paradise quinn kojis 1985

8/7/2019 Paradise Quinn Kojis 1985

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simultaneous heaving of her minimumworldpopulationofpowerful fore flippers. Maus bre_eding female leatherbacks-B,l"t g villagers - often use to be estimated in 197L bet-llghts to guide the turtle to a ween29,000and40,000'allow-rrlltubl. nesting location. The ing for undiscovered or unin-actual nestinglptocess .on- vestigated nesting beaches'forms to thelteroqped pat- Morerecently,asurveycarriedtern shared by all sea turtles. outbythe \7orld\Wildlife FundAt Maus Buang clutch sizes has confirmed and extendedrange from 12 eggs by the first the earlier report, raising thenesting turtles of the season in estimate of breeding femaleOctobertol45eggsduringthe leatherbacks to more thanseason peak in January. The 100,000. This figure maybe anaveragenumberofclutcheggs underestimate as many areasis 98 which is higher than the of Mexico and Melanesia havetypical clutch size in other not been surveyed.pirts of the world. Eggs are Although the total popula-*hit., .lsrully spherical and tion of leatherbacks is largerabout 53 millimetres in dia- than originally thought, it re-meter. Their average incuba- mains rue that breeding pop-tion period ranges from 56 to ulations are mosdy of65 days with a hatching suc- relativelysmallsize (withonlycess rate of about two-thirds to a fewhundred females nestingthree-quarters. Hatcfrlings are annually), arewidelyscattered55 63 millimetres in length. throughout the tropics, andLeatherbacks are noted for are often subiect to hear'yproducing fewer but larger exploitation for food' There^eggsandhatchlingscompared are oniy four documentedwith other sea turtles. major leatherback nestingThe sea turtle population areas with more than 1,000can be based ordybn an esti- females nesting annually' Themate of the total number of chelonery at Maus Buang ismature nesting females. Fe- not as big as these but is stillmales or their nesting tracks impressive'can be counted readily. Males Although the estimateddo notleavethewater'and are wodd population of the, rarel)1,iden{ified arsea. lmma- species has tripled, it is_still.d*e,:: animals are ' similady regarded as endangered by

de, olive ridley or hawksbill,and there is virtually:no inter'national trade in leatherbackparts or' derivatives. ,\d!ltleatherbaiks are not con-sumed by man as lnuch asother species since their oilyflesh is generally consideredunpalatable.ln Morobe Province, adultleatherbacks are seldom killedor earen. However, the eggs ofobserved nest i ng leatherbacksare taken by viUagers whocamp on the beach. About 70per cent of the eggs harvestedgo to Lae market. 20 per centare eaten by families and 10per cent are left for hatching.After the eggs are collected

tley.4re, reburied at aniSthe,locatisn for firee"or four daysuntil a large cache exists. Theyare then ransported to Laemarket where each brings aprice of 1$'tssa rNests fromwhich eggs,' r'h'ave . beenremoved are mirked.,:-withsticks.Eggs and hatchlings aresomedmes taken" b*"crabs)pigs, sharks and crocodiles:Adult.:katherbacks,may:,,,fpre)1 to sharks and'crocodilewhile nestin$,, The trac,ks..-*crocodiles are often seenalong the nesting beach. qMaus Buang and occasionallthe turtles are attacked andkilled. About three tuldes are

., ,:irnpossibleto countat iea. The both the Uqited,States Depan-::.nFerins+aar.lrofle*iherhr.ks is, .rnent'Of 'the. Iaterior .and'thi


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A baby turtle in its natural environment; ingetclockwise from below: newly-hatchedturtles collected from the beach; a villagerillegally gathering eggs for home consumption;a dug-out egg chamber measuring the shell ofa female leatherback.

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ToF left: A vittager kilting a greent!:1!g "t Green tstand; to-p ri6trt:cnnren with conservationposters at Labutali Beach:below: returning to the watetafter laying eggs.

taken each season. Thev areeither dragged into the sba orto the nearbyestuary, with thecarcass being rarelyleft on thebeach for more rhan a fewdays.Villagers report that thereare fewer turtles nesting thanin the past. This decline is pro_bably due ro the excessiveegg harvest.Traditionally in papua NewGuinea the right to fish cenainreefs and beaches was con_trolled by individuals, families,clans orchiefs. Sometimes. theright to fish particular speciessuch as furtles, fistr and{ug.onqs belonged ro par-ticular families within a villageand theyregulated the exploit_ation of the resource.In the Maus province, egggarhering is a tradition alpriCtice with associated rules, butalong the Morobe coast regu_Iations have disappeared asvillagers have found a marketfor the eggs at Lae.

.. Ownership rights rely heav_ily on respect for rraditional-a-uthority within the villages.Wrile ffansgressions wereha3dle! by force in pre-colonial times, today there isittle physical enforclmenr bvof tradidonal boun'_Thereficre, it has beento introduce \fild-Management fueas.

ment gazefies these areas theCommiftee's rules becomelaw.Under the \Tildlife Manage_mentArea system the onus forconservation work is placedon the traditional owners.Through rhis sysrem, the Wild-life Division has given tradi_tional landowners the legalframework to reinforce tradi_tional understandinss.Managemen, "[r, formarine turtles have been setup in other areas of pNG suchas Crown and Long Islands. Inthese areas mosr people wereelther symparheric or indif_flerenr to rhe Vildlife Manage_Tgnr Area. Unfortunately,although the need for turtle

conservation is appreciated bythe Maus Buang village elders,rhey do not possess the know_Iedge nor perhaps the villagesupporr to implement a Vild-life Managemenr Area.However, in the 19g3_g4nesting season we initiated aprogram that would buy eggsas rhe rurrle laid them fo, t'ti"current market price of 10 toeaper egg. The eggs would thenbe reburied at anorher loca-tio-n near the village so that thevillagers could watch to makesure that others would not digup the nesl As a result of ouiinterest, a village law wascreated declaring certain sec_tions of the beach taboo f,crcollecting eggs. !flith the sup_port of the papua NewGuineaUniversity of Technology wewill continue our worf,'thisyear. Perhaps we will see vouwalking the beach in searcir ofthese rare furtle.s.

Special legislation waspassed by the pNG House ofAssembly in April 7974 tocreate large tracts of naturalwildlife habitats. These re_main in cusromary ownership,but people co-operate withthe govemment to managethe wildlife and its habitat f6rcontinued production andpreservation. Each area isgoverned by a Vildlife Commirree appoinred by peopleliving near the managementarea. The Committeeb func_tion is to introduce andenforce rules which are under_stood by the people. Its decis_rons are recommended to theMinister of the Environmentand as soon as the govern_

NomanJ. Quinn is from the FisheriesDepanment of the papua New GuineaUniversity of Technology in Lae andBarbara L. Kojis is from the Univer.sity's Deparrment of Chemical Tech-nology.

paradise quinn kojis 1985

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