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$5000 satellite device to track female green turtle in Moreton Bay
By Natalie Gregg
She's about 35, 184kg, 118cm long and has a few ardent followers.
A female green turtle has just been fitted with a $5000 satellite device to track her movements around Moreton Bay to within a few metres.
Previous tracking devices used were accurate to within about 200m.
She was among 150 sea turtles being captured, tagged and released yesterday by a Department of Environment monitoring team.
Chief scientist Dr Col Limpus said the GPS device will assess if the current "go-slow" zones adequately protect turtles from boats.
"We can now look precisely at where turtles are in relation to our management areas in the bay," he said.
Dr Limpus said the green turtle was chosen because she would be spending her summer in Moreton Bay, rather than heading north to breed, like her loggerhead cousins.
The research will also find out if turtles were still safe when there were blue-green algae or lyngbya blooms during summer.
"So we want to know where the turtles are in relation to the lyngbya blooms and in relation to our go-slow zones, so we can better understand the issues in trying to plan management," Dr Limpus said.
Sustainability Minister Kate Jones joined the scientists yesterday and donned a wetsuit to get up close to the hard-shelled reptiles.
Ms Jones said that before marine parks were established in Moreton Bay about 80 per cent of loggerhead turtles studied had signs of boat injuries but in recent years, go-slow zones have resulted in less than 50 per cent showing signs of a boat-strike.
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