Just a warning - Some people might find this passage very disturbing

In the 3 weeks we were Fareller Atoll the islanders caught and ate at least 6 large Green Turtles. I have no problem with the consumption of turtle meat providing the particular species is in sustainable supply for the quantities being fished in a given habitat. I believe that this opinion is controversial and not shared by many of my fellow Australians for reasons being that a)'The Turtle' is sort of cute and a symbol of conservation, b) it lives a very long life, and c) has a beacon that allows it to navigate across oceans - and in the case of the female, find the island where it hatched from. I don't see these reasons not to eat a turtle. For example I can think of many species of plant and animal which may deserve attention and conservation status and yet do not because they don't fit into an attractive category. Off the top of my head a species of Grevillea (the species name escapes me now but I think it starts with c), living along Mona Vale Road near the Bahai Temple in Sydney is now threatened since the road was widened many years ago. The local Society for Growing Australian Plants, which I was a member of was unsuccessful in lobbying the government to prevent the road being widened at the time. It is just a spindly plant so who cares? The deep sea orange Roughy (kinmeidai in Japanese) can live to up to 200 years. That does not save them from the fish mongers knife. Salmon, Pigeon and many other species of bird are able to find their own breeding grounds and nests also across oceans or continents but they remain on the menu too. I use these examples as things to invalidate the 3 reasons above for not eating a turtle. I don't understand why they are given such a special status. Of course if you don't fancy eating turtle well that is fine. I have no literature on board Yarramundi, nor access to the WWW presently to look up what the conservation status would be for the local Green Turtle species our island friends were catching. Indeed i n Ogasawara the local Wildlife Agency has decided the population is stable enough to allow for some controlled hunting. Ok, I am getting carried away - and perhaps using Japanese fishing quotas as an example will get me in real trouble. Simply trying to make the point that if the Green Turtle was of status requiring protection then I would argue some conservation methods need to be employed in Micronesia. But other than that I do not have a problem with the hunting and eating of that species of turtle - Or rather did not UNTIL Thursday morning. We knew that there was a graduation ceremony planned for Friday and therefore turtle had to be found. Tuesday night two were captured and they were left on the beach upside down all Wednesday so they would not escape ready to be cooked on Thursday for Friday's ceremony. I can understand the need to keep captured animals alive prior to eating them in a tropical environment with no refrigeration, but two things were most disturbing when it came to these turtles.

One of the turtles was caught as it came up on the beach to lay its eggs. When I asked if they waited till it laid its eggs the response was that the person catching it likes the yolk. It just seems short sigted to not let the thing lay its 200 fertilized eggs before catching it. Especially when the space available on the 3 remaining beaches is disappearing due to rising seas. As we bid farewell on Thursday morning it was a very peaceful scene in the Man's House. The children had given us our marmars. The men who had been so kind to us were all sitting around quietly enjoying their typical comfortable silence. I noticed to the side the turtles covered in various big smoking leaves were being cooked so walked over to have a look and with permission take a photo. In contrast to the peace in the Man's House, the scene was cruel and medieval. After sitting all day and night upside down on the beach wounded, their flippers had been hacked off and they were being baked alive. What was left of their bloody mutilated flippers was moving back and forth. No nerve response. These poor turtles were still very much alive. Their hacked off flippers were being cooked separately as they were left to stew in their own juices as it were. At previous cooking sessions we noticed that the turtles were slaughtered, cut up and then cooked. We can only assume they were being cooked alive to prolong the time until the meat would go off so it would still be ok for Friday's ceremony. I asked one of the men if it was possible to kill them so they would not have to suffer any longer and the expected response was, This is always how we have done it. After what kindness they had extended to us I decided it was not time to stand up for turtle rights. If that is to be the fate of any turtles caught on Faraulep then Jeremiah will be getting no spearheads from me.

I took my photo but it is too terrible to publish it here.

David