Marine turtles are a common sight in Byron Bay, the most easterly point on the Australian continent and a haven for wildlife and left-wing hippies like me. Greens, Loggerheads and Hawksbills are regularly seen at nearby 'Julian Rocks' by divers and snorkelers alike. They are also reported feeding on the nearby inshore reefs by the parading stream of cross-bay swimmers every morning. Historical records show Green and Loggerhead nesting activity in the area and even Leatherbacks around 20 years ago. The local indigenous word for turtle is "Binging", suggesting marine turtles have been using this area for a fair while.
On November 29th, 2012, a Byron Bay local was paddle-boarding across the bay when he noticed a large turtle floating listlessly nearby. Not only did the paddle boarder recognise that floating around listlessly and covered in barnacles was not normal behaviour for a marine turtle, he felt compelled to do something about it. The thought-process behind that decision is something I spend far too much time thinking about. What makes one person walk straight past injured wildlife and another person stop to help? I make the point of including wildlife in that scenario because if the animal needing assistance was a dog or a cat then the whole ballgame changes, and that makes me really sad. Be that as it may, on this occasion the paddle-boarder stopped and floated by the side of this helpless creature for 20 minutes before taking action and towing her into shore. This action saved the life of a critically endangered species. In the state this turtle was found, it may have been days before she washed ashore for us to find her, if ever, and be even closer to death's door. We named her "Demi".
"Demi" on entry at the rehabilitation centre.
"Demi" three days into care.
Demi's size was the first thing that struck me about this case, well second thing if you count my obsession with Hawksbill turtles. Hawksbill turtles with a Curved Carapace Length (CCL) greater that 60cm rarely wash up on the shores of NSW, less than ten in the last 15 years. Demi's CCL is 75cm. Visually, she was clearly in all kinds of distress. Her barnacle load was about 99.99%, including coverage of the eyes and in the nostrils which was really painful to look at. Added to her woes, encrustation around the limb joints were limiting mobility and she was severely underweight for her size. Three days into care you can see the results of the admission process. Almost completely barnacle free and still alive. As a general rule, if they make it past the first three days in rehabilitation they stand a pretty good chance of making a full recovery, so it was happy days for Demi. We were all surprised that she survived, but with care and veterinary advice the volunteers managed to pull her back from the edge.
I'm happy to report that Demi is still recovering well. Regaining weight is a slow process for a big girl like this, and six months down the track she's fit for release. There is something extra special about releasing a critically endangered breeding-age adult female and the contribution that could be making. There is so much more to learn, though.
All the turtles released from the rehabilitation centre receive two titanium self-locking tags, one on the inside trailing edge of the front flippers, that means big silver earrings in the armpits to you and me. Each tag is inscribed with a unique alphanumeric code and recorded with that case's rehabilitation file. The unique code on the tags we use have the format "NS1234" and the hope is that one day someone will see the turtle again and make a sighting report so we can learn some things about each individual.
However, as I hover over my computer today I wait with anticipation for the results of James Cook University's animal ethics committee last Friday and the outcome of my application to fix a satellite tracker onto Demi's carapace. That will mean that rather than waiting years or even decades for some data to come back about each turtle's movements from sightings of the titanium tags, a satellite tracking device will give me near real-time coordinates of her location for as long as the device remains fixed and operating. Marine turtles shed their scales, so sooner or later the device will naturally slough off.
Where will she go? I have a hunch, but I'm willing to be proven wrong. I just hope she stays around my area for a little while and shows me where her food resources are so I know where to point the boat for the next phase of my research.
Tick, tock...
