A large female Green Turtles resting on the shore at Woody Point
Moreton Bay, Southeast Queensland is a special place with 6 of the 7 known marine turtles found there. The Green Turtle is seen in good numbers throughout the year with Moreton Bay determined as an important feeding ground.
In late August this year a member of the public reported a large turtle appearing to be stranded in a tidal pool. Members of the REF Environmental team (Turtles of Moreton Bay) arrived to see the female swim back out to sea. A couple of days later, she returned and Susie Bedford, an experienced marine turtle rescue volunteer arrived and along with other team members collected the data for the QPWS stranding database. Importantly, this 108 cm (length of shell) was tagged in 1995 and with some research we were able to glean a little about her history. In this video, I interview Susie in order to discuss the possible reasons for her visiting the shoreline as well as outlining her journey across the past 30 years.
The tag found on her front flipper goes back to 1995 (T88504)
This turtle was first tagged nesting on Heron Island in 1995 and then again nesting on North West Island which is 30 km south of Heron Island in 1998 and 2001. Her current location, Woody Point on the Redcliffe Peninsula is some 870 km south of these islands.
Diagram showing potential journey pathway from Heron Island to Woody Point. Note: She may have made this journey many times over the past 30 years
Research on the marine turtles Of Queensland, including extensive work by Col Limpus using satellite tracking has shown that other green turtles undertake similar journeys. On the 30 November 2017, a green turtle (T40221) had a GPS satellite tag attached and researchers were able to monitor her movements during the breeding season at Mon Repos. When the nesting season was over, she then made her way down to Moreton Bay and the coast of the Redcliffe Peninsula. A journey of 400 km including through Pumicestone Passage (inland of Bribie Island).
Incredibly this turtle (T88504) has travelled twice the distance to reach the feeding grounds of Moreton Bay. It is believed green turtles return to their nesting sites to breed every 3 to 4 years indicating that this matriarch may have travelled between Moreton Bay and the Capricorn Islands (there and back) on at least 7 occasions, possibly racking up over 11,000 kms!
Turtle T88504 resting in the shallows at Woody Point
The breeding season for green turtles occurs from October through to April of the following year. Susie Bedford thinks it might be possible that T88504 was simply taking a rest and perhaps avoiding any amorous males in the area.
What an incredible animal to have in our neighbourhood. Turtles resident in Moreton Bay are often harder to spot than their Northern counterparts, so “boaties”, please keep an eye out for her. With breeding season starting soon they may be distracted and unable to avoid a fast approaching boat.
To find out more about the marine turtles of Moreton Bay you can go to the Facebook site Turtles of Moreton Bay
Report Injured marine life to DETSI (Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation) on 1300 130 372 (Qld Only – 24/7).
Extra Reading
Queensland Marine Turtle Field Guide (2021) prepared by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services (DETSI)
Limpus CJ, Coffee OI. 2019. Marine turtles in Moreton Bay. In Tibbetts, I.R., Rothlisberg, P.C., Neil, D.T., Homburg, T.A., Brewer, D.T., & Arthington, A.H. (Editors). Moreton Bay Quandamooka & Catchment: Past, present, and future. The Moreton Bay Foundation. Brisbane, Australia. Available from: https://moretonbayfoundation.org/