Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Herds of Turtles

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 28 2004 (IPS) - Turtle ranching, in some cases for meat exports, is on the rise in the northwestern Brazilian state of Amazonas, where there are 69 entrepreneurs working with the green light from the Brazilian Institute for Environment (IBAMA), a government agency. An IBAMA action plan, using research and development centers, aims to build the chain of production for this new livestock, with sectors for reproduction, butchering and processing.

The turtle ranches would supply restaurants, thus reducing illegal hunting, and have been encouraged by IBAMA for the past two years with donations of recently hatched young turtles.

It is a promising new business, but still has many deficiencies. The turtle ranches only fatten up the reptiles, they don't have reproduction programs, and are far from meeting demand, so unsustainable and illegal poaching continues, Amazon turtle expert Juarez Pezzuti, from the Federal University of Pará, told Tierramérica.