# Recent turtle deaths



## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

I don't know how far this news gets but since most of us have a love of getting out there amongst the creatures of the ocean I thought I'd share this news item. http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/ar ... _news.html

Turtles have been turning up on beaches recently and last week there were about 20 found on one beach. A fortnight ago I visited this beach with some visitors to do some fishing and we came across a couple of dead ones ourselves. I know everything dies eventually, and I've come across the odd dead one in the past, but something doesn't seem quite right about so many in such a short period of time.

I don't know if the authorities have any suspicions but I hope they find a cause of death. The little voice in my head tells me something has been dumped into the environment that is toxic to them but that's just my uneducated guess.

Lets hope it's not the beginning of the end and that their number can recover.


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

73 turtles dead.

Something is amis, and I suspect we are to blame.

trev


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

I don't know a real lot about it but I think it's odd that they're showing up in such a specific area and not up and down the coast.


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

kayakone said:


> 73 turtles dead.
> 
> Something is amis, and I suspect we are to blame.
> 
> trev


Which we?
We - AKFFers?
We - kayakers?
We - mankind?

oh-right


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## fishcq (Oct 2, 2011)

Guess it is not unique to Gladstone.

Interesting that.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

I saw quite a few stories on abc news site from a year or so ago and back then they were blaming weather events for impacting on their food source. It's obviously been happening a while now and this time they're not pointing to the weather. I think there was cold weather mentioned in one story and flooding killing sea grass in another.....they obviously think its something a bit more than that now.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

I received this today, supposedly of a turtle caught in Edgecombe Bay.


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## Nbh00d (Feb 12, 2012)

This is really sad... I feel sorry for the turtles. Anyone with a marine science background keen to help us understand this situation?


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## bildad (Jun 20, 2011)

Fukushima perhaps?


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

I must say that none of the dead turtles I've seen looked like that, even the ones reported in he news supposedly have no visible a clues as to cause of death. Definitely sad stuff!


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## Mobynick (Jul 10, 2012)

I can't comment about the Townsville area, but there have been many environmental issues around Gladstone for years. Higher than normal cases of asthma and respirotry dieases, local raptor eggs not hatching, and dodgy air monitoring practises. There is alot of industry there and with the Curtis Island operation going ahead things certainly won't improve. It isn't just turtles either, around Gladstone, dolphins and dugons have also been affected. There was /is? a ban on fishing in the area due to dreging and health effects.
Experts say it is all natural but the problems around Gladstone have been presant for many, many years, certainly longer than the recent floods.

Concerns have been raised that a mass dredging project in the Port of Gladstone is contributing to the turtle die-off.
The state government is yet to decide whether a three-week ban on fishing in the port - which was implemented after diseased fish were caught - will be lifted when it expires on Friday.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conse ... z29bDerkQR


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

Mobynick said:


> Higher than normal cases of asthma and respirotry dieases, local raptor eggs not hatching, and dodgy air monitoring practises.


Any proof around these?


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## Mobynick (Jul 10, 2012)

anselmo said:


> Mobynick said:
> 
> 
> > Higher than normal cases of asthma and respirotry dieases, local raptor eggs not hatching, and dodgy air monitoring practises.
> ...


Yes lots of documented cases. I used to live in rockhampton and the paper ran plenty of stories regarding these issues. I'm not doing an essay and quoting sorces but it is all ready available if you want to look for it. Gladstone has been a hot spot for asthma in qld for years. There are plenty of chemicals in the water and more in the air. I'd never live there and I wouldn't eat the fish


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

Mobynick said:


> anselmo said:
> 
> 
> > Mobynick said:
> ...


You're not referring to crikey.com.au are you?

Sounds like dietrologia to me


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## Mobynick (Jul 10, 2012)

@Nick....i'm confused, are you saying I don't take anything at face value or that I take everything at face value....are you trying to be insulting or merely confusing?

The UN is gathering evidence that may see the GBR listed as a "world heritage area in danger. That might save the turtles....eventually.


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

Mobynick said:


> @Nick....i'm confused, are you saying I don't take anything at face value or that I take everything at face value....are you trying to be insulting or merely confusing?


Not you
I was referring to crikey.com.au which was the main link I could find to references about asthma in Gladstone



Mobynick said:


> The UN is gathering evidence that may see the GBR listed as a "world heritage area in danger. That might save the turtles....eventually.


