Nest to Ocean Program
Overview
The Nest to Ocean Turtle Protection Program undertakes predator control and turtle nest monitoring activities across 43 beaches covering 564km of the Queensland coastline.
Since its inception, the program has contributed to:
- over 45,000 turtle nests monitored
- removal of 38,206 feral pigs
- direct protection of 567 nests
- fumigation of 476 fox dens.
Targets
- Priority marine turtle nesting sites in coastal Queensland will achieve a minimum successful hatching rate of 70% clutches laid (for each species over an annual reporting cycle), contributing to a sustainable marine turtle population and, in turn, contributing to the Outstanding Universal Values of the Great Barrier Reef.
Outcomes
- Across the combined projects, 40,467 turtle nests survived predation (90% of monitored nests) and produced hatchlings (1.45 million)
- All projects included the involvement or implementation by Traditional Owner groups, mainly through the Indigenous Land and Sea Rangers or community groups
- 188 Indigenous Land and Sea Rangers, who undertook predator control and nest monitoring, have supported the program since its inception.
Turtles in Cape York
Studies of turtle nesting on Cape York in the late 1970s and early 1980s showed that feral pigs were responsible for predation of more than 70% of turtle nests. This program has dramatically improved turtle hatchling survival in the past ten years.
The northwestern Cape York supports small nesting aggregations of nesting Olive Ridley turtles, listed as Endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) and Nature Conservation Act 1992 (Qld).
For multiple decades, the species has experienced greater than 90% nest predation at some beaches and is also heavily impacted by ghost nets in the Arafura-Timor Seas and the Gulf of Carpentaria. As a result, Olive Ridley turtle populations in the northwestern Cape York has significantly declined.
The area also supports significant numbers of flatback turtles, which have also declined moderately. Since 2014, Indigenous Land and Sea Ranger teams have consistently reduced predation levels to less than 30% by undertaking strategic predator measures, including specific timing of intervention at targeted locations across all project sites.