Hawksbill turtle - Threats

Vulnerable because of its beautiful carapace

Hawksbill turtles are much sought after throughout the tropics for their beautiful brown and yellow carapace plates that are manufactured into tortoiseshell items ("carey" or "bekko") for jewellery and ornaments. In recent decades, eastern Asia has provided an eager market for tortoiseshell. Despite their current protection under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), as well as under many national laws, there is still a disturbingly large amount of illegal trade in hawksbill shells and products.

Through international conventions and national legislation, some countries have sought with some success to restrict trade. Many nations ended their shell imports and exports as they became parties to CITES.

As with other species, the hawksbill is threatened by the loss of nesting and feeding habitats, excessive egg-collection, fishery-related mortality, and pollution.

Habitat loss and degradation
Beachfront lighting from coastal buildings is a problem that affects all turtle species. A study in Barbados found that, in around half the nests studied, all the hatchling hawksbills crawled inland instead of towards the sea, distracted by the artificial illumination.
Find out more about habitat loss and degradation

Trade
Between 1970 and 1992, Japan imported about 33 tonnes of hawksbill shell per year, a total equivalent to the deaths of 31,000 turtles annually. Japan withdrew its reservation to CITES in July 1992, and stopped the import of turtle products in 1993. However, TRAFFIC reports that there have been several seizures of illegal tortoiseshell at Japanese airports since 1994, including 2,701kg of tortoiseshell from Indonesia in 1995, and 66kg of tortoiseshell from Singapore in 1998.

At the 11th Conference of the Parties to the CITES Convention in 2000, Cuba made two proposals to downlist its foraging hawksbill populations from Appendix I (no international trade) to Appendix II (limited trade). But Cuba withdrew one of the proposals (to trade its seven ton stockpile of hawksbill shells and to have an annual trade quota of 500 turtles) and was narrowly defeated on its second proposal (for a single shipment of hawksbill shell to Japan).

Juvenile hawksbills, and other marine turtles, are often collected and stuffed for sale as tourist curios. Although many countries have banned this trade, it still occurs. Stuffed hawksbills were openly on sale at Hanoi's international airport in 1998. Harvest for domestic trade still occurs in many countries of the Caribbean, South-East Asia and Polynesia.
Find out more about wildlife trade