Endangered sea turtle snared by Auckland fisherman

Monday, 11 May 2015

This turtle is no stranger to Auckland. He was washed up at Karekare Beach in 2011.

An endangered sea turtle is in 'good spirits' after being caught by a fisherman in South Auckland.

The male green turtle, called Nebs, was snared by a hand line at the Mangere Bridge boat ramp just before 8am on Monday.

The team at Auckland Zoo give G3 the turtle a check up.

Department of Conservation spokesman Nick Hirst said it was picked up by rangers at about 10am.

From there it was taken to Kelly Tarlton's and then to Auckland Zoo for a check-up.

An endangered green turtle fished up at Mangere Bridge is at Auckland Zoo and doing well.

Zoo veterinarian Sarah Alexander said the turtle is doing very well and did not require surgery.

'When it came in here it was really just for a check up that when it was being brought into the shore by the fishing line it didn't swallow any water or anything like that. We've taken some blood as well and so far everything's looking pretty normal.'

Alexander said the hook had not injured the turtle and he seemed to be in good spirits.

'Normally when we get them in they've been washed up on the beach because they're sick so they're quite lethargic. With this one, trying to get it to stay still for x-rays is a bit of a challenge.'

The turtle, a juvenile, is in 'fairly good' body condition but will be returned to Kelly Tarlton's to gain weight before being released back into the ocean, either at the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve or Kermadec Island, she said.

This is not the first time the aquarium has come in contact with the turtle.

He first came there in August 2011 after being washed up on Karekare Beach in west Auckland.

'It stayed at Kelly Tarlton's for quite a while because it had cold shock and various gut impactions. At one point it passed a 15cm length of rope. It had obviously been eating things that had not quite been meant for it,' Alexander said.

The aquarium fitted the turtle with a satellite tracking device before releasing him in early 2013.

The tracker consists of a small box and an antenna and is affixed to the shell with marine epoxy, a strong, waterproof glue.

It sends a message to a satellite every time the turtle comes to the surface to breathe and is used to track migratory patterns.

The tracker showed the turtle spent the winter after his release in the Bay of Islands.

The last transmission put him near the Poor Knights Islands in July 2014.

'We haven't had any transmissions since then. Sometimes the transmitters stop working over time,' Alexander said.

The turtle is also sporting flipper tags which have a unique identifying number and are easily attached, Te Papa's curator of vertebrates Colin Miskelly said.

'They'd have a special pair of pliers that would just clip it through the skin at the back of the flipper.'

Green turtles are one of five species of turtle that swim in in New Zealand waters, Miskelly said.

'Of those five the green turtle is the one that turns up most often.'

All five species are classed as endangered.

Kelly Tarlton's spokeswoman Susie Thomson refused to comment.

Other turtle encounters

Nebs, the turtle caught at the Mangere Bridge boat ramp, isn't the first to turn up in New Zealand in recent years.

April 2015 - A monster 2.3m-long leatherback turtle washed up dead on the beach at Marlborough's Pelorus Sound. This titan of the turtle world, which weighed 350 kilograms, was left to rot because its body was too big to transport.

November 2014 - A female green turtle almost caught her death of cold after washing up at Waitarere Beach near Levin, far south of the turtles' usual range. The turtle's carers at Wildbase Hospital in Palmerston North warmed her up by putting her in a plastic paddling pool filled with warm water. She was flown up to Kelly Tarlton's in Auckland, where she was looked after until she was old enough to be released into the wild.

October 2014 - Another green turtle was found by children camping at Wenderholm Regional Park, Auckland, in October last year. The male juvenile, which was underweight and unhealthy, was cared for at Auckland Zoo's New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine.

2011 - A particularly big year for turtle rescues. Kelly Tarlton's dealt with about 14 animals over the course of the year, including Nebs himself, which were found on beaches in Auckland and Northland.