TRADITIONAL AND CULTURAL USE OF MARINE TURTLES

Marine turtles and human societies have interacted for millennia, virtually wherever they have been in contact. Evidence from a variety of sources shows that humans have exploited the eggs, meat, blood, oil, shell, skin, bones, and other parts of these reptiles to provide raw materials for food, tool-making, ornaments, and religious objects. Yet, humans also use marine turtles indirectly, such as through incidental capture in fishing operations, and through other forms of habitat modification. Moreover, these reptiles are used in non-consumptive ways for artistic, emotional, scientific, spiritual, and other cultural reasons. The great age and diversity of interactions between humans and marine turtles provide the foundations for the cultural, economic, emotional, intellectual, social, and spiritual motivations that determine how conservation and management activities are designed, conducted, and assessed. Hence, an understanding of the cultural, social, and traditional role of these reptiles is fundamental for strengthening the participation and collaboration of Signatory States in multilateral environmental agreements, such as the IOSEA. However, because the information is widely dispersed, and impacts of different types of human-turtle interactions have rarely been evaluated in a systematic way, this issue needs much greater attention