| Japanese Authorities Arrest Turtle Shell Smugglers |
According to an October 2, 1998 press release from the Japan Bekko Association, three men and two women have been arrested in Nagoya, Japan in connection with an attempt to smuggle 66-kg of hawksbill sea turtle shell into the country. The attempted importation contravenes both CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) regulations and Japanese law.
The press release alleges that Mr. Masanori Ueda, a dealer in Chinese medicines located in Nagasaki, organized the deal. Mr. Keisuke Takano, Mr. Ryoji Ueda and two women, all from Kanazawa City, allegedly obtained the shell in Singapore and tried to smuggle it into Japan in four suitcases, for sale to Mr. Masanori Ueda.
Unlike the other sea turtles whose populations were decimated for the food market, the hawksbill sea turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata, was hunted to endangerment specifically for its highly prized shell. The outer epidermal plates or scutes are peeled from the turtles shell, and sold on the market as "tortoise-shell". This tortoise-shell was once used extensively in the west to make trinkets and personal items such as eye glass frames. Although the sale of tortoise-shell has been outlawed for many years in the US and western Europe, in Japan, the crafting of products from tortoise-shell (known locally as bekko) has continued. International pressure forced the Japanese government to ban imports of bekko in 1992.
Using a conservative estimate that a single turtle yields 3 to 4 kg of scutes, the 66 kg seized in Japan represents 18 to 22 adult endangered Hawksbill sea turtles.
Despite having enacted the ban on bekko imports, Japan officials have been attempting to raise support for a relaxation of the hawksbill turtle's status under CITES, although moves to lobby for a change in the turtles status failed at the CITES meeting in Zimbabwe earlier this year. This latest arrest is a hopeful sign that the Japanese government is finally starting to take a serious interest in enforcing its own conservation laws.
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