Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2017L00641:body:0:p17
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2017L00641
Segment Type: other
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Character Range: 46007–49072

turtles nesting elsewhere in Western Australia is currently unknown.

Flatback turtles
There are five stocks of flatback turtles currently described around Australia[63, 187], however genetic studies being undertaken (as a collaboration between the Department of Parks and Wildlife and CSIRO) on flatback turtles nesting on islands off the Kimberley coast indicate that they may comprise an additional genetic stock (FitzSimmons, pers. comm. 2017). The five described stocks are known as the: eastern Queensland, Arafura Sea, Cape Domett, south-west Kimberley and Pilbara stocks. Additional genetic analysis is being undertaken to provide better resolution of geographic boundaries for flatback turtles in Western Australia. Flatback turtles forage across the Australian continental shelf and into the continental waters off Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

Olive ridley turtles
There are two olive ridley turtle stocks in Australia, one that nests in the Northern Territory (Northern Territory stock) and one that nests on western Cape York near Weipa (north-western Cape York stock)[63]. Low density nesting has also been described on the Kimberley coast, but genetic relatedness is unknown. There is limited tag recovery data for olive ridley turtles, but satellite tracking data indicates that they appear to remain on the Australian continental shelf into waters off Indonesia[232, 247].

Leatherback turtles
There are potentially three leatherback turtle genetic stocks in the Indo-Pacific[63]. Genetic linkages are yet to be determined between areas where leatherback turtles are known to nest/occur, and those found in Australian waters[14]. As there is no genetic basis on which to separate leatherback turtles into stocks in Australia[63], for the purposes of this plan, leatherback turtles are classified on whether they nest in Australia or in neighbouring countries. Small numbers of leatherback turtles nest on the Cobourg Peninsula and there have been unconfirmed accounts of leatherback turtles nesting in Western Australia. Although historically there was sparse nesting in south east Queensland, there have been no records of nesting along the Queensland coast since 1996[136].
Leatherback turtles are more commonly found foraging in Australian waters along the east coast and in Bass Strait. The southern waters of Australia are one of five identified foraging sites (where area restricted behaviour occurs) for Leatherback turtles[8]. These turtles are likely from the western Pacific genetic stock that nests in north west Papua, northern Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu[14]. Aerial surveys have also recorded leatherback turtles foraging in Northern Territory waters[75]. Leatherback turtles foraging off Western Australia may come from nesting areas in the Andaman Sea and there has been one tag recovery of a turtle that nested in Java[136].

International stocks foraging in Australian waters
For all six species it is known that some turtles nesting outside Australia migrate to forage in Australian waters. These turtles