Lucy, the third turtle to be tagged in PS/GL Marine Park is happily back in her home having suffered a traumatic time. She was rescued from a crab trap by marine parks staff, a sadly similar story to Crabby. Estimated to be about 50 years old, she's a grand old loggerhead with some years left.

Scientific Officer, Dave Harasti has been surprised by some of the results so far stating: 'it appears Lucy is now residing in Tilligerry Creek, the same location Crabby lived in for the last 3 months. It is surprising that turtles are residing up this creek as it's the poorest water quality area in the marine park! Very unusual'. This project is likely to shed new light on what turtles get up to in the area.

Crabby, a female green turtle and the second turtle tagged, was also found caught in a crab trap off Soldiers Point, hence her name. She was taken to Taronga Wildlife Hospital to check on her health and to recover from her ordeal. She was lucky to be found when she was as she was close to drowning. Unfortunately there are many other turtles who suffer this fate. But luckily we  know that Crabby has pretty much made her way back home, thanks to the satellite tags. Crabby, is estimated to be around 15 years old, and is a similar age and size to Tracey. Sub-adult turtles such as Crabby and Tracey, may spend significant periods of time, some research has shown up to 10 years, within a healthy seagrass habitat where food is reliable and plentiful.

Tracey, the first turtle tagged was found in the seagrasses of the Port Stephens/Great Lakes Marine Park. Turns out she's a bit of a resident and many divers have commented that they regularly see Tracey munching away happily on local seagrass beds. Tracey has pretty much stayed in the same spot since she's been tagged.  

 We recently witnessed a very sad situation where a dead green turtle was brought in to Oceanworld Manly. It had some horrific injuries as a result of being runover by a boat's propeller. The rescuers said it was alive when they found it but sadly, it died upon arrival. This may have been the most humane conclusion as should it have survived its injuries, they were such that it would never survive back in the wild and would've had a hard time doing what turtles do.

Both Sydney Aquarium and Oceanworld Manly house animals that have been injured by boats. Seabiscuit has a missing flipper and Floaty has serious buoyancy issues. Unfortunately these incidents are a reality of animals and humans trying to share the same space.

In addition to boats, our pollution is an even bigger threat. Plastic bags and discarded fishing nets cause thousands of turtle fatalities annually. Mistaking plastic bags for jellyfish, turtles eventually become malnourished and starve as they can't egest the plastic they ingest. In her research Dr Kathy Townsend has found small turtles with anywhere from 40 - 70 pieces of plastic in their guts. And that's in turtles found dead off Moreton Bay, Qld. We know less about those turtles that are not found.

Six of the seven species of sea turtles are found in Australian waters, all of which are endangered or vulnerable. All six species of sea turtles are protected in Australian waters under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975. 

Threats:

 There are many threats endangering sea turtles today:

• ingestion of plastic is one of the biggest threat to turtles, and many other marine species

• getting caught in crab traps

• discarded, floating fishing nets (ghostnets) that continue to fish for unwanted species including turtles

• climate change - in 2005 Loggerhead hatchlings at Mon Repos Beach perished beneath the sand where they were practically cooked during the Great Barrier Reef's hottest year on record.

• habitat loss due to coastal development

• boat strike

• increasing artifical light pollution

• by-catch from fisheries

What you can do to help:

There are things that you can do to help our turtles avoid these horrific and unnecessary deaths.

• dispose of all plastic appropriately and reduce its use when possible
• check crab traps regularly
• if boating pick up any discarded fishing gear should you come across it and keep an eye out for slow moving, air breathing animals such as turtles
• stop and investigate if you think you've hit something in your boat. It may be inconvenient but you could save the animal if you act in time
• adopt a gorgeous turtle from Sydney Aquarium and help us continue funding marine conservation work.