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Current News

Three Turtles Released After Rehab–31 December, 2011

Three turtles were given a new chance in the wild after rehabilitation at James Cook University.  The New Year’s Eve release saw Sea Turtle Foundation and JCU staff send off Connie, Alexis and Niblet into the waters of Cleveland Bay at Pallarenda after several months of care by Dr. Ellen Ariel and her staff.

Connie, the largest of the three, came from Magnetic Island, just across the bay, and was suffering from floating syndrome, rendering her unable to dive to feed or avoid boats.  Alexis and Niblet are both young green turtles who came into the facility suffering from several malnutrition, a consequence of the die-off of seagrass along the Queensland coast in 2011.

The turtles were the centre of attention as they were carried down to the water’s edge.  Connie was the first to head straight for the water, followed by Alexis and Niblet.  The turtles were cheered on by a large crowd of well-wishers who were able to touch the turtles and talk to rehab staff about the care required in a rehab facility.

Thank you to all the STF and JCU volunteers who give up their time to care for these turtles, and all the participants in the STF adoption program who enabled us to buy squid and medicine for the rehab facility’s residents.  Thanks to your help, these three turtles started 2012 with a bright future!

See videos of the release here, and more photos here!

 

News Archive

Nesting Monitoring at AIMS Beach draws to a close for 2011

Persistence pays off! After two weeks of patrolling the beach at AIMS for nesting green and flatback turtles, volunteers on the last night were treated to a large flatback returning to the water after a nesting attempt.  Monitoring also yielded 10 more sets of tracks, several body pits, and several potential nest sites (and, sadly, one dead green turtle that had washed ashore).  A huge thank you to the volunteers who gave up their time and came out to help us monitor; STF has been patrolling the AIMS beach for nearly a decade now, and the data collected (even in lean years) is invaluable in accurately modelling sea turtle population sizes and trends.  (A special thank you to the volunteers who braved the rain on the later nights!)

Magnetic Island hosts Sea Turtle Nesting Workshop for community

The Geoffrey Bay Coastcare group hosted a workshop for community members that focussed on sea turtle activity on Magnetic Island and how to prepare for the upcoming nesting season, as part of the Magnetic Island Bay Days Festival.  Participants enjoyed presentations from a variety of turtle experts from area agencies, including Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Queensland Parks & Wildlife, Townsville City Council, Queens Beach Action Group, and Sea Turtle Foundation.  The presentations covered a variety of topics from the basics of sea turtles, a history of sea turtle nesting on Magnetic Island up to the present season, how to prepare beaches for nesting season, and what community groups can do to monitor for sea turtle nesting and what to do to give turtle hatchlings the best chance at survival.  Many thanks to Tony O’Malley and Geoffrey Bay Coastcare for organising this great event.

Green Turtles Released after Rehabilitation

Three green sea turtles were released into Cleveland Bay after weeks of rehabilitation from starvation.  Dr. Ellen Ariel from James Cook University recently set up a temporary rehab facility to take the overflow from Townsville’s Turtle Hospital at Reef HQ, who have been operating at or above capacity for months due to the current level of strandings in the area.  Thanks to Dr. Ariel and her staff, these three turtles were brought back from the brink of death and were released back into the bay on 21 September.  While they are healthy now, fears remain that these turtles will again have trouble finding food; however, due to the limited capacity of the region’s facilities, turtle specialists choose to release healthy turtles to make room for other sick and injured turtles.  If you would like to help support these turtle facilities, please visit our Hungry Turtle Appeal page here.

Sea Turtle Foundation Project Manager Julie Traweek and other Townsville turtle experts discuss the current stranding crisis and the Sea Turtle Health and Rehabilitation workshop in an ABC radio interview.  Listen here.

Watch Sea Turtle Foundation staff in this television story about the elevated level of sea turtle and dugong deaths in north Queensland.

Tune in to the 7PM Project on Thursday, May 19th, on Channel 10 (Australia) to learn about a research project investigating the disease called fibropapillomatosis that occurs  in green turtles near Bowen, Queensland.  Sea Turtle Foundation is a partner in this project, along with Gudjuda and Girringun Traditional Owners, JCU, DERM, WWF, NQ Dry Tropics, and Queens Beach Action Group.

Sea Turtle Foundation director Tim Harvey explains the nesting behaviours of Heron Island’s green turtles in this great audio interview with the Guardian–listen here.

New items available in our CafePress store!  Show the world you support sea turtles with some of our great merchandise–read more here.

Sea Turtle Foundation and the people of Western Province, PNG collaborate to produce the new “Flippers and Flukes” booklet to spread the message about sea turtle and dugong conservation.  Download the booklet here.

Dates announced for the 2010 turtle nesting season and beach clean-up at AIMS beach. Join us and witness the wonder of the turtle’s laying their eggs, read more here.

Wavelength snorkel tours in Port Douglas, Queensland have joined our Member Benefits program, another great reason to become a Sea Turtle Foundation member.

Daru, PNG Sea Turtle & Dugong workshop a great success, read more here.