11-03-2025
Local Aussie captures ‘shocking' act at popular tourist spot
WARNING — GRAPHIC CONTENT: Brutal drone footage of a high-speed collision off a popular Aussie tourist island has brought attention to a devastating and growing threat in our waters. On Saturday morning, Daina Clark went for a wander around West Point, on Queensland's Magnetic Island, to browse for playful marine creatures in the nearby reefs.
Just moments after launching her drone, the local woman told Yahoo News Australia she saw the area was teeming with life. 'I deliberately went out to see what I could find. I saw a swag of dugongs and a whole host of turtles,' the founder of Destination Adventure recalled.
As Daina admired the creatures on the screen, the blissful moment was quickly dashed when a boat travelling at a high rate of speed suddenly cut across the shallow water, running over a turtle that had come up for air.
'It shocked me. I wasn't expecting it either, like the poor turtle — it was going extremely fast,' she said of the boat.
'It's shallow waters there…it's a sea grass area so I saw about 12 turtles and the next minute the boat just came through.'
Footage shows the endangered animal frantically trying to paddle away from the vessel in the seconds before the collision. The turtle, whose condition is unknown, appears to disappear as the boat speeds away.
Daina said she 'tried hard' to search for the injured creature but was unsuccessful, and flagged the incident with the Magnetic Island Network for Turtles.
'I spent about 10 minutes looking to see if I could find the turtle, and I couldn't. Not really sure what happened to it unfortunately.'
While the local has worked with the rescue group to tend to turtles that have been hit by boats or slashed by their propellers, she had never witnessed an incident firsthand like this.
Daina said after some consideration she decided to post the confronting footage online to urge others to 'do better'.
'It's really about trying to protect our wildlife and just being a bit more careful…keep to the deeper water channels, avoid driving through shallow water, have someone spotting,' she told Yahoo.
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Boat strikes pose a serious threat to marine life in Australia, with species like turtles, dolphins, dugongs, and whales frequently injured or killed by vessel collisions.
Simon Miller, senior campaigner for the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS), told Yahoo News 'severe injuries and deaths from boat strikes are one of the biggest threats to some of our most iconic marine wildlife'.
'There's no publicly available data on trends of boat and propeller strikes, but with the population of Queensland increasing and more and more people spending time on the water there is an increasing risk to our threatened species.'
As boat traffic increases, particularly in coastal and estuarine waters, the risk to these animals has continued to grow, especially in areas where they surface to breathe or feed. Sea turtles are particularly vulnerable due to their slow movements and need to surface regularly for air.
In December, graphic photos emerged of a turtle that was hit by a propellor in Noosa. The animal did not survive. Last month, a Sydney jet skier shared footage of a severely injured seal, which was believed to have been struck by a propeller.
Miller urged 'all ocean users' to take responsibility 'to protect these iconic species and do everything possible to reduce the risk we pose to them'.
'Going slow in shallow inshore environments and key habitats for turtles, like seagrass beds and around coral reefs, ensures that wildlife can be spotted and avoided to prevent boat strike injuries,' he said.
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