Congratulations to Dr Paul Whittock who was awarded his Doctorate degree on Tuesday 7th March in a graduation ceremony at James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland.

His thesis titled: 'Understanding risk to marine turtles from expanding industrial development in northern Western Australia' was in part comprised of four articles published in peer-reviewed scientific journals:

WHITTOCK PA, PENDOLEY KL, Larsen R, & Hamann M (2017) Effects of a dredging operation on the movement and dive behaviour of marine turtles during breeding. Biological Conservation 206: 190-200

WHITTOCK PA, PENDOLEY KL & Hamann M (2016) Using habitat suitability models in an industrial setting: the case for inter-nesting flatback turtles. Ecosphere 7: 1-19

WHITTOCK PA, PENDOLEY KL & Hamann M (2016) Flexible foraging: Post-nesting flatback turtles on Australia’s continental shelf. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 477:112-119

WHITTOCK PA, PENDOLEY KL & Hamann M (2014) Inter-nesting distribution of flatback turtles Natator depressus and industrial development in Western Australia. Endangered Species Research 26: 25-38

Beginning in 2012, Paul completed his PhD 'part-time' while working full-time at Pendoley Environmental, publishing data gathered during field surveys in the Pilbara and combined in some cases, with existing long-term data sets.

His publications comprise data gathered on behalf of various proponents within the the resources industry in W.A, (principally Chevron Australia) marking a watershed in the industry's approach to data ownership, data sharing and transparency. .