Mass Turtle Deaths on Great Barrier Reef Have Scientists Worried

(NewsCore) - Scientists were struggling Monday to understand why the northern coast of Queensland has become littered with sick and dying turtles and dugongs.

More than 400 bodies have been discovered along the coastline near the Great Barrier Reef, and experts believe hundreds more animals could have perished in remote areas or simply sunk to the bottom of the sea.

"The bodies we are finding are just the tip of the iceberg," Ellen Ariel, a virologist with the James Cook University in Queensland, said. "We are only finding the bodies because they appear on beaches where people are walking but there will be many others in places no one can access."

Ariel, who attended an emergency summit in Townsville on Friday to discuss the deaths, called the situation "an environmental disaster."

Experts think the fatalities could be the result of extreme weather in northern Australia. Devastating floods in December and January, and a cyclone in February, caused a runoff of nutrients into the ocean, potentially killing the seagrass that both turtles and dugongs -- or "sea cows" -- feed on. The grass provides nutrients and improves the animals' ability to breath underwater.

"There is evidence that marine animals, including turtles, are suffering from poor nutrition because of a lack of seagrass," Vicky Darling, the Queensland Environment Minister, said.

Ariel said the impact on the turtle population was potentially as severe as the devastation to marine life caused by an oil spill. "If this is taking out a whole generation of juvenile turtles you won't have a new population for 60 years," she said. "It's really dramatic. It's right up there with the oil spills in the US."

The Townsville turtle hospital was at full capacity Monday, and James Cook University set up a rehabilitation center for sick sea life.