tried to do a good thing

[royslaven]

Today was out at harries and saw what i thought were 2 turtles gettin it on, got a little closer and saw that one of the turtles was floating and having difficulty diving, i was able to come right alongside of it, it was over a metre in diameter , so no chance of getting him in the tinnie by myself, anyway after a bit with much of a struggle he, she was able to dive down, but only for a few minutes, what do i do? ,used call connect to try marine parks , get connected to great barrier reef marine parks, they tell me to call epa, epa says call seaworld, call seaworld they get the info and say they will get marine parks at cleveland to call me back, wow that was easy, only took about 35 mins getting transfered and put on hold, any way the guy fron cleveland marine parks says can u catch turtle i say no ,he says nearest boat at bribie island, he also says if turtle is still able to dive at all they can,t catch it either...phew says they will keep an eye out for the next few days. Anyway the turtle was 400 metres north of the green beacon south of harries last time i saw him,her, so if you,re out that way keep an eye out. By the way is there an easier way to get this kind of help? let me know, cheers ROYSLAVEN

[PinHead]

good onya mate for trying to do something..but welcome to the green world..if that was a whale caught in a net, seaworld would have been over it faster than a fat kid on a cup cake..it is not newsworthy so they don't care.

[Razgo-]

could be a genrric disease or trapped gas. like this one at all? http://www.greenbuddy.com.au/?p=224

[finga]

You should have said there was a whale with a net around it's tail or there was a boat catching dugongs and the heavens would have opened up with people wanting a Kodak moment.
I would have rung the tele stations to tell them the lack of response from everyone concerned in the welfare of these animals.
Your just lucky the battery on your phone lasted. Mine would have cut out after the second transfer.

[Sabre]

Had a similar experience a couple of months ago offshore from the Gold Coast. Found a turtle unable to dive, rang Seaworld who after 10 minutes of being transferred finally got hold of someone who said they could help because they didn't have a boat in the water!!!! After much exertion we finally got it in the boat, rang Seaworld to advise we were coming in, and was told they would meet us at their dock.

We arrived there and waited at the gate for another 20 minutes before we finally got someones attention who then spent another 15 minutes finding someone to come down.

As it turns out the turtle was some 800 Klm's south of where it should be and has probably drifted with currents......Advised by Seaworld on Monday it will be flown up to Bundaberg this week to be released fit and well.

[Razgo-]

I think what happens is we see this stuff on TV and everything looks organized and instant. Unfortunately behind the REAL scenes i doubt they have the resources to cope with people reporting this type of situation.

I think that would all eventually change as more and more people report these incidences on the water.

It would sure be great to have a ONE contact number where you can report by VHF or phone and that person has a guideline paper to go off and make the right calls to put things in motion. kind of like a call center?

Having said that they obviously don't have the resources to act anyway. And if your not in a position to assist the animal any further all you can do is write down the details on paper and pass it on to whoever the right authorities are?

[Chimo]

Around the sea world catchment (moreton bay) what about just radioing the info to VMR etc and getting them to pass messages inc news people.

If you give Eastings and Southings they can respond or not. Likely as not you may get a news crew too. Some years ago we had a wildlife issue on Sth Straddy and after a radio call we had sea world people and the 9 news crew with their chopper as they flew em up so they could do a standup on site.

makes it quick and easy and everybody wins and your phone bill won't break your bank or make telstra even richer!

Cheers
Chimo

[trueblue]

just radio through to the Coast Guard and tell them that you have found a floating turtle, and ask them to contact qld parks and wildlife.

QP&WL often has a boat in the water anyway, and if contacted will usually come and meet you if they can, or will arrange for a pick up if you can catch the turtle yourself.

[Razgo-]

I don't think they will travel too far if they can avoid it will they?

I rolled my boat over between coochie and vic point and contacted VMR jacobs well but they said its too far away to come and tow me back and i think redcliffe was the next closest VMR.

we sorted ourselves out with help of a local but i was surprised when i pay as a gold member i couldn't get any help because it was too far and costly.

vic point VMR only operate week-ends.

my point being i cant see them going to to much effort for a turtle.

[royslaven]

just radio through to the Coast Guard and tell them that you have found a floating turtle, and ask them to contact qld parks and wildlife.

QP&WL often has a boat in the water anyway, and if contacted will usually come and meet you if they can, or will arrange for a pick up if you can catch the turtle yourself.
Thanks for the feedback guys, don,t have a radio, just the phone, 4.2 mtr tinnie, harries is about as far i go , and only on a good day, also it would have been impossible to get a turtle that size onboard solo, only weigh 59 kgs ringing wet, probably phone costguard if situation arises again, cheers, ROY

[Scimitar raider]

As before we found a floater and contacted the powers to be and were told to stay with it until they could get there,2 hour later. To their credit they did catch it but said it's chanches were not good!

[LostNearBribie]

So did you catch anything at Harries mate?

[TimiBoy]

Yep we've been there too. Fortunately Wags was on board, and he's worked with turtles, so had a number to ring someone internally. Still cost us significant time, sitting around South Passage.

It's amazing how us redneck boaties charge around killing turtles and dugongs, huh, and the EPA, Seaworld and Marine Parks are just sooooo interested in saving them?

Boy do the Public get the wrong idea about us or what?

Cheers,

Tim

[Lucky_Phill]

AS you all may well aware, the Turtle population of Moreton bay suffers from " floating disease ".

This problem is a direct result of pollution like plastic bags etc.

Sure, one could lay a blame at the general public for letting loose these bags, but also I believe the EPA ( now DERM ) are more than responsible for these incidences. The EPA have failed miserably in their charter to protect the environment and as such are responsible for the deaths of these magnificent creatures.

Thanks for taking to time to report the issue and doing the best you could under the circumstances.

phill
.
.
.
.
.
.

[royslaven]

So did you catch anything at Harries mate?
Got a nice cod 47 cm, see " got one " in estuary reports, about 30 squire 25 - 35 cms, and had a lot of fun at the same time, cheers, royslaven

[LostNearBribie]

Good work Rampaging Roy...

[nautical prince]

good onya mate for trying to do something..but welcome to the green world..if that was a whale caught in a net, seaworld would have been over it faster than a fat kid on a cup cake..it is not newsworthy so they don't care.

Damm straight there mate your dead right:D

[Axl]

I came across a floater at the top of the Pelican banks one day after phoning the Coast Gaurd who then phoned Sea World who then phoned Marine Parks all of whomed phoned me back three to four times with my mobile about to die I was told the Marine Parks boat was at the wrecks at Moreton and would turn around and come down to me if I would wait with it so they could find it.

My wife and daughter promptly told me that we would be waiting.

2 hours later the marine parks turned up in there big alloy 50 odd footer towing a rubber ducky and rescued it.

Once they had it succured they let the wife and daughter board there boat for a closer look which they loved and then said they would be taking it to sea world.

Whilst we wre rescuing the big fella another floater was called in down at the pin so the rubber ducky shot off to grab it while I help the skipper of the Marine parks boat put the turtle we had just caught down stairs

They recon that I will be rewarded one day but I still missed out on the best 2 hours of the day to catch the whiting we wre chasing.

Still managed to get a feed though and now I have a story to tell whilst having a beer and barbie talking fishing with the mates.