Australia proud to host
Why? Because...
- Australian waters support extensive sea turtle populations
- Most of our turtle nesting habitats are protected in western and eastern Australia. Additionally,
- Australia has been at the forefront of creating Marine Protected Areas that include extensive areas of turtle foraging habitat.
- Queensland was the first government to declare total protection of all species of sea turtles within its jurisdiction (1968).
- The first tag-recapture study of nesting sea turtles was conducted on Heron Island in 1929 (Moorehouse 1933).
- Queensland Turtle Research commenced systematic monitoring of turtles nesting beaches in 1968, expanding to foraging ground studies in 1974. The program has been a fertile ground for development of postgraduate researchers and owes much to the dedication of many hundreds of volunteers from all walks of life. Some volunteer families are now bringing a third generation onto nesting beaches.
- The northern Australian fishing industry embraced the trial and uptake of Turtle Excluder Devices seeing their benefit to both turtles and the industry. In eastern Australia this has been accompanied by a cessation in the decline in loggerhead numbers.
- Involvement of the community in sea turtle conservation has been steadily growing through time. For example, Mon Repos Conservation Park came about through the concerted actions of the local Bundaberg community; many regions now have community (indigenous and non-indigenous) run monitoring programs; and multiple indigenous communities enthusiastically dedicate their time to ghost net removal programs. Synergy between community and government in this regard is a major strength of turtle conservation in Australia.
- Holding the symposium in Brisbane provides significantly greater opportunities than normal for people in our region to attend.
