Loggerhead turtles
Protecting the loggerhead turtle for future generations
Queenslanders and visitors alike are involved in activities aimed at creating a viable future for these ancient ocean adventurers—loggerhead turtles.
Fast facts
Common name: Loggerhead turtle
Scientific name: Caretta caretta Family: Cheloniidae (hard-shelled sea turtles)
Status: Endangered
Habitat: Tropical and subtropical waters in coral reefs, bays and estuaries
Species overview
For millions of years, loggerhead turtles have navigated the world’s oceans, using their inbuilt GPS systems to return to nest in the region where they hatched. Within the South Pacific Ocean, loggerhead turtle breeding is restricted to eastern Australia and New Caledonia. The most significant nesting area is at Mon Repos, near Bundaberg.
The Mon Repos nesting area is culturally significant for the First Nations people of the region. After hatching in Queensland, some loggerhead turtles complete a 27,000km round trip, reaching the distant waters of South America before returning to eastern Australia approximately 16 years later as youngsters. While foraging within Australian waters, they take another 13 years to become adults.
Females originally tagged at South East Queensland rookeries have been recaptured in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales. Loggerheads tagged when nesting in Western Australia have been recaptured in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, Indonesia and Queensland. Loggerheads tagged at nesting in New Caledonia have been recaptured in New Caledonia and Queensland.
Loggerhead turtles face many threats in Australia and on their long oceanic adventures. Despite more than 80% of their nesting occurring within protected areas in Australia, the loggerhead turtle population is still declining.
Measures such as fishing and trawling restriction zones and turtle excluder devices have improved turtle survival in Queensland waters, but fewer turtles are returning from longer migrations, and climate change is reducing their breeding success.
Ecology and behaviour
Loggerhead turtles help shape and maintain healthy biological (benthic) communities for those organisms that live in or on the seabed. The broken shell fragments that turtles leave from feeding on shellfish and crabs contribute to the calcium carbonate sand and gravel of coral reefs and cays of the Great Barrier Reef.
Loggerhead turtles live for 70 to 90 years, reaching sexual maturity at about 29 years. Then, they migrate every few years to the region where they hatched to lay their eggs before returning to their respective foraging area within 2,500km of the nesting beaches.
In Queensland, they nest on the southern Great Barrier Reef and adjacent mainland coastal areas at Bundaberg, Wreck Island, Erskine Island, Tryon Island and Wreck Rock beach.
In south-eastern Queensland, mating starts about late October, reaching a peak in December. Nesting finishes in late February or early March.
Female loggerheads lay about 125 round parchment-shelled eggs, roughly the size of ping pong balls, in nests high on the beach and, on average, lay 3–5 clutches of eggs per nesting season. They skip years between nesting seasons, returning to breed usually every 2–5 years.
As with other marine turtles, the nest temperatures determine the sex of the hatchlings. Males result from cooler temperatures and females from warmer ones.
The hatchlings start to emerge in late December, with late-season hatchlings emerging as late as May. The hatchlings are rich reddish-brown above and dark blackish-brown below. Hatchlings have a low survival rate, with only about 1 in 1000 reaching maturity.
Loggerhead turtles are carnivorous, feeding mostly on shellfish, crabs, sea urchins and jellyfish. They forage at the bottom in diverse habitats, from shallow inter-tidal water to sub-tidal coastal waters up to 80m deep.
Characteristics
Adult loggerhead turtles have:
- a large head and powerful jaws
- dark brown colour above, sometimes irregularly speckled with darker brown
- dark brown tops of their heads, which become pale on the sides with irregular darker blotches
- white, cream or yellowish colour below
- an elongated, slightly heart-shaped carapace (shell), with 5 costal scales (scutes) on each side
- a head and body length of up to 1.5m.
Threats
- Climate change, particularly rising temperatures and extreme weather events
- Marine debris entanglement
- Marine debris ingestion
- Chemical and terrestrial discharge from rivers
- International take outside Australia’s jurisdiction
- Terrestrial predation, including foxes, dogs and goannas
- Fisheries bycatch from commercial and recreational fishing and crabbing
- Light pollution
- Habitat modification from infrastructure and coastal development
- Habitat modification from dredging and trawling
- Vessel disturbance and boat strikes.
