Marine Turtles at Coral Bay, Ningaloo Reef

Ningaloo Reef is one of the world's major breeding areas for sea turtles. During the breeding season, between November and February, you can book a tour to see the Green, Loggerhead and Hawksbill turtles (three of the world's seven marine turtle species) come ashore to lay their eggs or to see the hatchlings rushing back to the sea.

The nesting is becoming increasingly popular as a nature-based tourism experience in Coral Bay. 

Foxes are the single biggest predator of the turtle nests where in some instances they are digging up to 60 percent of the nest to eat the eggs. They also prey on hatchlings as they emerge from the sand.

Baiting is carried out at strategic locations along the coastal strip to protect the major turtle nesting sites. Other threats include over-harvesting of turtles and eggs, predation of hatchlings by birds, feral pigs, dogs and goannas, pollution and changes to important habitats, especially nesting beaches. Four-wheel drives are another threat to the turtles because the tyre grooves they leave behind can create trenches that the hatchlings fall into, preventing them reaching the sea.

The effectiveness of conservation operations can be increased if people are more aware of the impact their activities can have on the turtles.

Turtles need the beach

Marine turtles have lived in the oceans for more than 100 million years. They are an integral part of the traditional culture of many indigenous peoples throughout the world. Even though they spend much of their lives drifting and feeding in the open ocean, the beach is an important nesting habitat for turtles.

Turtles live for years in one place before they are ready to make the long breeding migration of up to 3,000 kilometres from their feeding grounds to nesting beaches. Courtship and mating take place in shallow waters near the nesting beach. Females often mate with more than one male. After mating, the males return to the feeding grounds. They have a large shell called a carapace, four strong, paddle-like flippers and like all reptiles, lungs for breathing air. The characteristic beak-like mouth is used to shear or crush food.

Marine Turtles of the Ningaloo Reef

Turtles tagged in the Ningaloo Reef area, have been recorded off the coast of Java, in Indonesia, within the Gulf of Carpentaria Reef and the Lacepede Islands. It is important for the conservation of marine turtles in the Ningaloo Region to help contribute to marine turtle global conservation. Marine turtles are under immense pressure from a range of activities including illegal trade and harvest; unsustainable harvest; some forms of commercial fishing such as trawling and long-lining; and loss of habitat such as seagrass beds, coral reef ecosystems and intact coastlines. In the Ningaloo regions specifically, marine turtles face the following pressures:

o Fox predation

o Inappropriate recreational and tourism

o Activities such as disturbance and four-wheel driving on nesting beaches

o Boat strikes

o Specific fishing practices, such as long lining

o Pollution from developments both marine and land based

This page not only has a lot of information about marine turtles, but check out the other related topics including:

o Life-cycle of Marine Turtles

o Green Turtles

o Loggerhead Turtles

o Hawksbill Turtles