A new plan is set to help protect our region’s “ancient mariners’’.
The Sunshine Coast Marine Turtle Conservation Plan has been adopted at Council’s latest meeting.
It includes extensive input from the region’s turtle champions and outlines Council’s plan for the recovery of marine turtle populations on the Sunshine Coast.
To do this, it will take steps to reduce threats to marine turtles, such as light pollution, and strengthen support of the dedicated community volunteer programs – TurtleCare Sunshine Coast and Coolum and North Shore Coast Care.
Council’s Environment and Liveability Portfolio Councillor Peter Cox thanked the community for providing feedback to help protect marine turtles.
“This plan sets us on the right track to help save one of the Sunshine Coast’s most beloved marine animals,” Cr Cox said.
“Generally, the community feedback on the draft plan aligned with Council’s position and had a strong call to address light pollution for turtles.
“By implementing our threatened species management plans, such as this one, we are protecting and enhancing our natural landscapes and its inhabitants and delivering on the Sunshine Coast Environment and Liveability Strategy.”
Actions were added to the plan to address potential threats to turtle populations through willful vegetation damage and disturbance from dogs off-leash.
Cr Cox said Council was already working to protect turtles on the Sunshine Coast.
“It won’t be until 2035 that we will start to see the benefits of our long-term investment in turtle conservation and the amazing annual work of the three turtle citizen science groups within the Sunshine Coast rookery,” Cr Cox said.
“We have the amazing TurtleCare citizen science program keeping a watchful eye on our nesting mothers and hatchlings, with Coolum and North Shore Coast Care in the north and Bribie Island Turtle Trackers in the south.
“There are four light reduction projects underway including a project to retrofit public lighting at Shelly Beach, a turtle lighting co-design for behavior change program, a study into hatchling behaviour and glass tinting and a pilot ‘Trees for Turtles’ planting event.
“Council will also trial a community-led project called TurtleCare Hatchlings to engage the region’s youth in turtle conservation activities.”
A strong partnership across the region led to the plan’s development with Sunshine Coast Council, Councillors, Kabi Kabi First Nation Peoples, Queensland Government, an independent Technical Advisory Panel and community leaders of TurtleCare, Coolum and North Shore Coast Care and Bribie Island Turtle Trackers volunteers all collaborating on the plan.
It supports efforts by the Queensland and Australian governments to stop the decline of marine turtle populations and will guide Council decision making to achieve future conservation and management goals for nesting marine turtles and hatchlings within the Sunshine Coast Local Government Area.
It is particularly focused on the nesting and hatchling success of the critically endangered loggerhead and vulnerable green turtle populations—the two species that arrive every year to lay their eggs on our Sunshine Coast beaches.
Its goal is to support the recovery of self-sustaining populations of marine turtles on the Sunshine Coast by reducing threats, improving habitat quality and strengthening community-based management.
The implementation plan will be reviewed and updated annually.
