The potential and limitations of turtle farming to contribute to conservation in the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

Consumption of wildlife provides many rural residents with access to diverse and nutritious food, but this practice persists in urban areas. In the Brazilian Amazon, high demand for freshwater turtles has led to a growing number of management projects (e.g., protection of nesting beaches) in recent decades. National regulations were also established to allow wildlife farming as a conservation strategy, with a focus on turtles. Amazonas state (Brazil) has the largest turtle farm production output in Brazil, making it well-suited to evaluate the effectiveness of turtle farms in contributing to conservation. We evaluated three criteria for farming to contribute to conservation, as proposed by previous research: (1) whether farmed turtles are substitutes for wild-caught turtles, by looking at people's choices and perceptions of farmed versus wild-caught turtles; (2) whether prices of farmed turtles can compete with prices of wild-caught turtles; and (3) whether the current output from farms is large enough to have a significant effect on the current consumption of turtles. Our findings indicate that while turtle farms may meet the price criterion, people's choices of wild over farmed turtles hinder turtle farms from contributing to conservation. In addition, statewide farm production is approximately 2600 turtles annually. This covers about 2.5 % of consumption in studied sites, based on conservative estimates of one turtle consumed per household annually. Our results suggest that, as it currently stands, there is no evidence that turtle farming is making a significant contribution to the conservation of wild turtle populations in the Brazilian Amazon.