Rebecca Diggins

Turtles and tourists without borders: assessing tourism management options for green sea turtles in a Pacific island nation

Rebecca Diggins completed her BSc Ecology in England and then moved to Australia in 2015 to undertake an MSc in Protected Area Management at JCU to add a human dimension to her ecological studies. She is now undertaking a multi-disciplinary PhD under the supervision of A/Prof Ellen Ariel in the Turtle Health Research team.

Her research will look at factors influencing the effective management of green sea turtles in the Conflict Islands, Papua New Guinea, including population dynamics, local community interests, and the development of tourism activities on the islands. Green turtles are considered to be a globally endangered species, threatened by many anthropogenic activities, and so it will be vital to understand their spatial use of the islands as well as the connection between the resident communities and visiting tourists to construct an effective plan for their conservation.

#turtle #tourism #social-science #genetics #conservation