Park light concerns for turtle hatchlings in rare Saunders Beach nest

Locals from a North Queensland beach town anticipating a turtle hatch this full moon are urging the council to switch off a park light that points towards the beach. Here’s why.

As humans continue to spread along the coast, protecting green sea turtle nesting sites has become critical for the endangered species. Picture: supplied

Several Saunders Beach residents are begging Townsville City Council to switch off a light tower currently shining over a rare turtle nesting site, but the council is yet to respond.

Resident Angela Rheeders was the one who spotted a nesting female turtle on the beach, taking note of where she buried her eggs.

“It’s quite special because older locals say turtles haven’t been laying on this beach for 20 years,” Ms Rheeders said.

“It makes me think maybe they are coming back now that Yabulu (Nickel Refinery) is gone.”

Ms Rheeders said she doesn’t have any experience with turtles, but she used to be a wildlife carer for possums, and reached out to the Magnetic Island Network for Turtles (MINT) for advice.

The mother turtle's tracks on Saunders Beach.

According to MINT, the Saunders Beach nest is expected to hatch on the next full moon – February 12 – and the spotlight in the park will be a massive problem.

“It is a huge big spotlight, and I’ve been told we need to get that light turned off somehow,” Ms Rheeders said.

“When we asked council to turn it off, they said they can’t do anything about it.”

The park light locals are hoping to get switched off during the hatching window.

Lights near turtle nesting sites cause hatchlings to crawl towards roads and homes instead of following the reflection of the full moon into the ocean.

When contacted by the Townsville Bulletin, council said they were ‘currently investigating’ a solution.

This solution involves deploying the council’s ‘wildlife lighting tower’ to the park, fitted with amber spectrum lights that are less distracting to baby turtles.

The park light locals are hoping to get switched off during the hatching window.

A second investigation has also been started by the council to see if the Saunders Beach lights can be permanently switched to amber.

“Switching traditional street lights to amber lights has been shown to reduce interference with turtle hatchlings’ journey to the sea,” a council spokesman said.

“Council first trialled amber street lights on Magnetic Island in 2021 near Nomads Backpackers following a successful trial by Ergon Energy at Mon Repos near Bundaberg.”

The council is yet to confirm if they’re going to take any action at Saunders Beach in time for the full moon.

One of two adult green sea turtles locals tried to save on Saunders Beach after they were caught in crab pot line. One was cut free and survived, this one died.

The uncertainty has put Ms Rheeders in a tricky situation, because the Department of Environment has advised her she cannot interfere with the hatching process by moving baby turtles or guiding them in any way.

“We’ve been told not to touch them,” Ms Rheeders said.

“It is hard because we just had a big turtle loss here on Saunders Beach, we had two turtles caught in crab pot ropes … people on the beach managed to free one and it swam away … the other one had the rope around her neck and was strangled.”

According to Saunders Beach locals, boats often drop crab pots off the shore line in the area.

Mrs Rheeders said she called MINT to see if they could rehabilitate the strangled turtle, but they were advised the group was too understaffed to take her on and to let ‘nature take its course’.

“One gentleman who helped us knew turtles quite well because he was Aboriginal and hunted them,” Ms Rheeders said.

“He had a lot of respect for them and recognised the strangled turtle was a 20 year old female.”

Green sea turtles lay their first clutch of eggs around the age of 20, returning to the beach they were born on.

Originally published as Park light concerns for turtle hatchlings in rare Saunders Beach nest