Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2017L00641:body:0:p36
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2017L00641
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 110109–113172

the loss of foraging habitat will affect multiple stocks. Loss of habitat and/or food could result in slowed turtle growth or females being unable to obtain sufficient body condition to make breeding migrations[24]. Impacts in internesting habitat will affect the local stock, potentially reducing the reproductive output for that stock. As such, dredging and trawling activities in important internesting habitat should be undertaken outside peak nesting seasons.
Dredges can also be a direct source of turtle mortality where animals become caught in the dredge (entrainment). In Australia, the use of soft start guidelines means that direct mortality through dredge operations is only likely to affect individual turtles rather than cause a stock level impact. Recent technological advances to reduce the impacts of dredge operations on marine turtles include turtle deflecting devices, which have been incorporated on some larger dredging operations to reduce the incidence of turtle injury. Dredging in the marine environment is generally also subject to restrictions or permits.
The impact of incidental capture of turtles in trawl nets is considered in Section 4F Fisheries bycatch.

4I Indigenous take
Marine turtles are an integral part of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders' cultural traditions and practice. Traditional take of marine turtles for meat and eggs, and other products has been undertaken for thousands of years and has proceeded on a sustainable basis in the absence of other anthropogenic threats. Today, the take of marine turtles for their meat and eggs continues to be undertaken throughout the marine turtles' range in Australia[136] in accordance with the relevant legislation.
The level of take varies geographically and between species. The take of meat is generally limited to female green turtles while eggs of all species are utilised. Traditional legal and sustainable indigenous harvest of marine turtles occurs in the context of multiple contemporary threats, which have brought new pressures to bear on turtle stocks. At the same time, in some locations, there has been an erosion of traditional Indigenous cultural authority, which had governed the harvest of turtle meat and eggs and ensured the sustainable use of marine resources more generally. Indigenous take arises as a threat requiring management action because three of the 22 stocks are considered at risk from the practices associated with egg harvest (Table 8).
Issues around unsustainable take can be more easily addressed than the more pervasive and systemic threats identified in this plan. For example, community-led management planning and education, such as Indigenous ranger programs, turtle monitoring camps,  partnerships between research bodies, community/government agreements, state/territory scientists and environmental organisations, can all contribute towards improved stock management by Indigenous custodians. Providing support to Indigenous peoples for governance and management planning that helps to reinstate cultural authority and