A WELLINGTON Point man has saved a one-metre long turtle in a two-hour rescue during which he made a sled and pulled the animal into Moreton Bay.
Daniel Vallis and a friend were mud crabbing by hand in mangroves at Wellington Point when they came across the turtle soon after the storms caused by ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie.
The creature – which he estimated weighed 80 to 100 kilograms – was entangled in a crab pot float about 110 metres away from the water.
Mr Vallis, a carpenter by trade, said he often saw dead turtles in the mangroves and was relieved to find one alive.
“The float had been wrapped around its flipper for quite some time,” he said.
The turtle had previously lost its other front flipper, but this had healed.
Mr Vallis said the turtle appeared to have come into the mangroves during the storm and he thought it would be stuck there for some time if it was not rescued.
They tried to phone the Marine Wildlife Strandings Hotline, but when the call went unanswered decided to rescue the turtle.
After cutting off the float and untwisting the flipper, Mr Vallis picked up fibreglass and rope that he had seen in the mangroves to make the sled.
“I was carrying an axe, which I use if a crab latches onto my fingers when I am crabbing, to cut the fibreglass hull.”
Together with his friend, Mr Vallis lifted the turtle on its side and slide the sled underneath it.
“Then I dragged it out to the water. It was probably about 110 metres. The whole rescue took about two hours.”
Mr Vallis said he was concerned afterwards as to whether he had made the right decision.
“I got onto the Environmental Heritage Protection officers and they said what I had done was completely fine,” he said. “More than likely what I did saved it.
“When I got it off the sled, it was dragging itself through the water and I could see it lift its head.”
Mr Vallis said he posted a video of the rescue on Instagram because he wanted people to be aware of the danger crab pots could pose to turtles.
He said he regularly found old crab pots that had been washed into the mangroves.
“If they look old I go and dismantle them and put them up in a tree,” he said. “When I have a whole lot of them, I contact Fisheries Queensland who retrieve them.”
University of Queensland marine biologist Kathy Townsend said a Moreton Bay study had found about 6 per cent of turtles on which necropsies had been performed, had died from being entangled in marine debris, often crab pots.
“Crab pots have become more of an issue in the last decade because they are cheap for people to purchase,” she said.
“Before that people would take care of them and make sure they got them back. Now, they have less value so people are not taking as much care as in the past.”
Dr Townsend said crabbing was good fun and a nice way to get a feed, but some precautions were necessary.
“Crab pots continue fishing even if you’re not.
“If you’re putting pots out there, check them regularly. Make sure that they’re fairly easy for you to find them. If you are not going to check on them for a week or so, pull them up.”
Information about crabbing is available here on the Fisheries Queensland website.
