Heron Island was once famous for its canned turtle soup. Coral can now be vital in saving the Great Barrier Reef from the impacts of climate change.
An exaggerated smell of guano greets you and stings your nostrils when you enter Heron Island after two hours at sea.
Every September, more than 200,000 black-tailed deer and wedge-tailed partridges begin arriving from all over the Pacific to breed, bringing a deafening cacophony to the quiet island.
The pristine waters surrounding it are full of life: manta rays, reef fish of all sizes, sharks and green sea turtles glide past the snorkels, unperturbed.
No wonder it is one of the most diverse marine ecosystems in the world.
But it hangs in a delicate balance.
Capricorn and Bunker Island Group. (Google Earth)
Heron Island is one of 16 keys to the Capricorn and Bunker Island group off the central coast of Queensland, an important breeding ground for endangered turtles and seabirds.
Their turtle cubs attract ecotourists from all over the world.
The importance of the island has also attracted the attention of renowned naturalist Sir David Attenborough, as well as the ABC, National Geographic and the New York Times.
Heron Island, home to the world’s largest coral reef research center, plays an important role in understanding the impacts of climate change, especially as the United Nations monitors the health of the Great Barrier Reef.
Heron Island is a coral bay south of the Great Barrier Reef. (Provided by: Mark Fitz)
A dark story
But a century ago, the island was a happy hunting ground for turtle lovers.
A turtle cannery was built in the mid-1920s, and hundreds of children were slaughtered for export.
Andres Cervino has been on the island for nine months. A park ranger in his native Argentina, he takes tourists on guided walks to see the nesting and hatching of turtles.
Naturalist guide Andres Cervino enjoys teaching guests about bird life. (ABC Capricornia: Erin Semmler)
He says that in his day there was a hunger for green sea turtles.
“Turtle soup was a delight in England at the time, and probably in other parts of Australia.”
In less than a decade, turtles became scarce and the industry died.
On the nearby Northwest Island, where more than 250,000 cans of turtle soup were produced in four years, the factory’s rusty relics are hidden in the bush.
“If they had continued, they would probably have exterminated the entire turtle population,” says Andres.
“It takes about 35 years to reach maturity, so luckily that only lasted a few years.”
A turtle canning factor on Heron Island. (Supplied by Charles Maurice Yonge 1928) Remains of turtle canning operations are located in the northwest of the island. (ABC Capricornia: Erin Semmler)
The turtles may have been saved from slaughter, but their exploitation continued.
Danish fisherman Christian Poulson bought the lease from the cannery and turned the island into a resort.
Turtle riding became one of the main attractions, attracting travelers from all over the world until the early 1960s, when it was finally banned.
Heron Island offered tourists mounted turtles in the 1930s. (Supplied by: State Library of Queensland 1938)
Most of the island was declared a national park in 1943; a few years later, the reef was blown up to allow access by boat at low tide.
“They blew up that part of the reef to create the canal,” Andrew says.
Prior to that, a gantry and pulley system was used to load cargo in and out of the island.
Heron Island is a two-hour ferry ride from Gladstone in central Queensland. (Supplied by: Tim Cheetham) A canal was opened through the reef to allow access by low tide boat. (Supplied by: James Vodicka) The remains of the portico are a look at Heron The Dark Past of the Island. (ABC Capricornia: Erin Semmler)
Around this time Captain Poulson bought a damaged gunboat, HMAS Protector, and parked it on the reef as a breakwater.
This shipwreck, now iconic, is home to diverse marine life and serves as a popular refuge for the migratory brown woodpecker.
Heron Island, south of the Great Barrier Reef, has stunning sunrises and sunsets. (Provided by: Jordan Robins)
The brutality of nature
Today, Heron Island allows visitors to experience its rich biodiversity and see how each aspect of the ecosystem is interconnected.
Any small change has important consequences.
Take the peat bogs and forests of Pisonia.
White-knotted knots rest in the forests of Pisnoia south of the Great Barrier Reef. (ABC Capricornia: Erin Semmler)
The nodes build their nests from the leaves of Pisonia; the trees need the guano of the birds because the ground of the keys is low in nutrients.
“They depend on the birds to bring all this poop to the ground,” says Andrés.
But trees also use noddies in a much more confrontational way.
“At the height of the noddy season, the Pisonia releases its seeds; they are very sticky and have hooks and stick firmly to the feathers of the noddies,” says Andres.
“Sometimes knots get stuck and starve.”
