The Cayman Turtle Centre is a conservation facility and tourist attraction located in the district of West Bay in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. First established in 1968 as "Mariculture Ltd" and later called "Cayman Turtle Farm" by a group of American and British investors, the facility was initially used to breed the endangered green sea turtle for commercial purposes. By raising the turtles in a farming operation, the turtle meat could be produced for local consumption without depleting the wild population of the species.
Although still in operation as a farm for raising turtles in order to sell product, the Cayman Turtle Centre has been developed into an important research project and conservation facility. It is now also the largest land-based tourist attraction in the Cayman Islands and welcomes more than 500,000 visitors annually.
History
While on his maritime travels, Christopher Columbus, when coming across the Cayman Islands in 1503, called the islands "Las Tortugas", because of the abundance of green sea turtles found there. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Cayman Islands became a stopping point for sea vessels sailing the Caribbean Sea in need of food; the turtles caught in the Caymans were taken aboard ship and kept alive as a source of fresh meat. As settlements and towns on the islands were established over time, "turtling" became a way of survival and means of income in the Caymans. By the 19th century, however, the turtle population around the islands was near depleted and commerce centred on the green sea turtle shifted to the Caribbean off the coast of Nicaragua in Central America.
During the 20th century, turtles were still caught and used for their meat in the Caymans. However, the depletion of the species around the islands made it impossible locally for turtling to continue to be a viable source of income. In 1968, American and British investors — Irvin Naylor, Henry Hamlin, Samuel Ayres, III, and Anthony G.A. Fisher — obtained licensing from the Cayman Islands government and grouped together to found Mariculture Ltd, Fisher taking the largest shareholding. The Bank of England's CDFC became a participant in 1970, CDFC's covenant supporting 50% of the equity and loan finance raised by the end of the year. While Mariculture worked to domesticate the green sea turtle, protection regulations threatened to prevent the sale/transhipment of all turtle products in/through the United States and other countries, limiting the commercial value of the Mariculture product. By the mid-1970s, the facility housed near 100,000 turtles, the expansion requiring a substantial investment of cash. With potential new investors finally unconvinced that Mariculture would be able to sell its products internationally, Citibank and CDFC placed it in receivership in May 1975, and financed its operations until the Mittag family of Dusseldorf, along with CDFC, bought the assets and re-capitalised them as "Cayman Turtle Farm Ltd" in early 1976. Subsequently, as a goodwill gesture, the new company paid off all the left behind local trade creditors of Mariculture and - though lossmaking - was adequately financed during its seven years of life. By 1978, the Farm was self sufficient in eggs from its captive breeding herd, making it the first enterprise to domesticate the green sea turtle, but there was little recognition of this fact in conservation circles and their opposition found expression in the "bred in captivity" ruling of the 1979 CITES conference in Costa Rica, challenging the Farm's captive breeding status. A dialogue with the Cayman Government about the future commenced in 1980, and the turtle herds were slimmed down by a substantial release programme and culling, as a means of cutting costs whilst retaining the essence of the Farm. Eventually, after an eighteen month negotiation, the Farm was sold on to the Cayman Government in April 1983 and re-named "Cayman Turtle Farm (1983) Ltd". Its overseas markets had finally closed, but the sale was effected without financial loss to any party except shareholders, and within five years the slimmed down farm - now reliant on tourist visitors - was generating a cash surplus (see"Financing the Cayman Turtle 1968 to 1988" (Amazon.com).
In 2010, the facility was renamed the Cayman Turtle Centre: Island Wildlife Encounter in order that visitors knew about the park's other attractions, beyond its sea turtles.