Flatback Turtles, Cape Domett Western Australia

A project of Flatback turtles: Cape Domett, Western Australia in conjunction with the partners and sponsors detailed below.

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Introduction

This study aims to identify critical inter-nesting, migratory and foraging habitat for a major population of nesting flatback turtles. The flatback turtle population at Cape Domett is one of the largest aggregated nesting populations of flatback turtles, with several thousand turtles nesting annually. The flatback turtles is a listed threatened species and listed migratory species under the Commonwealth EPBC Act 1999, and is under increasing pressure from development associated with expanding oil and gas infrastructure within the Kimberley area in the north-west of Australia.

Cape Domett is located in the Kimberley region of north-western Australia. The main nesting beach is 1.9 km long and located to the east of the Cambridge Gulf.

This tracking is part of a study that will monitor turtle nesting at Cape Domett during regular intervals throughout the peak of the seasons between June and October in 2009 and 2010. The project will look at nesting abundance and threats to the developing eggs.

For more details on the flatback nesting population at Cape Domett, see:

Whiting AU, Thomson A, Chaloupka M and Limpus CJ (2008). Seasonality, abundance and breeding biology of one of the largest populations of nesting flatback turtles, Natator depressus: Cape Domett, Western Australia, Australian Journal of Zoology 56: 297-303.

Project Partners

This project is conducted through a partnership between the Department of Environment and Conservation (Western Australia), Scott Whiting from the Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts (Northern Territory) and Andrea Whiting.

Project Sponsors

This project was funded by the Australian federal government under a Caring for our Country Community Coastcare grant.