Two weeks ago Coolum and North Shore Coast Care members were on Peregian Beach debating whether to move a freshly laid clutch of turtle eggs to higher ground after morning beach walkers alerted them to overnight turtle tracks.
The association has a dedicated group of trained volunteers who monitor the turtles during the nesting season along the Sunshine Coast between November and March and an army of beach walkers notify the group when the see the telltale turtle tracks on their morning walks.
Group president Leigh Warneminde said the Peregian Beach nest, the 18th laid on the Sunshine and Noosa coasts this season would be left intact but carefully watched.
There’s a window of two hours after being laid that it’s safe to move them and they need to be moved without being rotated, otherwise it’s safer to leave them for three weeks, she said.
“We’ve checked the swell and the tides. We think it’s high enough,” Leigh said.
“If it looks like it’ll be inundated with water we’ll move them.
“It’s much less stressful knowing they’re up higher if the weather changes.
Earlier in the season we had turtles laying really down low so it was a no-brainer, we had to move them.”
Leigh said the eggs which are generally buried about 60cm deep could survive the sand above them being washed by salt water but not sitting in it.
“The hatchlings expire through the shell. If they’re under water they’ll drown,” she said.
“If you’re worried about water inundation, I normally get 2m to side and dig a hole down and if you’ve got water seeping in the bottom you do need to move them.”
Last Saturday marked the 10th anniversary of the annual Clean Up for the Hatchlings event, clearing the path of litter for turtle hatchlings.
Over the past decade more than 250,000 pieces of litter has been removed from Sunshine Coast beaches at a critical time during turtle nesting season.
The event attended by community members was organised through a partnership between Sunshine Coast Council, Reef Check Australia, Unitywater, SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast Aquarium and Noosa Council.
