Spatial and temporal patterns of harvesting of the Vulnerable pig-nosed turtle Carettochelys insculpta in the Kikori region, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Management of wildlife use by communities living a partially traditional lifestyle is usually more successful when the interactions between those communities and the environment are well understood. We mapped the harvest areas for the Vulnerable pig-nosed turtle Carettochelys insculpta for six language-groups in the Kikori region of Papua New Guinea and compared harvest parameters between different areas and language-groups and, when possible, between 1980-1982 and 2007-2009. Spatially, the main influence on harvest method was a tribe's location relative to the turtle's distribution. No small juveniles (