Impacts on marine turtles - The Great Barrier Reef: An Environmental History - page 73

Table 6.1 The IUCN Red List status of the marine turtle species of the GBRWHA
Common name

Scientific name IUCN (2013) Red List status

Family: Chelonidae
Loggerhead Caretta caretta Endangered

Green Chelonia mydas Endangered

Hawksbill Eretmochelys imbricata Critically Endangered

Flatback Natator depressus Data deficient (previously vulnerable)

Olive Ridley Lepidochelys olivacea Vulnerable

Family: Dermochelidae
Leatherback Dermochelys coriacea Vulnerable

Source: Adapted from IUCN (2013)

they operated - at least in their earlier periods - with very limited, if any,
government regulation or scientific monitoring. Given the lack of information
about the early practices in that industry, precise reconstructions of the depletion
of marine turtles cannot be made and estimates of former turtle population sizes,
based on documentary and oral history sources, require careful interpretation
based on current scientific knowledge of the ecology of those species. The
actual magnitude of impacts on marine turtles is unlikely to be apparent for
decades after those impacts occurred; moreover, the long-distance movements of
individual turtles make changes in marine turtle populations difficult to monitor.
Nevertheless, it is clear that, while the commercial fishery and other practices
described below have ceased, human impacts on marine turtles in Queensland
waters continue to require long-term, effective management, based on scientific
research and monitoring linked with agreed environmental performance
indicators (Limpus, 1997; Dobbs, 2001).

The tortoise-shell industry, 1871-1940s
The exploitation of at least two marine turtle species (green and hawksbill
turtles) occurred in Queensland waters since the earliest European exploration
in the region. The crews of vessels since the Endeavour caught green turtles as
a source of fresh meat, and by the mid-nineteenth century the hawksbill turtle
was recognised as a potentially valuable source of tortoise-shell. The tortoise-
shell industry commenced in Queensland in 1871 when 20 lbs of tortoise-shell
was exported to Great Britain; exports from that year until 1938 are illustrated
in Figure 6.1, which shows that production was small in scale until around
1893. The tortoise-shell industry used the thick, overlapping scales that were
taken from the carapace of the hawksbill turtle, which were an ideal export
commodity as they could easily be dried and stored. Saville-Kent (1890a, 1893)
reported that small quantities of tortoise-shell were also obtained from the green