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Marine Turtle Newsletter 57:19-21, © 1992

Turtle Trouble in the Dominican Republic

Sandra and Robert Stam
4344 Blue Heron Drive, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida 32082

A recent visit to the Dominican Republic, a Caribbean nation sharing the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, revealed an alarming level of sea turtle harvest and commerce. The harvest appears to be largely in contravention of local law and is primarily focused on the endangered hawksbill turtle. According to the latest global status review of the hawksbill (Groombridge and Luxmoore, 1989), Decreto No. 1580 (August 1977) in the Dominican Republic prohibits the collection or sale of turtle eggs at all times and bans the keeping or capture of hawksbill turtles during the months of May, July, September and October. Decreto No. 314 (October 1986) established minimum size limits [presumably shell length] for the capture and sale of sea turtles as follows: green turtle, Chelonia mydas (90 cm); hawksbill, Eretmochelys imbricata (71 cm); leatherback, Dermochelys coriacea (152 cm); loggerhead, Caretta caretta (152 cm). The capture of females on the nesting beach was also prohibited.

My husband and I visited the Dominican Republic on 14-21 December 1991. Since I am very much involved in sea turtle conservation and recovery in Florida, mostly with loggerhead turtles, my attention was soon drawn to the presence of stuffed (or otherwise preserved) turtles all around the island. In Sosua on the northern coast, stuffed turtles were being sold at a local stand on the beach. The size of the turtle determined the price; for example, a 24 inch hawksbill was offered for sale at US$ 300. I had stopped to photograph this turtle when we were approached by another vendor with a bag of three live juvenile hawksbills. This was very distressing to us. We contemplated purchasing the live turtles (US$ 80-150 each) and releasing them, but we did not have enough money with us and we also realized that we would only be encouraging the capture of more turtles by buying these unfortunate ones ... and these individuals would likely be captured again. All of these turtles were 15-28 inches [38-71 cm] in total length and thus they had all been captured in violation of local law.

Stuffed sea turtles were also common in downtown Puerto Plata. In once instance we commented to a store-owner on a stuffed hawksbill hanging on the wall and we were ushered into the back of the shop where there was a large cardboard box full of stuffed hawksbills of various sizes. Although these had already been sold, we were assured that if wanted to purchase any of them, we could. It was obvious to us as time went on that the shop-owners were aware that it was illegal to sell these small turtles, but nonetheless they took every opportunity to encourage tourists to buy them. They told us that Customs would not stop us, and we knew that they were probably right. We could easily have brought a turtle out of the country and into the USA in our luggage. Upon our return, U. S. Customs in Miami neither asked us about sea turtle products nor looked for any we might be carrying.

We are truly appalled by the immensity of this situation. When one considers the large number of little shops, and each with its boxes of stuffed turtles, the level of harvest is surely contributing to the further decline of this already endangered species. There were no signs of efforts to educate residents about the need for sea turtle conservation, and certainly no signs or literature warning tourists not to purchase sea turtles ... or warning tourists that it was illegal to take turtles back home. One hundred and twelve nations have now ratified the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), including the Dominican Republic itself, as well as Mexico, the USA, Canada, and virtually all Central and South American countries and western European nations (Karen Eckert, pers. comm., 1992). Tourists reentering any of these countries are committing a crime by carrying sea turtle products with them.

The amount of sea turtle products that enter our country illegally each year is staggering. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) estimates that a quarter of a million items were seized at nine international entry points in 1990, and officials report that between 1980 and 1986 the importation of products made from endangered species increased almost sixfold. The USFWS seized contraband turtle products from U. S. tourists returning from 76 different countries in the past three years [see MTN, 1991, 52:25-26]. The illegal capture and sale of sea turtles in the Dominican Republic is a very serious problem for local law enforcement officers, and we cannot personally do anything to render local enforcement more efficient. However, we can urge other tourists to be aware that foreigners are playing a significant role in this problem. If tourists would not show any interest in buying sea turtles, and indeed would refuse to support any store that even displayed sea turtle products, the situation would certainly be much better for the sea turtles of the Dominican Republic.

Groombridge, R. and B. Luxmoore. 1989. The green turtle and hawksbill (Reptilia: Cheloniidae): world status, exploitation and trade. A publication of the CITES Secretariat. Lausanne, Switzerland. 601 p.