What’s being done?
The Queensland Marine Turtle Conservation Strategy 2021–2031, in support of the Australian Government Marine Turtle Recovery Plan, identifies threats and provides recommended actions to improve the conservation status of loggerhead turtles in Queensland.
We support the Australian Government in meeting its obligations as a signatory to the international agreement, Single Species Action Plan for the Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta) in the South Pacific Ocean (Convention for Migratory Species, 2014).
In Queensland, we provide strong habitat protection:
- to approximately 80% of our loggerhead turtle nesting, which occurs within national parks.
- along 97% of the east coast through the management of marine protected areas, including the Great Barrier Reef Coastal Marine Park, Great Sandy Marine Park and Moreton Bay Marine Park, where fishing and vessel movements and other potentially harmful activities are regulated to minimise their impacts on turtles and their habitats.
In 2000–2002, the Queensland and Australian Governments mandated turtle excluder devices in trawl fisheries of northern Australia and Queensland.
In 2012, the tourism sector identified and quantified the significant economic benefit that turtle conservation at Mon Repos generated for the Bundaberg and state economies. Recognising this positive contribution, we invested more than $10 million in transforming the turtle centre into a year-round ecotourism attraction. The centre now welcomes more than 30,000 people a year.
Other actions to protect the loggerhead turtle include:
- At Mon Repos Conservation Park, we protect turtle nests during the nesting season, conduct research and monitoring, and raise public awareness through guided tours where visitors can experience watching the turtles lay their eggs or hatchlings emerging from the nests.
- We train and approve citizen science community volunteers to monitor marine turtle nesting and protect nests on Queensland beaches.
- We conduct extensive research and monitoring of loggerhead turtle populations at index nesting sites and foraging habitats to identify population trends and threatening processes.
- We design marine park zoning plans to minimise turtle injury and mortality, including go-slow zones, net fishing exclusion zones and habitat protection zones.
- We deliver feral predator control programs, including exclusion fencing and baiting, in nesting areas and adjacent to these areas.
- We care for stranded and injured loggerhead turtles in partnership with volunteers and rehabilitation centres.
- We educate and engage local communities and tourists in conservation efforts, including reducing plastic pollution.
Who is helping?
facilitates loggerhead turtle research, defines maritime zones and manages compliance.
- Traditional Owners, especially the Taribeland Bunda, Gooreng Goreeng, Gurang and Bailai First Nation people, SeaWorld, Australia Zoo, Quoin Island Turtle Rehabilitation Centre, Cairns Turtle Hospital care for injured and sick turtles in Queensland.
- Sea Turtle Alliance
community group has sponsored tracking devices for a QPWS project studying loggerhead turtle movement, helping inform conservation strategies.
This program helps fund community group activities, such as pest control management, predator control programs, monitoring and nest protection.
How you can help
- Visit Mon Repos to learn about loggerhead turtles and support the research there.
- If you live near the beach in south Queensland, join your local Community Turtle Monitoring group. For information, email turtle.volunteers@des.qld.gov.au
- If you live near or visit Queensland beaches, join the Cut the Glow campaign.
During the breeding season (15 October to 30 April) from 7.30pm: - switch off unnecessary lights
- close your curtains and blinds
- use motion sensor lights for external lights
- position your lights so they face away from the beach
- plant vegetation to create a light barrier
- when camping, shade lights to reduce the illuminated area
- only use a small torch (less than 100 lumens) on the beach.
- Remember to ‘go slow for those below’ by decreasing your boat speed in estuaries, sandy straights and shallow inshore areas.
- If you are a property owner within 10km of south Queensland beaches, you can control feral animals, such as foxes, dogs and cats, from your land to prevent them from eating loggerhead turtle eggs.
- Remember that rubbish you throw away can find its way to the sea, where turtles can mistake things, such as plastic bags, for jellyfish. Plastic swallowed by mistake can cause blockages in the stomach and intestines. Opt for reusable products over single use items.
- Report sightings of sick, injured or dead turtles by calling 1300 130 372.
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