World Status, Exploitation and Trade - WIDECAST

PAPUA NEW GUINEAHunting intensity One of the main areas for turtle fishing is the TorresStrait, the meat being sold in the Daru Market. Interviews with fishermenin Daru from October 1984 to January 1985 revealed a total catch of 357turtles over four months, mostly from the Warrior Reef complex. The sexratio of the catch was highly skewed, with 92% females, owing to selectivehunting, the females being preferred for eating. An average of 2.27 turtleswere caught per boat per day, fluctuating from 3.01 in November to 1.74 inDecember (Prescott, 1986). Kley (1986) estimated that a total of 2000turtles a year were sold in Daru, with a smaller number sold or distributedwithin nearby villages.Estimates of harvests elsewhere are less complete. Eaton and Sinclair(1981) found that a total of 874 female Green Turtles had been killed atKoki Market, Port Moresby, over a two-year period starting in January 1979.Although Spring (1982a) said that 133 were sold in Koki Market in March 1979alone. Spring (1983) quoted numbers of turtles killed by villagers forlocal consumption on Long Island (Madang Province), an island with fewtraditional restraints on turtle hunting. At six of the nine villages knownto be involved in turtle hunting, between 1096 and 1405 turtles wereestimated to be killed each year. Some turtles are known to be killed onthis island for sale on the mainland by visiting fishermen and in 1970 itwas estimated that 329 were caught for this purpose.Trawler crews are reported to catch turtles on other islands; on PisinIsland (near Hermit), up to 120 turtles a year may be taken in this way forsale in Manus (Pritchard, 1979a).In Western New Britain, a community of 166 inhabitants in the Garu WildlifeManagement Area, was estimated to harvest 74 turtles and to collect 5233turtle eggs annually. In the Tonda Wildlife Management Area, a community of920 people was said to kill 163 turtles a year (Liem et al . 1976).In some parts of PNG turtles are never, or only rarely, eaten. Theseinclude Seventh Day Adventist areas, such as the Hermit Islands, the NinigioIslands, Lou Island (Manus) and Mussau Island (New Ireland). The TrobriandIslanders avoid turtles for cultural reasons (Spring, 1982a).Several authors have implied that the harvest of Hawksbill Turtles isrelatively small (e.g. Spring, 1982b; Prescott, 1986), but in the two yearsfrom January 1979, a total of 83 Hawksbills were sold in Koki Market, PortMoresby. This represented about 9% of the number of Green Turtles sold overthe same period (Eaton and Sinclair, 1981).There are very few indications of the scale of turtle egg collection inPNG. Spring (1983) found that at Point Kiau (Long Island, Mandang Province)about 25 nests a week were eaten. At Garu, Wetern New Britain, about 5000eggs a year were consumed by a community of 166 (Liem, 1976).Hunting methods Spring (1982b) gave a good description of thetraditional methods of hunting employed in PNG. The most widely used methodis harpooning, either with a fixed tip or a detachable tip, from a canoe.In the Western Province, it used to be the custom to build a platform overthe reef from which to harpoon turtles and dugongs, but this is no longerpractised. Another method which is falling into disuse is netting usingtraditional materials; this involved a large hunting party comprisingseveral canoes and 24 men. In various islands, turtles are normally caughtby hand at sea. Traditional turtle hunting is normally associated withpreparing turtles for feasts, and is accompanied by much ceremony and414