Sea turtles are nesting on our Gold Coast beaches and the TurtleWatch Gold Coast program is asking locals to walk the local beaches in the early mornings and log their beach walks with the TurtleWatch program.

96five’s Arthur Muhl caught up with Siobhan Houlihan from SeaWorld who are working together with Watergum to protect a growing number of turtle nests.

“Our program is quite new, and we want people out there knowing what to look for and actually looking so that we can capture that data and get an accurate representation of the number of turtles that are nesting this far south” said Siobhan.

“Anyone that wants to join us and actively start walking is fantastic but if you’re already walking the Gold Coast beaches, we want you to look for the signs so that you can recognise a potential nest and then report it to us so that we can monitor that nest all the way through to hatching.”

What happens after a nest is found? Siobhan said the team monitor the nests and help ensure that when the sea turtles emerge, they make it to the ocean.

“Basically, we just make sure that the nests remain undisturbed from predators and towards emerging time we’ll actually put shade around the nest to diffuse the light. Obviously our beaches are very bright and that’s where the issues come when we have sea turtles emerging, they go the wrong way because they follow the bright city lights.”

If you spot turtle activity please log it and notify Sea World on 07 5588 2222 and 07 5588 2177 after hours.

For more information, visit the website.

Article provided thanks to 96five