Feral pig proof fence could save 40,000 endangered turtle eggs on remote Queensland beach
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A simple fencing solution could help protect up to 40,000 endangered sea turtle eggs from being destroyed each year by feral pigs on a remote beach at Aurukun, on the western coast of Cape York peninsula.
Indigenous rangers from the Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation have sectioned off a 19-kilometre stretch of beach, using nets and star pickets.
Project manager Brian Ross said South Wik Beach was home to some of the world's most endangered species, including the Olive Ridley turtle, and was ideal landscape for the spit-fencing program.
"The prerequisite is an estuary or a river system that runs parallel to the coastline, so that you can use a small amount of fencing to fence off between the coastline and the beach and river," he said.
"In our case, we've used 2.5 kilometres of fencing to fence off 19 kilometres of nesting coastline — that's a really small amount of fencing to protect [this beach] as a turtle rookery."
Feral pigs wreaking havoc on the western Cape
Surveys suggest the area around Aurukun has the densest population of feral pigs in Australia, with an estimated 15,000 animals causing damage to waterways around the western Cape community.
"They change the structure of the wetlands immensely, they increase acidity, they increase evaporation and then they remove nesting habitat," Mr Ross said.
Aerial shooting and 1080 baiting culls have helped reduce the feral pig population near Aurukun.
Mr Ross said not all feral pigs preyed on turtle nests and the predation was a "learned behaviour" the fence should help mitigate.
"Pigs that go looking for turtle nests, they can destroy up to 30 nests in a night … that's 120 eggs per nest, depending on the species," he said.
A waiting game until wet season ends
Mr Ross said the success of the project could not be measured until the middle of the year, although he expected a positive response.
"It's the wet season up there at the moment and we're waiting on the nesting season to start in June and the roads to open up again and review it and see if it's been successful," he said.
"But it's been very successful in other areas and we're expecting similar results for the turtles.
"At other lagoons where we've fenced the pigs out, the results are instant."
Topics: pest-management, endangered-and-protected-species, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, conservation, land-management, aurukun-4871, cairns-4870
