Turtle Friendly Climate Resilient Coastlines

Removal of invasive weeds to promote turtle nesting.

Customer:

Great Barrier Reef Foundation and Australian Government Reef Trust

Service Classification/s:

Location:

Townsville, QLD

Overview:

Turtle Nesting season is in full swing on Magnetic Island and we are starting to see all our hard work pay off.

How do we help make Nelly Bay, Magnetic Island friendly to nesting turtles you may ask? Our first priority was to remove the weeds such as siratro, which not only prevent turtle nesting, but  inhibit native plant species that protect turtle nesting grounds.

The weed Siratro (Macroptilium atropurpureum) can be found all along our coastlines with its small leaves and long carrot like roots, which are often clustered together.  The siratro roots are very thick and we have found them as deep at 80cm, creating a real obstacle for a turtle trying to dig her nest. We have bent all of our metal weeding tools trying to remove these weeds, so what chance does a poor turtle have! When digging a nest, the turtles find it impossible to break through ground infested with Siratro, causing the turtle to abandon their work and move to another location and start the process again.

Removal of the siratro made way for native, turtle friendly plant species to thrive. Native species such as beach morning glory (Ipomea pes-caprae) and bird’s beak grass (Thuarea involute), are vital in stabilising sand and protecting our foredunes. Ipomea provides many benefits to turtle nesting sites: the luscious thick leaves shade the sand, and their fine roots are easily broken by the turtles when digging their nests.

Outcomes:

Not long after we started removing the Siratro, turtles started coming up to nest. In total, 8 turtles successfully nested in the areas where we had removed the siratro, with 100% hatchling survival. So far Magnetic Island has recorded 14 nests on the island this year, 12 of which were located at Nelly Bay.

 

 

This project is a community initiative led by Envite Environment in collaboration with MINT (Magnetic Island Network for Turtles), Townsville City Council and Queensland Parks and Wildlife. It is funded by the partnership between the Australia Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation under the Climate Accelerator Grant and also supported by Port of Townsville Limited.