02/02/2006 - Jakarta, Indonesia – According to a new report by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, trade in Roti Island snake-necked turtles is leading this endemic species, found only in the wetlands of eastern Indonesia, to the brink of extinction. The report noted that despite national quotas set for the harvest and export of this turtle species between 1997 and 2001, no licences for collection have been issued to date, nor transport permits issued for movement from source to point-of-export within Indonesia. All specimens that have been exported since 1994 have been illegally acquired; often exported illegally under a similar species, the New Guinea snake-necked turtle.

In 2000, the IUCN Red List categorized the Roti Island snake-necked turtle (Chelodina mccordi) as “critically endangered”, and is listed in Appendix II of CITES, which requires any international trade to be carried out under a permit system.

“The continuing international demand for the turtle from hobbyists and collectors in Europe, North America and east Asia is pushing this endemic species towards extinction,” said Chris Shepherd from TRAFFIC Southeast Asia and co-author of the report.

“Even if the turtle is added to the Indonesian list of protected species, monitoring and enforcement of existing laws in place to protect wildlife from over-exploitation is lacking and in some places, non-existent. If these laws are not enforced, this species will surely become extinct in the wild in the very near future.”

The new report issues a number of recommendations, including better national protection and capacity building for increased and improved enforcement. In December 2005, TRAFFIC, in close collaboration with the Indonesian CITES Management Authority, conducted training and awareness building sessions on Roti Island for local enforcement agencies, including from nearby Timor.

"We hope that by increasing the levels of awareness and the capacity in enforcement techniques of these agencies, poachers will find it increasingly difficult to smuggle out any of the turtles that remain on Roti Island," Shepherd added.

END NOTES:
• The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) regulates international trade in more than 30,000 species of wild animals and plants. The convention is currently applied in 167 nations, including Indonesia.

• Support for the training and awareness building workshop conducted on Roti Island for local enforcement agencies in December 2005 was made possible by the Turtle Conservation Fund and WWF-US.

• TRAFFIC — a joint programme of WWF and IUCN — works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature.