A. Species
Scientific name: Carettochelys insculpta
Common name(s): Pig-nosed turtle
Global IUCN Red List Threat Status: Endangered
B. Location of use
Geographic location(s):
- Palau
Country/Region: Papua New Guinea / Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea
C. Scale of assessment
Scale of assessment: Sub-national / Sub-region / Sub-State
Name/Details of location: Kikori delta / Kikori (7°24044.4500S; 144°14051.7800E) and Sirebi markets (7°12023 .3600S; 144°14047.8000E); plus Two riverine villages (Kopi and Waira) and one coastal village (Dopima) for intensive monitoring of egg and turtle consumption
D. Timescale of use
Start Year: 1980
End Year: 2009
E. Information about the use
How is the wild species sourced?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat
Type of use: Extractive
Practice of use: Targeted fishing harvesting/exploiting or collecting wild aquatic resources
Lethal or non-lethal: Lethal and Non-Lethal
Does this use involve take/extraction of: The whole entire organism
Purpose(s) of end use: Food and feed
Motivation of use: Basic subsistence and Income generation from trade (individual/household/community)
Is this use legal or illegal?: Legal by customary law
F. Information about the Users
Which stakeholder(s) does the record primarily focus on?: Local people
G. Information about the sustainability of use
Is there evidence that the use is having an impact on the target species?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an ecological perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered unsustainable
Details of assessment carried out: Based on this study's combination of matched market and village surveys, revealing the sustained and exceptionally high efficiency of harvest.
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Harvesting pressure exceeds the resilience of the population to maintain numbers and age structure composition. The average size of nesting females, clutch size and egg diameter was smaller in the 2007–2009 than in the 1980–1982 nesting. When a pristine population comes under harvest pressure, one of the first indicators is a reduction in body size, both because the larger individuals are more likely to be targeted or retained and because of reduction in life expectancy, which in a species with indeterminate growth, translate to a lower average body size in the population.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an economic perspective been recorded?: No, sustainability not determined
Details of assessment carried out: This study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Not detailed, outside of it being a profitably industry, based on an unsustainable resource.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a social perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered unsustainable
Details of assessment carried out: This study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Unsustainable, due to harvest rate exceeding population growth (recruitment) rate) and due to increasing demand as the human population size in these communities grows, combined with heightened demand for supplying turtles to traders (for China); all of which combine to undermine this subsistence food source. Those in the community who are concerned about the decline of the species are more concerned for sustainability of the resource (for future generations) rather than as an endangered species issue in the western sense. The local villagers view the species more as a fishery to be managed.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a human health perspective been recorded?: not recorded
Details of assessment carried out: This study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Not recorded
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an animal health/welfare perspective been recorded?: not recorded
Details of assessment carried out: This study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Not recorded
Recommendations provided in the record to maintain or enhance the sustainability of the use of the target species
The study concludes that there is a potential for utilizing C. insculpta under a sustainable yield management to provide a valuable protein source for local inhabitants. Complete elimination of pig-nosed turtle harvest in Kikori could potentially aggravate their already protein-deficient diet. Exclusionary and restrictive conservation practices in developing countries have often alienated local people and failed to protect the wildlife. It is unlikely that any efforts to dramatically curtail the harvest of pig-nosed turtles would be acceptable to the local community and any attempt to do so could lead to counterproductive attitudes to conservation on broader agendas. Without community-led action informed by applied research and environmental education, supported by wildlife protection, and adequately funded by those industries gaining most from natural resource development, the current declines may continue to yield unsatisfactory outcomes from both fishery and conservation perspectives.
Record source
Information about the record source: scientific_pub
Date of publication/issue/production: 2011-01-01T00:00:00+0000
Source Reference(s):
Date of record entry: 2022-12-07