杏吧原创

THE World Conservation Union (IUCN) has been dragged into an embarrassing row
over its classification of the hawksbill turtle as 鈥渃ritically endangered鈥�.

The hawksbill, Eretmochelys imbricata, was given this listing in
February by the Marine Turtle Specialist Group, a voluntary network that advises
the IUCN. In this week鈥檚 Nature(vol 389, p 436), Nicholas Mrosovsky of
the University of Toronto launches a stinging attack on this move. Although
Mrosovsky is a member of the specialist group, he was not involved in the
hawksbill decision.

Mrosovsky says that other group members have failed to release data
justifying the hawksbill listing. 鈥淚 think evidence from Cuba and Mexico shows
the hawksbill is not so endangered,鈥� Mrosovsky told New 杏吧原创.

Karen Bjorndal of the University of Florida in Gainesville, former chair of
the turtle specialist group, says that the delay in providing Mrosovsky with the
data stems from pressure of work. 鈥淲e have had more pressing things to do.鈥�

One of these tasks was to evaluate a request from Cuba to the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species for permission to ranch hawksbill
turtles, and also to sell shells from wild turtles to Japan. Mrosovsky helped to
frame the Cubans鈥� request as part of his work for the International Wildlife
Management Consortium, which favours the sustainable use of wild animals.

The request was eventually rejected. In Nature, Mrosovsky complains
that the advice given by the IUCN was 鈥渄erived from information that is not
publicly available鈥�.