An Assessment of Marine Turtle Exploitation in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

In the early 1980s Spring’s report on marine turtle species distribution indicated there were 6 species of turtles that could be found in PNG water including the green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead, olive ridley and the flatback turtles. Over 30 years later, there is growing doubt if the other two species, the olive ridley and the flatback turtles do actually occur in PNG waters as well. This need to be confirmed.