Media release – Tuesday 24th January 2006
kelly howlett
Chairperson
Care For Hedland Environmental Group
po box 436, port hedland (mob) 04399 41431
Strong Indicators For A Bumper Flatback Turtle Nesting Season
The Care For Hedland Environmental Group, in conjunction with World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) and Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) have been conducting monitoring of turtle nesting activities along Cemetery Beach and Pretty Pool Beach since this season’s Flatback turtle nesting season began at the end of October 2005.
The Program for Cemetery Beach is a part of a wider marine turtle-monitoring program that extends from Shark Bay to the Kimberley.
The monitoring methods used on Cemetery Beach and Pretty Pool Beach are those that have been drawn from the successful Ningaloo Community Turtle Monitoring Program, which has been running effectively, and formally for the past four seasons. A track identification method is used to determine the distribution and abundance of marine turtles during nesting. This is a non-invasive approach that allows for a high level of community involvement. It also allows for the documentation of successful nests and any apparent disturbance such as lighting or human disturbance such as off road vehicles and inappropriate turtle interactions.
Currently, nest monitoring on the beach indicates that Flatback turtle activity has now passed its peak month of December and this has provided a good opportunity for some preliminary analysis of the data that has been collected so far.
This is the second year that turtle monitoring has taken place along Cemetery Beach and the first time for formal collection of data at Pretty Pool Beach and from preliminary analysis of the data, it has shown that again Cemetery Beach is shaping to be one of the state’s more significant Flatback turtle (Natator depressus) main land rookeries.
This season to date there has been 1179 turtle activities recorded on Cemetery Beach in 2005/2006 - 692 recorded nest attempts and 487 false crawls. This compares with the same period last year of 692 turtle activities recorded on Cemetery Beach in 2005 - 362 recorded nest attempts and 330 false crawls. Pretty Pool Beach however has only had 158 recorded turtle activities - 128 recorded nest attempts and 30 false crawls.
Also to date there has been 81 adult and junior volunteers that have taken part in the collection of turtle monitoring data. This compares with 45 adult and junior volunteers in 2004/2005. To date 844 volunteer hours have been expended collecting the beach data, 271 hours at Cemetery Beach and 85 at Pretty Pool Beach. This compares with 650 hours that were expended in 2004/2005.
Comparatively speaking there has also been a reduction this year in the number of false crawls that have been recorded, less being noted than for the same period last year, despite the increased level of activity.
A false crawl is when a turtle comes up on the beach and does not lay any eggs. False crawls are a natural phenomena, and can be attributed to inexperience of the turtle, unfavourable nesting conditions/impediments, but can also be caused by human disturbance to the turtle as she comes up to nest. Generally it is found that for every three nests there tends to be one false crawl.
Though the notable reduction in the number of false crawls observed could be attributed to a number of possible factors including the underlying groundwater levels, retained sand moisture from rainfall events that took place mid year and the actual turtles themselves that have been coming up. This observation could also be a positive indicator for the level of awareness and education that has taken place within the local and visitor community to make sure that beach goers are aware of the “code of conduct” for viewing nesting turtles and steps that can be used to minimise impact and possible disturbance to turtles while nesting.
The first hatchlings for this season were recorded at Pretty Pool Beach on Saturday 3rd December 2005. This is a real positive as monitoring results from last year indicated that no hatchlings made it to the water in 2004/2005 from Pretty Pool Beach. This was attributed to recreational vehicle activity (nests being directly destroyed or hatchlings being caught in wheel ruts and unable to make their way to the water) and the observation of foxes that move into the area at hatchling time. The first hatchlings recorded at Cemetery Beach were on Tuesday 6th December 2005.
Though this seems like a lot of turtles our local beaches, it has to be considered that Flatback turtles do not nest every year. When they do, Flatback turtles only nest every 2-4 years. On the years when they do nest, they lay up to three clutches in the season. They come up usually a fortnight apart to carry out the separate nesting attempts, thereby coinciding with favourable tide heights and moon phases. Therefore taking this into consideration, from the number of nests it can be considered so far this season that approximately 110-160 Flatback turtles have been involved in the recorded activity on Cemetery and Pretty Pool Beaches.
As with last season, it was found that the peak turtle nesting activity took place 1st - 16th December. This season the first nest was laid on the 14th October 2005. However it can be seen that monitoring needs to take place for at least another 8-10 years before any full picture of the population can be obtained. Hence the importance on ensuring that the monitoring program is ongoing so that an indicative and reliable data set is obtained for the Flatback turtles nesting on Cemetery and Pretty Pool Beaches.
As night monitoring is also conducted by the Group, largely involving people management and ensuring that interactions do not disturb the nesting turtles, it has been found that a significant number of people (both local and tourists) come down to Cemetery Beach particularly between mid-November to mid-December to see the turtles. It was also found that there was a high impact of lighting on the beach, from people with torches, buildings, street lighting and cars. The number of incidences of people watching turtles from their car, being parked in the Cemetery Beach Park and high beaming the entire beach was very high occurring every weekend, sometimes on several occasions on the one night. Fortunately this is an issue that is being addressed through the redevelopment of Cemetery Beach Park by the Port Hedland Enhancement Scheme.
More detailed analysis of the data will be taking place at the end of the nesting season, including the interaction between nesting activity and the variables tide height, moon phase and beach visitor numbers. All of which will be placed in a final report that will be kept for subsequent year analysis and forwarded to monitoring partner organisations.
The data collected goes into the CALM Turtle Monitoring Database, as well as the WWF threatened species database. Once several seasons of data are available, site comparisons within the local area will be able to be performed (i.e. Cemetery Beach, Pretty Pool, 6 Mile and Munda Station). As well as intersite comparisons such as Ningaloo, 80 Mile Beach and Bells Beach (Wickham). The data obtained has a direct impact on the ongoing management of the species and the area. Over time the health of the population can be ascertained, as well as if any development is proposed along a local beach area, the data can be input accordingly and used to influence any final decision.
The Care For Hedland Volunteer Turtle monitoring program represents a cost effective way for the community to be involved in providing real local information to aid in future management decisions of this area and assist in the protection of this threatened species and their habitats. Not only is the monitoring program able to provide accurate information of monitoring to relevant management agencies, but it will also assist in the development of education materials such as brochures, information sheets and stickers that will all assist in raising community awareness about Flatback turtles and the threats to it amoungst local community and tourists.
For further information on the Care For Hedland Volunteer Turtle monitoring program please contact Care For Hedland Environmental Association Chairperson Kelly Howlett on (mob) 04399 41431 or email