Sea turtle bycatch and consumption in Egypt threatens Mediterranean turtle populations M ohamed N ada and P aolo C asale Abstract Turtle trade in the fish markets of Alexandria was reported up to the late 1990s, motivating conservation initiatives and enforcement of legal protection. To assess the current trade and bycatch levels in Alexandria and other ports we carried out an interview survey of 445 people in 2007, mostly fishermen and fishmongers, in 15 coastal cities and fishing ports along the Mediterranean coast of Egypt. The declared catch rates and official fishing fleet statistics suggest that captures of loggerhead Caretta caretta and green turtles Chelonia mydas are in the order of several thousands per year, possibly . 7,000 per year, mainly from trawling, longlining and set nets. Probably several hundred turtles die each year as a consequence of the high mortality rates typical of these fishing gears. In addition, most fishermen from Alexandria and some fish- ermen from other regions declared that they kill turtles for meat. Regulations and enforcement appear to be ineffec- tive, as turtles are usually killed and consumed on board or only their meat is landed. Some turtles are still traded on the black market in some Alexandria fish markets. The overall mortality probably represents an unsustainable toll on the Mediterranean loggerhead and green turtle pop- ulations, and the perception of fishermen is that turtle numbers are declining. Mitigating the identified threats is thus urgent. In particular, intentional killing should be tackled through its cultural drivers, and measures to reduce bycatch mortality need to be tested and implemented. Keywords Bycatch, Caretta caretta, Chelonia mydas, con- sumption, Egypt, Mediterranean Sea, sea turtles, trade Introduction M arine turtles have represented nutritional, economic and spiritual resources to many human communities for at least 7,000 years (see Frazier, 2003, for a review). Among these possible uses, consumption is predominant. It was widely practised (Campbell, 2003; Frazier, 2003) and associated with the traditional and cultural heritage of various communities (Cliffton et al., 1982; Figueroa et al., 1992). From the 17th century onwards marine turtle con- sumption increased because of factors such as the increase in the human population, increased fishing and capture capacity, and more efficient trade that responded to wider market demand (National Research Council, 1990; Lutcavage et al., 1997; Fleming, 2001; Campbell, 2003). Turtle trade is a major factor driving declines of marine turtle populations (Fleming, 2001), and six of the seven extant marine turtle species are categorized as threatened on the IUCN Red List (IUCN, 2010). Consumption of, and trade in, marine turtles were banned or regulated through several international con- ventions and national legislation (Wold, 2002; Campbell et al., 2009). Nevertheless, consumption of turtle meat and eggs still occurs, legally or not, in many places (Fleming, 2001; Campbell, 2003; Mancini & Koch, 2009). Capture by fishing gear, however, has become a major threat to marine turtle populations (Lutcavage et al., 1997) because of the general increase in fishing effort, and is a serious conservation chal- lenge for marine magafauna in general (Lewison et al., 2004; Soykan et al., 2008). In the Mediterranean Sea fishing is severely affecting ecosystems (Tudela, 2004; Sacchi, 2008) and is a major threat for large vertebrates of conservation concern such as sharks (Ferretti et al., 2008), cetaceans (Bearzi, 2002), monk seals (Karamanlidis et al., 2008) and marine turtles (Casale, 2008). Two species of marine turtles have populations in the Mediterranean, the loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta and the green turtle Chelonia mydas; the latter has a relatively small population restricted to the easternmost Mediterranean (Broderick et al., 2002). Egypt was one of the first markets to trade in marine turtles in the Mediterranean Sea: both loggerhead and green turtles have been sold in several fish markets along the Mediterranean coast (Alexandria, Abou Keer, Brullos, Port Said and Damietta) since at least the beginning of the 20th century (Laurent et al., 1996, and references therein). Probably most of these turtles were captured off Cyprus, Turkey and Palestine, transported to Egypt and then to Europe (Laurent et al., 1996, and references therein). Since the 1970s turtle consumption has been an established tra- dition in some places in Egypt and, in 1992, official records of landings of marine turtles on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt totalled 231 t (Laurent et al., 1996). Egypt is a signatory of several conventions for nature conservation and several national regulations that cover marine turtles were issued in the 1980s and 1990s. The most important is the Environmental Law 4/1994, which states that ‘killing, capturing, transportation, selling, nest destruc- tion and display of an endangered species either dead or alive MOHAMED NADA Mohandiseen, Giza, Egypt PAOLO CASALE (Corresponding author) WWF Mediterranean Marine Turtle Programme c/o WWF Italy, Via Po 25c, 00198 Rome, Italy, and Department of Biology and Biotechnology ‘‘Charles Darwin’’, University of Rome ‘‘La Sapienza’’, Viale dell’Universita ` 32, 00185 Rome, Italy. E-mail p.casale@wwf.it Received 8 July 2009. Revision requested 5 October 2009. Accepted 6 February 2010. ª 2011 Fauna & Flora International, Oryx, 45(1), 143–149 doi:10.1017/S0030605310001286 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605310001286 Published online by Cambridge University Press