Paddy the green turtle spends winter in South Australian waters, defying 'natural

Paddy the green turtle spends winter in South Australian waters, defying 'natural history books'

An endangered green turtle that was rescued from Middleton Beach in early 2023 has surprised experts by being the first known hard-shelled marine turtle to spend winter in South Australian waters.

Key points:
Paddy the green turtle has been tracked since being released in April
She spent the coldest part of winter at the top of Spencer Gulf
She is the first green turtle known to have spent winter in SA waters
Paddy the green turtle was found tangled and sick in an overwhelming amount of seaweed at the beach 80 kilometres' south of Adelaide in March.

After being cared for by Zoos SA in Adelaide, Paddy was released at Rapid Bay on the Fleurieu Peninsula in April with a satellite tracker attached.

It was initially thought she would return to warmer waters off Queensland or Western Australia but instead she travelled around Gulf Saint Vincent and then into Spencer Gulf.

Tracker data showed that she spent the coldest part of winter at Port Augusta, in between the two bridges of the town where good sea grass patches could be found.

Aub Strydom, who placed the tracker on Paddy and watched her travels with interest, said her winter stay had "rewritten the natural history books".

As a volunteer turtle tracker for more than 30 years, he was a little concerned when he saw the water temperature at Port Augusta drop to 8.2 degrees Celsius in July, knowing green turtles could not usually survive at temperatures of less than 8C.

As the water began to warm up and Paddy started to move south, Mr Strydom thought she was finally going to make a move to the west or east coasts but instead she turned again and was currently in waters near Whyalla.

"She tootles along, spends a week or so in each place," he said.

While the battery in Paddy's tracker could last up to three years, marine growth often caused issues with trackers' circuit breakers.

Mr Strydom said there was also the risk that the tracker could be lost at any time as turtles tended to shed scutes — the scales of their shell — every 18 months or so.

Is warmer water driving turtles south?
Deakin University turtle researcher Dr Jared Tromp has also been fascinated by Paddy's movement around SA waters.

"It is an unusual case, that one is here [in SA] and happy and swimming around," he said.

Dr Tromp agreed that, to his knowledge, this was the first time a hard-shelled marine turtle had been tracked in SA waters over winter.

"It will be interesting to see if [Paddy] was able to make it back to its nesting grounds or foraging grounds back up further north," he said.
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Paddy the green turtle spends winter in South Australian waters, defying 'natural history books'
ABC South East SA / By Caroline Horn
Posted 7h ago7 hours ago, updated 6h ago6 hours ago
A large marine turtle in seaweed
Paddy was rescued from seaweed at Middleton Beach in March.(ABC News: Caroline Horn)
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An endangered green turtle that was rescued from Middleton Beach in early 2023 has surprised experts by being the first known hard-shelled marine turtle to spend winter in South Australian waters.

Key points:
Paddy the green turtle has been tracked since being released in April
She spent the coldest part of winter at the top of Spencer Gulf
She is the first green turtle known to have spent winter in SA waters
Paddy the green turtle was found tangled and sick in an overwhelming amount of seaweed at the beach 80 kilometres' south of Adelaide in March.

After being cared for by Zoos SA in Adelaide, Paddy was released at Rapid Bay on the Fleurieu Peninsula in April with a satellite tracker attached.

It was initially thought she would return to warmer waters off Queensland or Western Australia but instead she travelled around Gulf Saint Vincent and then into Spencer Gulf.

A map of South Australia showing a tracker line where the turtle has been

Tracker data showed that she spent the coldest part of winter at Port Augusta, in between the two bridges of the town where good sea grass patches could be found.

Aub Strydom, who placed the tracker on Paddy and watched her travels with interest, said her winter stay had "rewritten the natural history books".

As a volunteer turtle tracker for more than 30 years, he was a little concerned when he saw the water temperature at Port Augusta drop to 8.2 degrees Celsius in July, knowing green turtles could not usually survive at temperatures of less than 8C.

As the water began to warm up and Paddy started to move south, Mr Strydom thought she was finally going to make a move to the west or east coasts but instead she turned again and was currently in waters near Whyalla.

"She tootles along, spends a week or so in each place," he said.

"I think she's here because she wants to be."

Middleton's green turtle is released into the sea at Rapid Bay.(Zoos SA)
While the battery in Paddy's tracker could last up to three years, marine growth often caused issues with trackers' circuit breakers.

Mr Strydom said there was also the risk that the tracker could be lost at any time as turtles tended to shed scutes — the scales of their shell — every 18 months or so.

Is warmer water driving turtles south?
Deakin University turtle researcher Dr Jared Tromp has also been fascinated by Paddy's movement around SA waters.

"It is an unusual case, that one is here [in SA] and happy and swimming around," he said.

Dr Tromp agreed that, to his knowledge, this was the first time a hard-shelled marine turtle had been tracked in SA waters over winter.

"It will be interesting to see if [Paddy] was able to make it back to its nesting grounds or foraging grounds back up further north," he said.

Leatherback turtle on the beach with a satellite tracker on back on a beach

Dr Tromp has been studying the historical records from databases and old newspaper clippings of marine turtle sightings along the southern coasts of Australia to find sightings of turtles on beaches.

He hopes to get funding for a citizen science project to try and encourage people to log sightings of marine turtles off the Victorian and SA coasts, in particular, of the leatherback turtle.

"In my experience, not many people have heard of a leatherback turtle, or aware they are down here [off the southern coasts], but it's actually a hotspot for them to forage," Dr Tromp said.

He said historical records showed they had been seen in the past in both Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent.

"There are a number of fisherman that have seen them," Dr Tromp said.

'Will we be seeing more?'
He said some of the key questions scientists were keen to answer was the impact climate change was having on turtle movements.

"As water temperatures are getting warmer, will we be seeing more occurrences of these turtles?

"It's too early to tell at the moment but, certainly in the next few decades, we might see more turtles coming down to our southern shores."

He said people seeing marine turtles could log sightings at the Australian living atlas.

DNA testing carried out while Paddy was in the care of Zoos SA showed that she was related to the majority of female turtles in the Southern Great Barrier Reef, with relatives in New Caledonia and the Seychelles.

Paddy's progress can be tracked at seaturtle.org.