A “bum breathing” turtle is getting a better chance at survival, thanks to nest protection along the Burnett River catchment and a new experimental incubation area at Bundaberg.

Environment Minister Vicky Darling visited the Department of Environment and Resource Management’s Bundaberg office on the weekend to see the nine clutches of white-throated snapping turtles incubating in river sand.

“Once the tiny turtles hatch in November and December, they will be released into the rivers their mothers came from,” Ms Darling said.

“This is Queensland’s biggest freshwater turtle and it only lays one clutch of about 12 eggs each year. Foxes, cats, pigs, goannas and other predators eat the eggs, cattle trample the nests and water releases from dams flood the nests.

“Without our help, the white-throated snapping turtle would become extinct – a few years ago the population was down to 4 percent young turtles. There has been little recruitment of young turtles into the river to replace natural losses of the aging adults for many years.

“Thanks to the hard work of DERM, the Burnett Catchment Care Association and other groups and individuals, turtle projects in the Burnett River catchment are highly successful.

“Nearly 40 clutches are under protection along the river and about 15 clutches in incubation at Bundaberg, Mon Repos and Paradise Dam.

DERM Senior Technical Officer Duncan Limpus said the new incubation site at Bundaberg would also be used for research projects.

“We will be improving our knowledge and skills so we can ensure high hatching success of eggs, with healthy hatchlings,” Mr Limpus said.

“The first experiments will target identifying the critical period during incubation when eggs will not survive flooding, using eggs from the non-threatened and abundant Krefft’s river turtle.

“The white-throated snapping turtle Elseya albagula is a large snapping turtle that can breathe through its cloaca. It’s found in the Mary, Burnett and Fitzroy river catchments.

“The conservation status of these turtles is currently being assessed for possible upgrading to a higher level of protection– it’s currently classified as being of ‘least concern’.

A five-year management plan has been extended another year, with the area at DERM’s Bundaberg office to continue incubation work that started at Paradise Dam.

“The white-throated snapping turtles lay their eggs on river banks in May, June and July.

“The eggs then go into diapause – in other words, they go to sleep until incubation is triggered by temperature in spring.

“Incubation lasts 65 days, and in November-December, the 4cm hatchlings emerge.”

Mr Limpus said the eggs at Bundaberg were harvested from mothers that were nesting in scattered nesting areas or where it was difficult to provide good security for the eggs.

“A further three clutches are in incubators at DERM’s Mon Repos centre, where temperatures and incubation time periods are studied.”

Burnett Catchment Care Association has taken a lead role to protect nesting areas along the river, aided by National Green Jobs Corps participants working on the Turtle Recovery Project.

“A good proportion of the nests under protection this year are along the river in areas where they are protected with electric fencing to exclude cattle, and nests covered by fox/dog exclusion devices, supported by some increased baiting to reduce fox numbers,” Mr Limpus said.