Queensland: Hervey Bay nesting turtles
A project of LMRL&CCG (Inc.) Volunteers in conjunction with the partners and sponsors detailed below.
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| Name | Species | Life Stage | Release Date | Last Location | Days Transmitted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cc No.1 - K71517 Frances | Loggerhead | Nesting adult | 2018-12-20 | 2021-01-19 | 761 |
| Cc No.2 - K96882 Shirley | Loggerhead | Nesting Adult | 2019-12-15 | 2020-03-20 | 96 |
Click on an animal's name for maps and more information.
Introduction
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Before it was taken from them by British colonization of Queensland in the mid 1800's, the land and waters now part of Hervey Bay were owned and used for millennia by the Butchulla Aboriginal people.
One of their enterprises included the construction and manipulation of elaborate stone walled tidal fish traps, and the harvest from these included sea turtles.
On 13th December 2019 the Butchulla people received official Australian Federal Court recognition of their Native Title Claim over land including Hervey Bay, following recognition of nearby K'gari (Fraser Island) in 2014.
Urbanized Hervey Bay - today's busy city began as a string of small holiday villages, which merged into one long foreshore township after WW2.
Little was known to the new European population of its nesting loggerhead and green turtles.
By the 1980's it was a city, and nests were being dug by dogs and foxes, and lights from the streets and houses were confusing the emerging hatchlings, drawing them inland, and they were being found dead from exhaustion in the street gutters.
The Local Councils for the last 2 decades have had a turtle friendly management program to provide a darker beach: including foreshore tree planting, installing low intensity sodium vapor and amber street lights along the foreshore roads and parks, and a fox den location and elimination program. The turtles have benefited from better Council domestic animal management, which means that now very few dogs stray from their yards.
The turtle nest monitoring program has been run since 2002 by the Lower Mary River Land and Catchment Care Group (Landcare).
Under supervision of team leaders Lesley & Don Bradley, trained at the Queensland Parks & Wildlife Service's "Mon Repos Turtle Conservation Centre", volunteers check the beach in the early morning, and collect data on attempted and successful nesting.
Successful nests are relocated further up the beach if necessary, marked, protected with aluminium mesh, and then monitored regularly for the duration of their incubation period, for depredation by foxes and un-managed dogs, loss to storm tides, and interference by community members.
After emergence the nests are dug up and shell counts are made to establish hatching success percentages.
Project Partners
Hervey Bay Turtle Volunteers, of the Lower Mary River Land and Catchment Care Group Inc. (LMRL&CCG Inc - Landcare).
Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee (MRCCC - Landcare)
Fraser Coast Regional Council
Burnett Mary Regional Group for Natural Resource Management.
Queensland Parks & Wildlife, Great Sandy Marine Park.
Queensland Turtle Conservation Research Program: Aquatic Threatened Species Unit, (Department of Environment & Science).
