Prop hit Turtle at Donnybrook

[flatzie]

Pretty sad, last week hit Donnybrook for a few hours early, and on return to the ramp this poor young turtle was floating past the ramp.
Looked like he was dead a few days and was only about 70cm long.
Guess it pays to watch out but you wouldn't know if one was just under when you are planing.
Flatzie

[whatscracken]

OUCH! Its a shame to see that Flatzie. I once saw a baby dugong with the same treatment around Peel. Bound to happen from time to time when we share the same area.

[TimiBoy]

Did DPI come and take it? It would be interesting to know if it had floating sickness - I believe they usually do, otherwise they are easily nimble enough to get out of the way. Aren't they?

Cheers,

Tim

[uglyfish]

Ive seen em with floating sickness poor buggers, but i guess it is bound to happen and the get hit sometimes

[Moonlighter]

Tim's right.

My understanding (gained from my work on the Bay rezoning) is that EPA or UQ used to autopsy all dead turtles and found that the vast majority had floating disease before they were hit- they were already sick and dying at the time they were struck. Unfortunately most of those with floating disease die even if they have surgery to remove the plastic rubbish they have ingested. Sad, but true.

Results of the autopsies were so consistent, that they no longer bother to autopsy many of them any more.

Its very easy to blame recreational boating for killing them with boat strike, when that's nowhere near the real story.

Cheers

ML