Raine Island Recovery Project-Intervening at One of the Most Significant Sites on the Great Barrier Reef

• Published in: Oceanographic Processes of Coral Reefs pp. 392 - 402
• Main Authors: Robertson, Katharine, Dawson, John, Coffee, Owen
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: CRC Press 2024
• Edition: 2
• ISBN: 103234069X; 9781032340692; 1032340746; 9781032340746
• DOI: 10.1201/9781003320425-30

Raine Island supports 90% of the northern Great Barrier Reef (GBR) green turtle nesting stock. However, concerns have been raised since the mid-1990s about its viability as a turtle rookery. Tidal inundation of the nesting beach combined with low hatchling numbers produced from nests were of serious concern and led to the establishment of the Raine Island Recovery Project. The Project's primary aim was to restore viable nesting habitat on the island to increase hatchling numbers. The key intervention action was to raise the nesting beach level through reprofiling so that the beach and natural nest depth was above the peak tidal water table. Informed by geomorphological investigations, major sand reprofiling works were undertaken in 2014, 2017, and 2019 that collectively moved 40,000m3 of sand and reprofiled 35,000m2 of the beach. This raised the elevation of the nesting beach and effectively doubled the area of the island's viable nesting habitat. Associated with the reprofiling actions, and relative to the density of the nesting season, increases have been recorded in turtle hatchling production and emergence when compared to the non-modified areas of the island. The Project has shown that intervention and restoration have delivered positive outcomes for Raine Island and the green turtle population.