Last summer's record floods and cyclones, on top of several years of harsh wet seasons, have taken their toll on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park's seagrass beds, the main food source for dugong and turtle.

As a result, there has been a significant increase in the number of dugong and turtle deaths in the southern Great Barrier Reef (south of Port Douglas).  

As of 25 October 2011, there were 172 dugong strandings this year, compared with 73 for 2010, 48 for 2009 and 36 for 2008 over the same period.

There were 1232 reports of turtle strandings (including 169 alive), compared with 639 in 2010, 733 in 2009 and 662 in 2008 over the same period.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) is taking this situation very seriously and we're doing what we can to help them.

The GBRMPA worked with dugong and turtle experts early in 2011 to develop a response plan. The advice from the experts at that time was that there is limited scope to take short-term action given the scale of seagrass loss. Nevertheless, where actions can be taken they should be pursued.

The range of management responses that have been put in place in response to seagrass loss and the strandings include:

• Implementation of the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan, including the $200 million Reef Rescue Program, is the most critical action. The program works to improve water quality which will provide seagrass beds with the best possible chance for recovery.
• The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority is working with the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) to identify strandings hotspots. This will occur as dugong and turtle go into new areas in search of food.
• Hotspots for net-related deaths from incidental capture have been identified in Bowling Green Bay (near Townsville) and in the Boyne River at Gladstone. GBRMPA is working with Fisheries Queensland and commercial fishermen to identify ways to manage impacts. These include:
  
• • GBRMPA is drafting regulations to modify netting practices in Bowling Green Bay
  • Queensland has implemented changes to netting practices in the Boyne River.

• Most Traditional Owner groups in affected areas have decided not to hunt until the full impacts are understood.
• As a key outcome of the intergovernmental Dugong Taskforce, $5 million in funding has been provided to the Queensland Government to focus on measures to improve dugong and sea country management by Traditional Owners along the Queensland coast.

The impacts of the extreme weather on dugong and turtle are tragic, and of significant concern for GBRMPA, nevertheless it is also important to retain a wider perspective about the animals' populations and their ability to recover:

• The establishment of Dugong Protection Areas in the mid 1990s, and further protection afforded by the zoning implemented in 2003 had stabilized the declining ‘urban coast’ dugong population. This is the population that has once again been impacted, this time by the flooding and cyclone damage to seagrasses.
• In the northern Great Barrier Reef and elsewhere around northern Australia the dugong population remains healthy.
• The green turtle population in the southern Great Barrier Reef has been increasing at about 3 per cent per year over the last 45 years, and the current levels of deaths are within sustainable limits for the population to be able to recover.