That's good news
They are beautiful creatures and its a shame to see something happening to them


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

I wonder if there is more of this going on than we are aware and whether it may be contributing? It's slightly north of the area the turtles are being found but maybe these are jaut the containers that have drifted north?

http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/ar ... _news.html


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

I recently returned from our annual family holiday to Fraser Island and we saw about 5 or 6 dead turtles on the beaches between hook point and sandy cape (approx 130 klm of beach) in our 2 week stay. We have often seen a turtle or two and thought nothing of it over the years, thinking it was just natural attrition, but can definately say we have never seen so many in one short period.

Also on the weekend just past, I went camping with my kids at Inskip point just to the sout of fraser and once again over the weekend we saw 3 dead turtles washed up on the beach in different locations between midway up Teewah, Rainbow Beach and Inskip Point. '

Hopefully someone can find a reason why this is occuring on such a disturbingly regular basis and help these awesome animals. I just hope they don't have a gut full of plastic bait bags from the multitude of irresponsible fishos that seem to frequent these areas.

Kev


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

So it's not only NQ then?


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

Barrabundy said:


> So it's not only NQ then?


Not sure, but strangely coincidental for me to see nearly 10 turtles washed up on a beach within the last month also.....


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## grant ashwell (Apr 24, 2007)

Dead one about 400-450ml long on Crowdy Bay beach this weekend as well. First I have ever come across.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

I saw a photo at a meeting last week, it's probably floating around on the net somewhere, and it was taken around the Bowen area in the 1890's.

There was another one taken in as close to the same spot as possible in the 1990's to show the difference in the reef. Now I've heard one scientist talk about how it's not presenting the facts but I must say the photo was depressing to someone like myself who doesn't know the area. I'll try dig it up in some of the reports JCU churn out later.

Today I visited my spearo dentist who informed me the inshore reefs might be a little bit shit but the offshore ones are really good because of the distance away from mans influence. He said he's spoken to locals who say there are inshore reefs that look better now than they did in the 70's. I'm not sure a dentist is qualified to make judgements about reef health but this photo I saw didn't paint a pretty picture about the future. I suspect it appears every time a particular body needs a funding injection and is chosen for its impact.

(found it here http://www.reefed.edu.au/__data/assets/ ... per_09.pdf )


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

It seems they may have found the cause of death of these turtles.

They've found high levels of heavy metals cobalt, molybdenum, iron, vanadium and chromium in their blood and organs. Not much is known about the effects of this metals but, from studies on other animals, the levels would have been high enough to cause death.

They are now trying to find out where these turtles may have been exposed and why they seem to be the only animals affected.

After reading that, my first thought was how do we know that this exposure didn't happen a long way from here and all the other animals dropped dead where they were and only the turtles were able to live long enough to get here and die.

The article also mentions that 3700 turtles have died in the last 3 years but doesn't say whether they have all been the same cause of death or not...not sure exactly what that figure represents. That figure was quoted by WWF so who knows where it's come from or whether the detail has been deliberately left out.

WWF are hoping this issue leads to more funding for them. They've also made a film about the community's efforts to save the turtles and it's been nominated for the Aurora Short Film Festival Awards 2013.

I'm glad they found a cause because, as a farmer in the area, we're usually the first ones to have fingers pointed at us and it's not a nice feeling.


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## bildad (Jun 20, 2011)

Barrabundy said:


> It seems they may have found the cause of death of these turtles.
> 
> They've found high levels of heavy metals cobalt, molybdenum, iron, vanadium and chromium in their blood and organs. Not much is known about the effects of this metals but, from studies on other animals, the levels would have been high enough to cause death.
> 
> They are now trying to find out where these turtles may have been exposed and why they seem to be the only animals affected.


Could it be they are eating Spanner Crabs?


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

You're a funnyan bildad, it sounds a bit like a toolbox doesn't it.


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

RedPhoenix said:


> Was there a big surge in the turtle birth rate X years ago? (Where X = now, minus the normal lifespan of a turtle).
> 
> Unlikely, based on the reported sizes of the turtles, and BB's info.. but perhaps a contributing factor.
> 
> Red.


So what you're asking is could it be a natural return to a "normal" size population? It would be nice if it was the case but gut feeling says probably not, who knows?


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## punchanello (Oct 6, 2011)

Barrabundy said:


> I received this today, supposedly of a turtle caught in Edgecombe Bay.


Jesus, poor bugger.


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