FEATURE - Where's Dean been? Australians turn turtle watchers
Date: 16-Aug-02
Country: AUSTRALIA
Author: Paul Tait
Olympic and world champion Thorpe may have left everyone in his wake at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, but back home Dean-watching is all the rage.
Have you seen Dean?
That is the question a local newspaper has been asking its readers in tropical Queensland state since Dean was captured and released in a marine park in Moreton Bay off Brisbane in June.
Queenslanders appear to have taken Dean to heart and have been leaving messages of support on his Web site.
"Swim, Dean, Swim. Don't get captured," urged one reader.
Green turtles are listed as a vulnerable species in Australia and Queensland scientists decided to track the feeding and breeding migration patterns of male turtles, just as similar work has been done on the endangered loggerhead turtle.
Dean is sporting a hi-tech A$5,000 ($2,700) radio transmitter attached to his shell that bounces information off polar-orbiting satellites.
Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) research programme head Dr Col Limpus said Dean is the first of four adult male turtles the agency hopes to tag and track this year.
"They are a species of concern... In eastern Australia, we have indications they are in the early stages of population decline," Limpus told Reuters.
Dean, who is more formally known as Chelonia mydas, has a shell more than 105 cm (41 inches) wide, is likely to be more than 40 years old and is getting ready to breed in the coming southern hemisphere spring.
MYSTERIOUS DEAN
Green turtles are highly migratory but Limpus said little is known about what migration paths they follow. The only reliable information in the past has been gathered from watching turtles nesting in estuaries or inlets, not the open ocean.
"If you don't know where they travel, you're not in a position to identify what...threats they're exposed to while they're migrating," Limpus said.
"In addition, we want to learn some basic biology about male turtles. Males we don't know that much about. Females we know a lot because we can get access to them on the nesting beaches," he said.
Readers are being invited to e-mail the agency or the newspaper to help them plot an accurate chart of Dean's course.
The newspaper's and EPA's Web sites (www.thecouriermail.com.au/dean) and (www.epa.qld.gov.au) also offer a map plotting Dean's course.
Dean spent most of June feeding in Moreton Bay but, on July 10, he surprised Limpus's team and suddenly swam east out of the bay into the Pacific Ocean.
Since then he has crossed Australia's continental shelf, executed a giant loop, then started heading roughly north at about 70 km (43 miles) a day.
Dean was last spotted more than 150 km (93 miles) east of Fraser Island, which is more than 300 km (186 miles) north of Brisbane, and was heading further north.
But Dean's tracker stopped beeping on August 5 and no one has seen Dean since. Limpus said it may be just a flat battery, but there is the possibility of something more sinister.
However, Queensland Environment Minister Dean Wells is confident his namesake will resurface unscathed.
"I've met him. I know how strong he is and what a powerful swimmer he is. His fans shouldn't worry but if anyone sees him we would love to hear from them," Wells said in a statement.
IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN
Limpus said early indications suggested Dean was feeding as he swam in a big circle between Brisbane and Fraser Island - an area where long-line fishing is practised.
"We would not have thought that a turtle like this would be exposed to the potential of picking up baits on long lines," Limpus said.
"Even though it's just one turtle it's already given us a heads-up that maybe we need to step back a little and look a bit more broadly at some of the regional issues, not just local ones," he said.
Other man-made terrors include power boats, rubbish in which he might become entangled or swallow and fishing nets.
Hunting is also a big danger in coastal areas. Abo