The Case of the Green Turtle

An Uncensored History of a Conservation Icon

Alison Rieser

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781421406190
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Development Economics
• Index: Biological Sciences

The true story of the controversial battle to save the world's most famous endangered species.

The journals of early maritime explorers traversing the Atlantic Ocean often describe swarms of sea turtles, once a plentiful source of food. Many populations had been decimated by the 1950s, when Archie Carr and others raised public awareness of their plight. One species, the green turtle, has been the most heavily exploited due to international demand for turtle products, especially green turtle soup. The species has achieved some measure of recovery due to thirty years of conservation efforts, but remains endangered.

In The Case of the Green Turtle, Alison Rieser provides an unparalleled look into the way science and conservation interact by focusing on the most controversial aspect of green turtle conservation—farming. While proponents argued that farming green sea turtles would help save them, opponents countered that it encouraged a taste for turtle flesh that would lead to the slaughter of wild stocks. The clash of these viewpoints once riveted the world.

Rieser relies on her expertise in ocean ecology, policy, and law to reveal how the efforts to preserve sea turtles changed marine conservation and the way we view our role in the environment. Her study of this early conservation controversy will fascinate anyone who cares about sea turtles or the oceans in which they live.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction From Seafood to Icon
• Chapter 1 Turtle Kraals and Canneries
• Chapter 2 Turning Turtles on the Great Barrier Reef
• Chapter 3 The Turtle Islands of Sarawak
• Chapter 4 The Gifted Navigators
• Chapter 5 The Geography of Turtle Soup
• Chapter 6 A Turtle Flap in London
• Chapter 7 The Buffalo of the Sea
• Chapter 8 Who Will Kill the Last Turtle?
• Chapter 9 Red Data for the Green Turtle
• Chapter 10 Reptiles on the Red List
• Chapter 11 You Lost the Turtle Boat
• Chapter 12 One Man’s Opinion
• Chapter 13 Down on the Farm
• Chapter 14 Conservation through Commerce
• Chapter 15 The Best Available Science
• Chapter 16 A Global Strategy
• Epilogue Supply and Demand
• Appendix A. The 1966 U.S. Classification of Chelonia mydas as Rare and Endangered
• Appendix B. IUCN Principles and Recommendations on Commercial Exploitation of Sea Turtles
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Footnotes