New $22 million Mon Repos Turtle Centre officially opens

The new $22 million-dollar Mon Repos interpretive turtle centre near Bundaberg officially opened yesterday (23rd November) with the Bundaberg community joining rangers for a fun-filled community day at the new centre today (24th November).  Among the opening celebrations were the naming of a 50-year-old turtle, the first to be studied at the new Centre, and its release back into the sea.

Queensland Minister for Environment and the Great Barrier Reef Leeanne Enoch advised the Department of Environment and Science held an online competition calling on the community to name the turtle announcing that “the loggerhead turtle has been named ‘Merlie’ and was suggested by Charlie Lewis.”

When entering the online competition Charlie asked to name the turtle after her mum. Minister Enoch said there were many submissions, however, Charlie’s beautiful story stood out.

“Her gravely ill mother had always wanted to see baby turtles, so they made a special trip to Mon Repos, however she was too ill to come out onto the beach.

“The Rangers at the centre wanted to make sure that Charlie’s mother would get her wish, so with a heartfelt response, they took extraordinary steps to bring baby turtles to her in the car park. It’s stories like these that highlight just how important the Mon Repos Turtle Centre is to the Bundaberg region, it’s a special place where life-long memories are made.”

In Charlie’s online submission she said that the Ranger’s made her mother’s wishes come true, and that when she passed away later that year, she was very happy she finally got to see and touch a baby turtle.

The winning name was selected by renowned scientist Dr Col Limpus who has been tagging turtles at Mon Repos since the 1960s, making them among the longest studied sea turtles in the world.

Minister Enoch added that “his research contributed to the Queensland Government’s decision to declare the waters off Mon Repos a marine park in 1990 and to make turtle exclusion devices compulsory on fishing trawlers in 2001.”

Dr Limpus said more than 100 nesting turtles from five species have been satellite-tagged at Queensland nesting beaches since the late 1990s, providing invaluable knowledge of their movements off shore from the nesting beaches and their migrations to distant feeding grounds.

“The data is vital evidence of the vast distances the turtles can travel, as well as their migratory pattern, breeding habits and their faithfulness to home feeding grounds.

“Since we started the turtle research and conservation work in 1968, we’ve discovered that loggerhead turtles are highly migratory and identified threats to these turtles when they were absent from the nesting area.

“While at the nesting beaches we learned how many clutches of eggs the female lays in a summer, how often they breed, and how faithful they were to specific breeding areas - but the chosen breeding beach may not be the exact beach at which the turtle was born.”

Minister Enoch noted Merlie the turtle has also been fitted with a GPS satellite tag to allow scientists to monitor its location when it surfaces for a breath.

“The department’s threatened species team, including Dr Col Limpus, will be able to keep an eye on Merlie and track when she returns to Mon Repos to nest.

“What’s special about this turtle, however, was that it was first tagged in in the late 1990s, making her around 50 years old.

“This means she survived prior to turtle exclusion devices when many turtles were drowning in prawn fishing trawler nets, which indicates she was living in a safe habitat.

“The Department are hoping to not only learn about Merlie’s nesting and migration patterns, they are hoping that Merlie will show them where this safe habitat is.”

The new Mon Repos Turtle Centre features a laboratory where scientists will measure and weigh eggs and hatchlings from priority hutches, and an experimental incubation room for turtle eggs.

Another second community open day will be held on Sunday 8th December.

For more information about the Mon Repos Turtle Centre redevelopment go to https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/mon-repos/.