries to enact moratoria on the capture and sale of sea turtles year-around.