The Queensland Marine Turtle Network (QMTN) Member Organisation Snapshot Survey was conducted in Spring of 2025. The survey was distributed to marine turtle monitoring groups across Queensland to:
- Identify the types of monitoring and conservation activities currently undertaken and understand organisational capacity.
- Document key threats to marine turtles and identify opportunities to better support conservation efforts.
- Understand interest in cross-organisation collaboration and opportunities to strengthen statewide research and monitoring capacity.
Main findings
The 31 QMTN member organisations responding to the survey demonstrated a highly motivated network delivering substantial monitoring, education, threat mitigation and response work. Responses though underlined consistent, system-level constraints faced by organisations, limiting sustainability and growth.
The survey highlighted that Community and Indigenous-led programs form the backbone of marine turtle conservation in Queensland and are predominantly volunteer-driven. However, access to training, accreditation, equipment, and sustained funding results in bottlenecks to program sustainability and expansion.
Responses also underlined organisations’ willingness to collaborate, share data, and participate in coordinated projects when supported by clear facilitation and governance mechanisms. On these lines, the priority threats identified across most regions by respondents (predation, marine debris, vessel strike, and light pollution) have strong potential for coordinated statewide action.
Activities and threats to marine turtles
QMTN member organisations showed to carry out a wide number of activities. Those activities where most organisations concentrate their efforts are community engagement, education and outreach, turtle stranding response, nest identification and nest success, track identification, track counts and data collection for QTCP-DETSI.
The survey also helped identify key threats to marine turtles along the Queensland coast. Organisations recognised as most pressing threats predation of nests, human disturbance and recreation, marine debris and plastic, lighting, boat strike and vessel disturbance, and beach erosion and habitat loss.
Individual and network growth
The most commonly reported areas for growth include volunteer capacity and time, funding stability, and improved access to training, accreditation, and authorisation pathways (particularly QTCP/Mon Repos pathways and limited training places). Organisations also identified practical constraints such as access to equipment and infrastructure (e.g. vehicles, vessels, monitoring tools, and outreach materials), as well as the higher costs and logistical complexity associated with remote monitoring.
Taken together, responses suggest that the strongest opportunities to sustain current activities and unlock future growth lie in targeted, network-wide enablers: improving regional and accessible training pathways, supporting accreditation and trainer development, facilitating resource and equipment sharing, and strengthening coordinated investment to support volunteer retention and program delivery.
These results will guide QMTN’s 2026 priorities by informing where coordination, support, and facilitation can most effectively address the shared constraints, threats, and collaboration opportunities identified by member organisations, helping to strengthen capacity, consistency, and impact across the Network.
Survey responses highlighted a strong sense of achievement across the Network over the past year, particularly given challenging operating conditions. Collectively, these highlights demonstrate a Network delivering diverse and meaningful outcomes, spanning hands-on conservation action, community engagement, and applied science. These achievements were often realised with limited resourcing, underscoring the strong commitment, adaptability, and momentum across QMTN member organisations.
You can access the full Survey Report by clicking the below link.