The sticky flowers of the pison often stick to the black nodules, causing a slow and painful death. (ABC Capricornia: Erin Semmler) Rangers do not interfere when noddies are stuck in pisonies. (ABCCapricornia: Erin Semmler)
In February this year, the ground was covered with dying knots, he adds.
“People come to us and ask us to help them, but you don’t help them because that’s a natural phenomenon. It’s sad, but we don’t interfere.”
One hypothesis is that rotting birds enrich the soil and that it is also a way to sustain the population: too much guano can destroy the forest.
The pison forest in the northwest of the island is the largest breeding ground for black noddies. (ABC Capricornia: Erin Semmler)
“Noddy’s life is tough,” Andrew says.
That was especially true this season.
Thousands of noddies will time their return to the docks coinciding with the arrival of shoals of small fish.
“But for some reason, the fish didn’t arrive on time, so many noddies starved to death,” Andres says.
A sickle of white goats resting on a beach on the northwest island. (ABC Capricornia: Erin Semmler) White-headed knot feeding a chick in the nest on the island of Heron. (ABC Capricornia: Erin Semmler)
Earlier this year, all the leaves were stripped of the trees in Pisonia while an army of caterpillar caterpillars ate the keys.
The nodes were unable to build their nests and many died.
The Pisonia, however, is a fast-growing tree and the leaves returned in a few weeks.
Although caterpillar invasion occurs at least once a decade, park rangers say it has occurred more frequently.
Hawkmoth caterpillars feast on peacock leaves. (ABC Capricornia: Erin Semmler) The Hawkmoths devoured entire forests of pisonia in the Capricorn Keys. (ABC Capricornia: Erin Semmler) It’s not uncommon for kayaks to be infested with hawks, which can eat through the Pisonia. trees quickly. However, this has become more common in the last decade. (ABC Capricornia: Erin Semmler)
Ruthless killer
Seagulls patrol the beaches at sunset, taking advantage of the exceptional turtle hatching season on Heron Island.
Although the golden rule on the island is “look, don’t touch”, visitors are advised to break it when it comes to seagulls.
Guests keep the birds away from the hundreds of newly hatched young turtles that run through the sand dunes and into the mouths of the hungry reef sharks.
Darkly elegant, sharks stir the water like a washing machine as they jump to catch most of their young.
Nature, with all its brutality, is close and personal.
Humans, however, are the biggest threat to biosecurity. The mere fact of feeding a seagull with a chip on land has had a direct impact on the natural balance of the island.
Seagulls are a natural occurrence on coastal islands, but usually in smaller numbers.
But Queensland Parks and Damon Shearer rangers say they have become ruthless killers on the keys.
Damon Shearer is a senior technical officer in the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. (ABC Capricornia: Erin Semmler) Green sea turtles and loggers nest on Heron Island. (ABC Capricornia: Erin Semmler)
“They feed on turtle cubs and also on seabird chicks.
“It simply came to our notice then.
“It looks like the number of seagulls has increased substantially and they are able to fly from the mainland here and back in a day.”
Given the remoteness and lack of predators, seagulls feel at home.
On a busy path outside the resort’s restaurant, one of them devours a railroad chick with brightly colored bands to the horror of passersby.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows for volume. Heron Island bird eats bird
Andres Cervino shares these concerns.
“The reason for this is us: people feed them, nest on the island, eat food, come from the cities.
“So please don’t feed the birds, both here and at home.”
Deadly consequences for humans
On the northwest island, a bank of slabs at the top of a sandy path offers a perfect view through the thick trees of Pisonia to the light turquoise lagoon.
A single pair of work boots, modeled in bronze, sit on one end.
This is the memorial to Zach Robba, a 23-year-old park ranger who died after a shark attack in April 2020.
A “suitable” monument in the northwest of the island for Zach Robba. (ABC Capricornia: Erin Semmler)
“He had been working on the island that day and left his boots behind when he got back to work on the boat,” says his father, Peter.
“They came back and got their boots back the next day.
“I think it’s very appropriate,” Peter says of the monument.
It was one of three shark incidents reported near the island between December 2019 and April 2020 that prompted the action.
The Queensland government has declared it illegal to lure sharks and dump fish on the coast around the northwest island.
Anthony Contarino, the regional director of the Great Barrier Reef and Marine Parks, says that this behavior, including the deliberate attraction of sharks for selfies, has increased the risk of shark bites in the surrounding waters …