Sea turtle demand in China threatens the survival of wild populations

Liu Lin; Songhai Li; Min Chen; James F Parham; Haitao Shi

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102517

Sea turtle demand in China threatens the survival of wild populations

iScience. 2021 May 6;24(6):102517. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102517. eCollection 2021 Jun 25.

Authors

Liu Lin¹, Songhai Li², Min Chen^{3

4}, James F Parham⁵, Haitao Shi¹

Affiliations

¹ Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands, Key Laboratory of Tropical Animal and Plant Ecology of Hainan Province, College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China.
² Marine Mammal and Marine Bioacoustics Laboratory, Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, 572000, China.
³ School of Life Sciences, Institute of Eco-Chongming, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200241, China.
⁴ Yangtze Delta Estuarine Wetland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Ministry of Education & Shanghai Science and Technology Committee, Shanghai, 202162, China.
⁵ Department of Geological Sciences, California State University, Fullerton, CA 92834, USA.

Abstract

Sea turtles are an important umbrella species in marine ecosystems. The populations of all five species of sea turtles in China have dropped sharply due to massive illegal trade and habitat loss. The fast-growing demand for sea turtle displays from Chinese aquariums and private individuals has led to a large-scale illegal trade domestically and internationally. Captive sea turtles are also frequently kept in harsh environments with severe injuries and high mortality rates. Sea turtles have only recently been upgraded from level II to level I on the "List of Wildlife under Special State Protection", this protection level has therefore not matched the real status of sea turtles over the past three decades. The additional collusion between the government and business corporations encourages illegal trade. We argue that the commercial use of sea turtles must be completely prohibited to guarantee their future survival in Chinese waters.

Keywords: Animal welfare; Animals; Nature conservation; Zoo animal legislation.

Publication types

Review