Impacts on marine turtles - The Great Barrier Reef: An Environmental History - page 88

stocked with juvenile turtles collected from wild nests. On the reefs, the turtles
were contained in permanent concrete pools measuring between 6 and 12 feet
square. The collection of baby turtles proved to be difficult due to the natural
variability of turtle egg-laying. Nonetheless, a large number of wild turtle eggs
were collected and transported to the turtle farms, and wild turtles were also
taken directly from the sea. One Murray Island turtle farmer, after collecting wild
green turtle eggs in August 1971, obtained 181 healthy baby turtles for her farm.
At Mornington Island, Bustard reported that one turtle farmer had caught many
turtles (and dugongs), and that another farmer already had 25 green turtles . 23
Bustard described a turtle egg collecting trip as follows:
On 13th March 1972 the Darnley Island turtle scheme chartered the Ina in
order to visit Bramble Cay and collect this year's crop of hatchling turtles
for the turtle farmers. We arranged to arrive at Bramble Cay in the early
afternoon so that we could detect nests about to hatch and dig up the
hatchlings. Baby turtles break out of their egg shells several days before they
emerge on the sand surface. The baby turtles take up less space in the sand
than the round eggs which do not pack closely together. This means that
after hatching the sand in the neck of the nest falls down slightly so there is
a small hollow. One can soon learn to detect these and dig straight down to
the hatchlings which are making their way through the sand to the surface.
In this way we secured over 500 baby turtles before darkness. [...] After dark
we maintained constant patrols of all the beaches using pressure lamps and
by 1.00am when the bulk of the hatchlings had emerged we had over 2000.
[…] By the time we left shortly after dawn our total take of turtles had grown
to slightly over 2500 baby green turtles . 24
Therefore, the activities of the turtle farmers at Bramble Cay, during that season,
resulted in considerable depletion of hatchlings.
Scientific knowledge developed alongside the commercial development of
the turtle farms. At Long Island, for example, the first recorded nesting rookery
for the hawksbill turtle in Australian waters was discovered. By 1972, the total
number of turtles in the farms was between 5,000 and 6,000, with a target for
the end of that year of between 12,000 and 15,000 turtle s. 25 By April 1972,
however, the first indications appeared that turtle farming was not taking place
in conditions that promoted the survival of the animals, with outbreaks of fungal
infection in captive turtles being reported. Since many turtles died in captivity,
each farmer was required to hold more than 250 animals, and efforts to collect
wild turtles to stock the farms increased. By May 1972, the problem of excessive
mortality of turtles in captivity had become a significant issue for the turtle
farming schemes . 26 Yet by that time the turtle farms had become well-established:
both green and hawksbill turtles were farmed for the curios trade; a company had
been formed - A. and I. Products Pty Ltd - to market the products; turtle farms
had been established at Warraber, Yorke, Kubin and Mabuiag Islands; and turtle