STM & GMA MR061009 - Natural habitat essential for MRT

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JOINT MEDIA RELEASE
6 October 2009

Natural habitat essential for Mary River Turtle: Australian Freshwater Turtle day

On Saturday, 3 October, Australian Freshwater Turtle day celebrations stressed that natural habitat is the best way to ensure the survival of unique freshwater turtles like the Mary River turtle.

“If built the proposed Traveston Crossing dam would not provide natural habitat,” said David Kreutz, secretary of the Save the Mary River Coordinating Group. “It will flood areas that are essential for breeding and for the survival of young turtles. The proposed dam is a direct threat to the survival of the Mary River turtle.”

“The Mary River turtle occurs nowhere else in the world, but the Mary River,” explained Darryl Stewart, president of the Greater Mary Association. “A long list of international turtle experts are concerned about the future of the species. After all, the IUCN has listed it amongst the 25 most endangered turtles in the world.”

John Cann, one of Australia’s leading turtle experts has spoken directly with Peter Garrett regarding his fear that the dam would mean the end of the Mary River turtle, a species which Mr Cann first introduced to science in 1994.

Evidence of the impact dams can have on freshwater turtles can be found in Mr Cann’s encyclopedic volume, Australian Freshwater Turtles. The book documents mass starvation of turtles caused by a dam in Victoria in 1990.

“We know that dams can kill turtles,” explained Mr Kreutz. “We’ve seen turtles being crushed and maimed by overtopping of dams and operation of fish transfer devices in other rivers in the region. This is the exact opposite of Queensland Government claims,’ continued Mr Kreutz.

Dr. Gerald Kuchling, who wrote an independent report to inform Minister Garrett’s decision regarding Traveston confirmed the importance of natural habitat for survival of the Mary River Turtle.

Dr Kuchling, who recently received a prestigious award for his turtle conservation work at the International Turtle Symposium in the USA wrote “the Traveston Crossing Dam (TCD) would modify, destroy, remove, isolate and decrease the availability and quality of habitat to the extent that the Mary River Turtle (Elusor macrurus) would be likely to decline.”


Australian Freshwater Turtle Day occurs Saturday 3 October each year and was initiated by the Australian Freshwater Turtle Forum. The celebration this year took place at the Australian Freshwater Turtle Conservation and Research Centre (www.aftcra.org.au).

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Background
Excerpts from Dr Kuchling’s 2008 report which assessed the impact that the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam would have on the Mary River Turtle
http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/notices/assessments/2006/3150/pubs/independent-expert-report-on-the-mary-river-turtle-kuchling.pdf

P20
… the overall nesting population and the total egg production in the TCD area would still be likely to decrease due to changes in the aquatic habitat and drowning of nesting beaches in the impoundment. The usefulness of the relocation of nesting beaches is unknown.

The general focus in the EIS on short-term, reactive mitigation and management techniques distracts from the most critical issue - the maintenance of natural habitat and the provision of an environment in which the long-lived, late-maturing Mary River Turtle (Elusor macrurus) can sustain and complete its entire life cycle.

P21
None of the proposed mitigation measures would ensure that the area of the impoundment could remain the significant breeding and juvenile recruitment area of E. macrurus it represents today.

The net outcome of captive breeding and headstarting programs for E. macrurus in the planned Freshwater Species Conservation Centre would unlikely be beneficial for the conservation status of Elusor macrurus in the wild since it would dependent on the construction of the TCD which would heavily impact on the best remaining E. macrurus population and which would eliminate the majority of the best remaining juvenile habitat in the Mary River.

According to EIS… nesting sites in the immediate area of the dam (48.5%) would be totally inundated by the storage and another 3 (4.5%) would be partially inundated. This would likely cause a disruption of the breeding cycle of about 50% of the population in the area. Mitigation measures like nesting bank relocations are unlikely to fully compensate for this loss.

The TCD would modify, destroy, remove, isolate and decrease the availability and quality of habitat to the extent that Elusor macrurus would be likely to decline... All available data indicate that the current population in the TCD project area has the highest density of individuals of any E. macrurus population in the world and has a high proportion of juveniles (EES 2007). According to the current knowledge of E. macrurus populations, any decline of the population in the TCD area through impacts on its habitat will quite likely also lead to a decline of the E. macrurus population.


Source of Pictures: http://www.aftcra.org.au/userfiles/file/pdf_files/Save%20the%20Mary%20River%20turtle/Effects%20of%20water%20Infrastructure%20on%20FWT's.pdf

These photos were taken by employees of Queensland Government departments surveying the Burnett and Kolan Rivers.