1 Million Turtles

Baby Turtles Released As Part Of Murray Tracking Program

In November 2018 a small group of residents from the Riverglades community in SA assisted Claudia Sontori, a PhD student from the University of Western Sydney, to collect turtle eggs from six different mother turtles.  They successfully collected over 150 eggs which were then carefully transported to Sydney for incubation and then brought back to SA to be hatched in January 2019. After the turtles had hatched, a disparate band of approximately 20 residents, along with media representatives from the ABC and Murray Valley Standard, were on hand to take part in the release of approximately 100 Murray River Short neck turtle hatchlings.

As part of Claudia’s research (picture below with Riverglades residents) some of the hatchlings were fitted with transmitters that enable the turtles to be tracked for approximately 2-3 weeks until the batteries in the tracking devices die. Preliminary findings show that the baby turtles are keen swimmers having swum much further than anticipated (one end of the swamp to the other) in just one day. We’re guessing there must be a suitable area for the hatchlings for the majority of them to have all gone to the same area.

Talking to some of the residents of the Riverglades area, they were concerned that there didn’t seem to be as many nests in the area over this last breeding season compared to the 2017/18 summer where there had been approx. 100 nests within the Riverglades wetlands. There is some debate regarding what might have caused this.  Did the weather have something to do with it? the deaths of mother turtles or some other reason?

Turtles prefer to lay their eggs during or shortly after a good rain and 2018 did not bring well-timed rain that would suit the nesting turtles. Additionally, even though Riverglades can be considered a built-up residential area there are still foxes present that attack the turtles or their nests. One resident found a turtle nest that had been partially attacked. She covered it, hoping to protect the remaining eggs which were still in the nest.

Helping Murray River Turtles Fight Back

Despite severe declining numbers, one of Australia’s favourite animals, the Murray River Turtle, are fighting back from the brink of extinction. Murray River turtles have declined by 90% in the last 40 years and in some areas of Australia, are extinct. The turtles are declining at an alarming rate and unless action is taken the entire population could be wiped out. The Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife (FNPW) is currently working with Western Sydney University’s Dr Ricky Spencer and his team to implement a solution that will help save this unique national species.

The Murray River Turtle population decline is due to a number of contributing factors such as car accidents and loss of food sources. However, the biggest threat to this species are predators which mainly consist of foxes. In some areas foxes are destroying between 90% -100% of the turtle eggs each year. What this means is, essentially, there are no new generations of turtles to continue the population. Despite previous attempts to eradicate foxes in those areas, the problem continues as any remaining foxes can do most of the damage.

According to Dr Spencer, the problem is spreading up the Murray river and it is only getting worse. “Every few years we survey 50-100 sites throughout the Murray river to check on the turtle population and track the numbers. We have worked out that some areas are not finding any turtles in an area where they should be or have been previously. In South Australia, we are seeing locally extinct populations and we are starting to see it further up the river into NSW and VIC. Something needs to be done now. Unfortunately, in Australia we usually have to wait for animals to become endangered before any action is taken and by then it is too late.”

Over the past four years, FNPW has been working with Dr Spencer on the Murray River Turtle Project to identify the scale of the problem and the steps that need to be taken to reduce it. The dedicated team hopes to raise enough funds to implement a variety of projects to increase the population of the species. These include:

• Artificial islands – these islands (created by modular water purifying floating devices) will create a protected habitat for nesting turtles, safe from predators such as foxes. These islands can be used to protect other species also.
• Breeding grounds – utilising areas like key wetlands that can become refuges and nurseries for the turtles and aid in repopulating the species in the wild
• Schools – creating school programs to help breed turtles
• Fox managements techniques – including fences, fox boxes and traps.

“The Murray River Turtles are an iconic Australian animal and we are working to get these projects off the ground. We need to solve the issue before they really become endangered. Once we receive the funding the projects will be implemented straight away and we should see a result once nesting begins in November. We are looking to release thousands of extra baby turtles into these populations, once the fox population has been removed, and hopefully not only see the emerging baby population survive, but thrive” says Ian Darbyshire, CEO of FNPW.