This issue has been the subject of much debate. However, we must realise that it is not just an animal welfare issue, although that is very important. It is quite literally driving much of the Chelonian group toward imminent extinction. To understand this, as a forum of "Shelled Warriors", is vital, attached is an extract from a paper written by Dr Barbara Maas, CEO of "Care for the Wild International", and delivered to the board of Tesco last November.
Turtle Farming in China
An Update for Tesco
3 October 2008
Since our last meeting in June 2008, Care for the Wild indentified a number of additional points which are relevant to our dialogue on farming and selling live turtles and frogs for food in China. This information was derived from face to face discussions and correspondence with Prof Shi Haitao, China’s leading chelonian expert, who supports CWI’s awareness campaign to persuade Tesco to abandon the sale of turtles and other live animals for food. Prof. Shi’s expertise is based on over 20 years of research in the field (including turtle farms) and the laboratory. Together with other experts, Prof Shi agrees with Care for the Wild that the only long-term solution to the crisis facing chelonians lies in persuading consumers to turn away from eating turtles. Apart from summarising Prof. Shi’s comments, this document also draws on information received from chelonian experts Hans-Dieter Philippen, Paul Eversfield and others and from the primary scientific literature.
Background Information
Freshwater turtles have been used as source of food and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for thousands of years. Like shark fins and bird's nest soup, eating turtles is considered to be "good for your health". China’s explosive economic development over the last decade resulted in a vastly increased demand, which led to worldwide concerns about sustainability and unregulated harvesting of from the wild.
Recent economic changes in Asia facilitated not only growing domestic, but international trade in turtles and tortoises. Millions are consumed as food and medicine. As a result of this huge and unsustainable trade, populations have been dramatically reduced in the wild. According to former chair of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group John Behler, Southeast Asia “is being vacuumed of its turtles“.
Many of the turtle and tortoise species in trade are now listed on CITES (UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) Appendix I (no trade), or on Appendix II, and so are protected from international trade in their countries of origin at least in theory. Concerns about the status of wild turtle populations are exemplified by the growing number of freshwater turtle species that have been proposed for listing on the CITES Appendices to control international trade.
The trade in turtles for consumption generally originates in source countries in Southeast and South Asia and ends in consumer countries in East Asia, primarily China. A certain proportion of turtles captured, in some locations a substantial proportion, is consumed locally for subsistence and in the restaurant trade, but the greater portion of capture is exported. Traded turtles represent a luxury food, not a source of protein for the poor. The clear rise in the collection of chelonians in countries that are far from the main markets is just one indication of the depletion of local species. Most of this trade is not recorded, even in CITES-listed species. In many cases, shipments of freshwater turtles and tortoises are declared to be seafood. Together with difficulties of identifying species this has led to a lack of species-specific monitoring of trade as well as serious problems related to enforcement of national and CITES laws. Under-reporting is common practice, species are incorrectly identified, some countries do not compile statistics for certain categories, and illegal trade flourishes. Data on wild-caught turtles for food are likely to be underestimates.
As the main consumer nation, China has taken steps in recent years to try and address the extensive trade in freshwater turtles, but enforcement is negligible. One expert referred to his country’s conservation laws as a ‘paper tiger’. The inability of customs officers, wildlife enforcement agency staff and others in source and consumer nations to identify turtle species reliably is a serious obstacle to trade monitoring and effective enforcement. Without the ability to identify animals in trade, it is impossible to determine which species or individuals (i.e., farmed versus wild caught) are entering trade chains illegally. This problem is exploited by traders, who intentionally misidentify and make false declarations of the contents of consignments and farming practices.
The Asian trade in freshwater turtles is non-species specific, with the majority of species in the region being involved in trade - most are harvested from the wild. Every turtle that is encountered is likely to enter trade. In some areas, turtle hunting dogs are used to sniff out every last individual. With rising human populations and affluence in many Asian countries, the demand for turtles and tortoises for food and TCM is increasing. For example, the import of chelonians to Hong Kong for use as food rose from 110 tons in 1991 to 3500 tons in 1996 and even 13,500 tons in 1998; more than a hundredfold increase. This is of great concerns because long-term studies have shown that removing even modest numbers of adults and older juvenile turtles has very damaging effects on populations. Collection for food is directed at larger adult individuals and so further impacts wild populations. The acute conservation crisis that faces the world’s turtles today is an inevitable consequence of these developments.
China’s human population stands at more than 1.3 billion. Although some trade is in captive-bred species, most is not. Coupled with burgeoning economic growth, this means that demand and therefore trade pressure on all chelonians will increase even further unless it is challenged.
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