Marine Sea Turtle Project

A world about the marine sea turtle from the Australian Wildlife Society

Turtles and dugongs need your help! The Australian Wildlife Society's goal is to protect our sea turtles and dugongs from unregulated, no bag limit hunting that is carried out by some indigenous people under the guise of so called 'traditional' hunting. These 'traditional hunts are not exempt from laws to protect endangered or vulnerable species. For more information, a full list of native animals that are endangered or vulnerable can be found at this website

How can you help?

Write to the federal minister for the environment and ask for a total ban on the hunting of all protected native wildlife.

The laws must be changed to bring indigenous people into line with all other Australians in terms of animal cruelty - and the killing of protected wildlife by anyone should not be tolerated.

The laws protecting Australia's native wildlife must be changed to reflect the sentiment of the vast majority of Australians and should be applied fairly and equally to all Australians regardless of their racial or ethnic origins.

This is not a conflict between indigenous rights and animal rights activists; it is a conflict between so called 'indigenous rights' and all right-thinking Australians. Archaic practices such as the inhumane stone-age killing of animals with a concrete block have no place in modern Australia. One can hardly call 'traditional hunting' reasonable when high-powered rifles and modern, fast motor boats are used to hunt our protected marine wildlife. Clearly the laws of Australia must apply to all Australians equally – with no exemptions to anyone.

If indigenous people continue to be exempt from the animal welfare laws, and such activities are permitted to continue, then all Australians are besmirched.

 Indigenous elders have also expressed their support for this proposal. Click here to view the proposal»
» REQUIRES ADOBE ACROBAT READER TO VIEW. YOU CAN DOWNLOAD FREE VERSION HERE.

First donation made to Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre

The Australian Wildlife Society donated funds to purchase two tanks, to be used in the rehabilitation of marine turtles. MORE

The Australian Wildlife Society has supported Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre in their efforts to develop water holding facilities for the rehabilitation of turtles.  The turtle rehabilitation centre is the only one north of Townsville and is very much in demand for rehabilitation of turtles, particularly turtles coming into care from Cape York. Some of these turtles may be in care for 6 - 12 months depending on the nature of their injury or disease. The two new water tanks will act as primary settlement tanks removing a lot of the suspended solids from the incoming water before it reaches the filters on the current rehab tanks. Having the two tanks in place will provide backup water storage during interruptions to incoming pumping supply (eg power outages, routine maintenance and breakages). It will also allow the centre to quickly fill turtle rehab tanks when moving the turtles around or dropping the water out of their tanks for cleaning.

Have you seen a marine turtle?

First appearing more than 100 million years ago, marine turtles represent an ancient and distinctive part of the world’s biological diversity. As recently as the 18th and 19th centuries, marine turtles were highly abundant, with some populations numbering well into the millions. In the last several hundred years, however, humans have overwhelmed the species’ ability to maintain their numbers. We capture them intentionally for food, skin and shell. We capture them accidentally in fisheries. We destroy their foraging, nesting and resting habitats. Most recently, we have been polluting the environment in which they live, the oceans. Today, few populations of marine turtles are unaffected. Most are declining, often seriously. Many are extinct.

Marine sea turtles are categorised from threatened to critically endangered. These days, the most significant threat for them is a commercial fishing technique called longline fishing that uses hundreds or even thousands of baited hooks hanging from a single line and causes accidental sea turtle deaths. MORE »