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Marine Turtle Newsletter 36:6-7, © 1986

On the Dollar Value of the Oaxacan Ridley Fishery

Jack B. Woody
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Box 1306, Albuquerque, NM 87103 USA

It is always of interest to have some idea of the current market value of the wildlife resources we deal with. Mexico's legalized harvest program for adult olive ridleys (Lepidochelys olivacea) continues and is centered along the Pacific coast of the State of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. The operation has been in effect for over 10 years; despite dire warnings of population collapse it has not yet happened. The season just ended recorded five major emergences (arribadas) in which thousands of ridleys nested at Playa Escobilla. The first arribada was in late July and the last in early November.

The official government quota for the 1985 harvest was about 28,000 ridleys and apparently this quota was reached. On 20 November, while at Escobilla, I talked with the Fisheries Inspector, State of Oaxaca, regarding economic aspects of the harvest program. The following information came from this source.

Fishermen landing live ridleys at Puerto Angel received 4,000 pesos/turtle or approximately US $8.42 (475 pesos = 1 US dollar). For 28,000 turtles, this means that the entire harvest was worth approximately US $236,000 to the fishermen. The processing plant renders each animal into meat, leather, and bone meal. The value of all these products is about 12,000 pesos (US $25.26) per turtle to the wholesaler, representing a total of about US $707,000 for the 1985 legal quota. This is a combined value of US $943,000 up through the fisherman and the processor.

The only retail values I can presently provide are for cowboy boots in Mexico City and Matamoras where they are offered for sale for about US $140. Women's turtle leather shoes retail in Mexico City for about US $40.

Taking or selling of turtle eggs is illegal throughout Mexico; however, poaching is a major problem and the eggs are sold on the black market. In Oaxaca, poachers sell eggs at 30 pesos each (US 6¢) to their buyers. The buyers, in turn, sell the eggs at about 60 pesos each (US 13¢). Assuming an average clutch size of 105 eggs, this amounts to a value of about 6,300 pesos per clutch (US $13.26).

Overall, the ridley trade in Oaxaca grosses a minimum of one million dollars (US) annually. Retail value data is presently not at hand nor is the very important information on direct and indirect employment related to the resource. It would be of significant interest to see the results of an in-depth socio-economic analysis of this program. Hopefully, an enterprising student in one of Mexico's universities will undertake such a study in the near future.