Turtle movements investigated

Research into where Ningaloo’s female turtles go outside of nesting season is being carried out as part of the $5 million Ningaloo Outlook research partnership between the CSIRO and BHP Billiton.

Ningaloo Outlook is a five-year research program looking at deep and reef habitats, and involves tracking marine mega fauna, including turtles.

Satellite tags were attached to two turtles nesting on the beaches of the North West Cape last week, allowing their journeys to be tracked.

CSIRO senior research scientist Tim Vanderklift said the program’s first round of turtle tagging was carried out on resident populations of feeding turtles in May, but this latest tagging focused on nesting turtles.

Mr Vanderklift said the research would mainly focus on green turtles.

“We want to find out the fundamental information about what the turtles do and where they are when they’re not laying eggs, ” he said.

“The research will tell us about risks the turtles encounter in their lives and give us a few insights into how we might improve management.”

Mr Vanderklift said a male turtle tagged in May named Jeff was spotted recently by a kite surfer near the nesting females and was being followed through his tracking data.

University of Western Australia PhD candidate Jessica Stubbs is one of three students who will carry out the research.

Ms Stubbs said there was still a lot to learn about turtles.

“Turtles are so pre-historic looking and I find it really interesting that they’re still around and going strong, ” she said.

“It will be interesting to see if the turtles stick around or if they head outside of the World Heritage area.”

Ms Stubbs has previously spent time studying turtles in the Kimberley as part of her honours degree. Tagged turtles can be followed through website seaturtle.org.