ABSTRACT
The turtle supplies myriad markets. The shell is a sought-after decoration, the meat is high in protein and low in fat, the belly plate is the basic ingredient of calipee soup, and there are over a dozen other uses. Mariculture therefore decided to breed turtles, providing consumers with the products they wanted, maintaining a significant workforce and, as a by-product, reducing both the price of turtles and the incentive for poaching. But the farm did far more. Mariculture conducted research into the microbiology, virology and nutrition of the turtle, as well as engineering designs for keeping turtles in captivity. Among their scientific breakthroughs, perhaps the most striking occurred on Ascension Island. Their scientists discovered that turtle eggs, laid on the beach did not survive for long when volcanic ash landed there. The ash contained a toxin fatal to turtles. Therefore, Mariculture collected the eggs laid on volcanic ash, which otherwise would have died. Eventually collection turned to breeding. Sir Alan Parkes, former Professor of the Physiology of Reproduction at Cambridge University, said of Mariculture: ‘This first-ever breeding of green sea turtles under farm conditions is a landmark in . . . the conservation of the species’.
