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Sisters Eliza and Amy Brown were walking along Hobart’s waterfront on Thursday evening when they saw something unexpected.
Eliza was keeping an eye out for fish, but instead noticed a turtle.
“It was very surprising, I didn’t expect to see a turtle at all … it was an amazing experience for me,” she said.
Sisters Eliza Amy Brown saw the turtle while walking along Hobart’s Elizabeth Pier. (
ABC News: Maren Preuss
)
Eliza said the turtle was diving and coming up for air before disappearing under the pier.
“I am lucky as only a couple of us got to see it before disappeared’, she said.
Tyson Jones, a marine scientist at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, said it was “not an everyday occurrence” to see turtles in Tasmanian waters.
“So when it happens it generates a lot of interest,” he said.
An official identification of the turtle Eliza saw may take a few days, but experts believe it was a green turtle, a species usually found in warmer waters.
Mr Jones, who is also the sightings manager for Redmap, which aims to map changes in species distribution, said green turtles tended to use the East Australian Current to navigate their migration to breed.
He said there could be many reasons why the turtle ended up in the River Derwent, including that it could be sick or confused and became disorientated from its usual path.
It’s believed the turtle seen by Eliza and Amy Brown is a green turtle, a species usually found in warmer waters. (Supplied: Lynden Brown)
Sightings could become more common
Tyson Jones says climate change means turtle sightings could become more common in Tasmanian waters. (Supplied: UTAS/IMAS )
Mr Jones said the turtle sighting on Thursday was interesting, but not entirely surprising.
He said he expected such sightings would become more common as Tasmanian waters continue to warm.
“I think we are going to progressively see a lot more of these species that we associate with warmer tropical waters starting to occur throughout Tasmania.”
Eliza Brown says seeing the turtle was an “amazing experience”. (
ABC News: Maren Preuss
)
Mr Jones said Tasmanian waters were warming at four times the usual warming rate when compared with other places in Australia.
He said he hoped sightings of species usually found in warmer waters would increase awareness of the impact of climate change.
“I think this may be a bit of a wake-up call to people who might still have their head in the sand when it comes to the potential impacts of the warming climate,” he said.
Anyone who sees a turtle or any other species outside of its known habitat is urged to contact their local wildlife authority, and to take a photograph and log it with Redmap.
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