Coolum and North Shore Care volunteers have worked prior to Cyclone Alfred’s arrival and as sand dunes have been eroded along Sunshine Coast eastern beaches to safeguard turtle nests by moving them from low lying positions to higher locations.
Organisation president Leigh Warneminde said about 10-15 nests which were all the nests remaining for the season, had been relocated, some more than once.
After a beach walker noticed turtle eggs had become exposed by erosion of a sand dune at Peregian Beach last Thursday the group was contacted and members raced to the site to relocate the nest, that one for a second time.
Leigh said the safety of their volunteers was paramount, with the nests relocated at low tide to make sure everybody was safe.
The coast had witnessed a larger than normal nesting season with about 42 nests along the Sunshine Coast and Noosa beaches.
Fortunately more than half had already run before the cyclone threatened but some remain at Yaroomba, Coolum, Sunrise and Sunshine beaches, she said.
Leigh has urged people walking the beaches to pick up rubbish including plastics that has been washed up on the beaches to assist the hatchlings on their path to the ocean.
