Scientists and wildlife carers assess Oswald impact

More than half of Mon Repos’ remaining turtle nests were destroyed in the extreme weather that lashed the Woongarra Coast over the Australia Day weekend.

Speaking at an Environment Roundtable today, Minister Andrew Powell said while residents and councils began the tough task of cleaning up following the devastating floods, wildlife staff had started assessing the environmental impact across the state.  

“While the human toll and recovery is at the forefront of our minds, we are also beginning to see the flow-on effects of the floods on our environment this week,” Mr Powell said.

“Successive high tides between 26-28 January at Mon Repos caused severe erosion to the dunes and washed away 465 out of the 789 recorded turtle clutches, potentially 46,000 hatchlings.”

Mr Powell said the extent of the erosion was similar to that caused by Tropical Cyclone Hamish in March 2009, but with far greater effects.

“Hamish occurred later in the season after a large proportion of the hatchlings had already emerged,” he said.

“This time, unfortunately, an estimated 91 per cent of clutches were still incubating.

 “As a result, the loss of turtle eggs was the most severe on the Woongarra Coast since Cyclone David in January 1976.

“Thanks to the dedicated staff and volunteers at Mon Repos, the remaining eggs were rescued and relocated higher up the dune, otherwise the losses would have been greater.”

Mr Powell said it was important to remember that one season of high egg losses could be offset through the years of work which have been done to rescue otherwise doomed eggs.

“With the help of our scientific staff, rangers and volunteers turtle populations have historically shown a capacity to restore numbers relatively quickly following events such as this, but we will wait to see whether that holds true in this instance,” Mr Powell said.

Mr Powell said the damage wasn’t just limited to turtles, but affected a range of marine life and wildlife across the state.

“As was the case with previous floods we have seen thousands of dead fish floating in rivers and streams along the Queensland Coast."

“We are assessing the impact of seagrass in places like Moreton Bay and Gladstone Harbour and I have received some serious predictions about how that will impact species like turtles and dugong in the short term.” 

While he described the immediate impacts of Ex-Cyclone Oswald as devastating, Mr Powell said he had every confidence local environments would bounce back. 

 “In a hopeful sign, I understand there are still some nesting turtles coming ashore to lay at Mon Repos,” he said.

 “Queensland has experienced setbacks like this before and has recovered each time. I’m sure this year will be no exception.”

 [ENDS] 7 February 2013

Media contact: Brooke Hargraves 3239 0818