Sea turtle conference addresses Great Barrier Reef sickness spike

Rangers and scientists gather to explore ways of curbing threats that led to soaring number of strandings in recent years
Oliver Milman guardian.co.uk 18 Jul 13;

Pesticides, cyclones and boat strikes have been blamed as causes of a worrying spike in the number of sick and dying sea turtles on the Great Barrier Reef.

A three-day conference being held in Townsville has gathered wildlife rangers, scientists, vets, volunteers and government agencies from across Australia to work out a way to curb threats to sea turtles.

According to Queensland government data, there has been a sharp increase in the number of sea turtles found stranded on the state’s coastline.

In 2010, 808 turtles were found stranded, but the tally soared to 1,781 in 2011 and 1,510 last year. This year has so far seen a slight decrease in the rate of strandings, totalling 342 up until 30 June.

Cyclone Yasi, which destroyed vast tracts of seagrass – sea turtles’ preferred delicacy – in 2011, caused many animals to starve to death. But the conference has heard that human factors have also adversely harmed the creatures.

Julie Traweek of the Sea Turtle Foundation, which rescues stranded turtles, said the animals faced multiple threats.

“We get a lot of sea turtles in with floating syndrome, where they can’t dive, as well as lesions on their organs and brains caused by blood flukes,” she said. “This is becoming more common. They can also suffer from tumours, which we know is from a strain of herpes but we’re not sure what triggers it.

“We see tumour hotspots in Bowen, whereas they don’t see it up on Cape York. They get a lot of turtles that ingest plastic in Benalla in NSW, but less so here.

“Chemical run-off is a problem, but we can’t say that for definite. But we do see more problems in areas with lots of coastal development.”

Traweek said green turtle numbers appeared to be stable, while loggerhead and hawksbill turtles numbers were “crashing.” Although protected in Australia, hawksbill turtles are prized by hunters for their attractive shells when they migrate to Asian waters.

Ellen Ariel of James Cook University’s school of veterinary and biomedical sciences said more research needed to be done to understand sea turtles and the threats they face.

“We see some populations do well on some parts of the coast and others not so well,” she said. “We need to learn more as sea turtles are a good barometer of the health of the water.

“Overall, it would be a good idea for people to slow down in boats in shallow waters to avoid hitting them. We can all be sensible about the things we flush down drains and the plastic we throw away, too.”

On Wednesday Mark Butler, the federal environment minister, pledged $930,000 to Indigenous organisations and traditional owners across Queensland to manage sea turtles, dugongs and the marine environment.

Butler followed that up by unveiling a further $5m in Reef Rescue funding on Thursday to help protect the Great Barrier Reef from crown-of-thorns starfish.

The starfish, which eat coral and have spiralled in number in recent years, are viewed as a key threat to the health of the reef.

“Long term, the work of Reef Rescue is ensuring that runoff to the reef is reduced each year through supporting farmers to improve their practices. But, short term, we need to have divers injecting the starfish and eradicating them,” Butler said.