Coast carers reported their most successful turtle hatching season this year as well as the first recorded turtle egg laying on Noosa Main Beach and a record egg laying for an individual turtle.
On World Turtle Day on Tuesday 23 May, the Coolum and North Shore Coast Carers highlighted their successful monitoring season and the role beach walkers play in their data collecting.
“The beach walkers alert us to the turtles. Without them we wouldn’t know about so many,” she said.
Coast carers spokeswoman Sherida Holford said there had been 27 loggerhead hatchings and one green turtle hatching along the beaches from Noosa Main Beach to Maroochydore North Shore.
Turtles lay an average of 130 eggs but one loggerhead laid an astounding 196 eggs at North Peregian. The carers keep a check on the nests and after 60 days monitor them morning and night for hatchlings. They counted 3009 hatchings for the season which runs from mid-November to mid-March.
The group have collated their data and updated it to the Queensland Marine Turtle database for use for scientific research.
– Margaret Maccoll
