By Margaret Maccoll
After record turtle hatchlings last year of 51 nests between Mooloolaba and Noosa Heads, Coolum and North Shore Coast Care this season from November to March recorded only 16 nests.
However group president Leigh Warneminde said 11 years of turtle hatching records had shown them it was not out of the ordinary.
“We’ve had years that are busy then every three or four there’s a quieter year,” she said.
She said turtles take three to five years to fatten up before a season during which they may lay several clutches of eggs.
This season there were five nests at Alexandria Bay and others at Sunshine and Sunrise beaches but none at Peregian Beach and altogether the group recorded 1600 hatchlings.
Leigh said the biggest deterrent for the turtles was light so the quieter beaches bordering National Park and not houses were those targeted by the turtles.
The adult females proved elusive this year, laying their eggs without being spotted so the group were unable to record and tag any of them.
Leigh said the beach erosion that occurred over summer put several nests at risk of being washed away but coast care volunteers came to the rescue by digging up the nests and relocating them further up the beach.
“We are pretty good at it now,” Leigh said. “We go to the Mon Repos (Turtle Centre) to get accredited. We don’t like to relocate them and only do it when we have to. If we hadn’t relocated them we would have lost them.”
Leigh praised the work of volunteers and the many beach walkers who alert them to signs of turtle activity.
In addition to working directly with the turtles the group raise awareness of turtles through education sessions, which is what they will be doing today on World Turtle Day when they talk to a group of scouts at Cooroy.
