DRONES have been used to help evaluate the success of a massive turtle conservation project on a remote Far North island.
Raine Island, on the Great Barrier Reef more than 600km northwest of Cairns, is a major nesting site for green turtles, with about 60,000 coming to shore each year.
Until recently, rising water levels were causing many of the eggs to be inundated, killing juveniles before they could hatch.
In response, the State Government decided to increase the viable nesting area by raising the height of a 150m beach stretch by about a metre.
National Parks Minister Steven Miles said monitoring from drones deployed for the first time confirmed the success of the project, which ensured the reshaped island area remained above the flooding level throughout the 2015-2016 nesting season.
“A comparison of that area to other, unmodified areas of the nesting beach over two years revealed extremely positive results,’’ he said.
The project is a five-year, $7.95 million collaboration between BHP Billiton, the Queensland Government, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the Wuthathi Nation and the Kemer Kemer Meriam Nation Traditional Owners, and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.