Raine Island Recovery Project
Restoring the world's largest green turtle rookery
#The Project
Remote Raine Island, 620 km north west of Cairns, is host to one of the greatest animal migrations on Earth. As many as 60,000 female green turtles migrate thousands of kilometres to lay their eggs here in a peak breeding season.
Raine Island is a remote vegetated coral cay that sits 620 km north west of Cairns. This unique island plays host to one of the greatest animal migrations on Earth, with as many as 60,000 female green turtles migrating thousands of kilometres to lay their eggs here each year.
Featuring in Sir David Attenborough’s 2015 Great Barrier Reef documentary series, this marine sanctuary is not only the world's largest green turtle rookery, it’s also the most important seabird rookery in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area, and home to apex predators, pristine coral reefs and diverse populations of fish and other precious marine life.
But all this is under threat.
Years of monitoring show the northern Great Barrier Reef’s green turtle population is in decline. Without action, the entire population is headed for collapse. Facing a grave future without dedicated action, The Foundation played a leading role to initiate the Raine Island Recovery project.
Visit the Raine Island Recovery Project website to learn more about the project.
#Project beginnings
#Latest News
#Links & Resources
#Researcher
Dr Andy Dunstan
Reef Expert
#Partners
#Acknowledgements
The Foundation played a leading role to initiate the Raine Island Recovery project. This five year, $7.95M collaboration between BHP, the Queensland Government, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the Wuthathi Nation and Kemerkemer Meriam Nation (Ugar, Mer, Erub) Traditional Owners with the Foundation are protecting and restoring the island’s critical habitat to ensure the future of key marine species including green turtles (nam - the common language word for turtle), seabirds and other marine species.
Raine Island is culturally significant to Traditional Owners, the Wuthathi Nation and the Kemerkemer Meriam Nation (Ugar, Mer, Erub).