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Shellfish are especially important to the Nukukau islanders of West New Britain Province, PNG, when fishing is poor and the weather too rough for fishing parties to go out. Today fewer shellfish species are gathered than in the past. Popular demand and the increasing size of the village community means, as is the case elsewhere in PNG, that the available shellfish stocks are becoming younger and shell size is decreasing.
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Swadling et al. (1981) studied this question.
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