Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2017L00641:body:0:p12
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2017L00641
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Character Range: 31419–35041

for consumption by members of the community.
    * The Western Australian Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 provides an exemption otherwise applying to the taking of fauna for persons of Aboriginal descent to take fauna for food for their selves and their family, but not for sale.
    * The Northern Territory Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1974 recognises the rights of Aboriginal peoples who have traditionally used an area of land or water to continue to use that area for traditional hunting, food gathering (other than for sale) and for ceremonial and religious purposes.
    * State and territory animal cruelty legislation provides for humane treatment of marine turtles.

            Table 4. Conservation status of marine turtles under Australian Commonwealth, state and territory legislation
 (February 2017).
Legislation                                                    Green             Loggerhead   Flatback        Hawksbill    Olive ridley  Leatherback
Commonwealth
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999  Vulnerable        Endangered   Vulnerable      Vulnerable   Endangered    Endangered
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975                        Protected         Protected    Protected       Protected    Protected      Protected
Queensland
Nature Conservation Act 1992                                   Vulnerable        Endangered   Vulnerable      Vulnerable   Endangered    Endangered
Northern Territory
Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 2000             Near threatened   Vulnerable   Data deficient  Vulnerable   Vulnerable    Critically endangered
Western Australia
Wildlife Conservation Act 1950                                 Vulnerable        Endangered   Vulnerable      Vulnerable   Endangered    Vulnerable
South Australia
National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972                           Vulnerable        Endangered   Not listed      Not listed   Not listed    Vulnerable
Tasmania
Threatened Species Protection Act 1995                         Vulnerable        Endangered   Not listed      Vulnerable   Not listed    Vulnerable
Victoria
Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988                             Not listed        Not listed   Not listed      Not listed   Not listed    Threatened
New South Wales
Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995                       Vulnerable        Endangered   Not listed      Not listed   Not listed    Endangered

3 BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY

3.1 General biology and ecology of marine turtles
Marine turtles have a complex lifecycle that spans a large geographic range over multiple habitats (Figure 2) and many decades. They are highly migratory during some life phases, but during others show high site fidelity to small geographic areas. The following provides a generalised description of life history characteristics and requirements for marine turtles. For species-specific information please see individual stock tables at Section 5.4.

Generalised life cycle

Adults
Although marine turtles spend the majority of their lives in the ocean, adult female marine turtles come ashore to lay eggs in the sand above the high tide. Females lay on average two to six clutches per season. The period between each successive clutch is known as the internesting period. During internesting turtles remain close to the nesting beach or rookery. Nesting leatherback turtles may not exhibit the same behaviours and have been observed nesting at locations up to 460 km apart within a season[108, 211]. The number of females nesting can fluctuate widely between years. In the case of green turtles this variation