Consultation is now open

Provide feedback on the draft Shorebird Conservation Plan 2025-2030 by 5pm on Friday, 15 November 2024.

Overview

Project overview

Council is developing the Shorebird Conservation Plan 2025-2030. This plan continues and builds on the existing shorebird conservation program to support the conservation of migratory and resident shorebirds on the Sunshine Coast.

Community engagement

Between Monday, 21 October and 5pm Friday, 15 November 2024, you are invited to provide feedback on the draft Shorebird Conservation Plan 2025-2030 by completing the online feedback survey. Your valuable input will help Council to understand your support for the plan, understand what key actions you want to see prioritised and assist Council to finalise the draft Shorebird Conservation Plan 2025-2030. Click on the 'Feedback Survey' tab to access the survey.

Shorebird conservation is achieved through education, advocacy and partnerships with the community and expert advocacy groups. We also want to hear about what action you take to protect Shorebirds on the Sunshine Coast. Click on the 'Your Actions' tab to share your thoughts.

You can also complete the Sunshine Coast Shorebird Quiz. Click on the 'Quiz' tab and put your knowledge to the test and learn more about our Shorebirds.

Next steps

The draft Shorebirds Conservation Plan that incorporates community feedback from the consultation will be peer reviewed by subject matter experts, before being finalised and presented for consideration by Council at a Council Ordinary Meeting in early 2025.

Background

The Sunshine Coast provides important habitat for migratory and resident shorebirds, where they share the coastal areas with our community.

Many species of migratory shorebirds are in rapid decline globally. Nearly half of all migratory shorebird populations that breed in the arctic have experienced significant population declines.

An estimated 2 million shorebirds migrate annually to the coastal areas of Australia from their arctic breeding grounds in Asia and Alaska. They fly more than 10,000 km along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway to their non-breeding grounds in the southern hemisphere.

They arrive in Australia from late August, after flying for days without stopping to feed, rest, or sleep. When they arrive in Australia, they are exhausted and have lost half their body weight during their migration. They spend September to April feeding and resting on our shores, recovering from one migration and preparing for the next.

Shorebirds gather in large numbers on the sandbanks and mudflats of the lower Maroochy River and Pumicestone Passage. Some species prefer rocky shores, such as Point Cartwright, Mudjimba Island, Caloundra headland, and Point Arkwright.

As a coastal community, the Sunshine Coast provides important habitat for migratory shorebirds, but is also home to resident shorebirds that live here all year long and breed on our shores.

The current shorebird conservation action plan has guided council’s actions to try to protect these threatened birds in the past 4 years. The new Shorebird Conservation Plan 2025-2030 will continue this work and inform future actions to protect our shorebirds.

Contact us

If you have questions or want to learn more about a project, contact us below:

Name Coastal Conservation & Planning team
Phone (07) 5475 7272
Email CoastalLakesandWetlands@sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au

Timeline

  • Timeline item 1 - active

    Community Consultation: 21 October to 15 November 2024

    Community members are invited to provide feedback on the draft conservation plan.

  • Timeline item 2 - incomplete

    Community engagement analysis: November 2024

    Review, collate and analyse the community engagement findings

  • Timeline item 3 - incomplete

    Finalise the draft conservation plan: November-December 2024

    Amend the draft conservation plan to incorporate community feedback.

  • Timeline item 4 - incomplete

    Peer review: Late 2024

    A peer review of the draft conservation plan will be undertaken before it is finalised.

  • Timeline item 5 - incomplete

    Closing the feedback loop: Early 2025

    Report back to community members on what we heard from the consultation.

  • Timeline item 6 - incomplete

    Presentation of Plan: Early 2025 (Dates to be confirmed)

    Present the draft plan at Council Ordinary Meeting and seek adoption of the plan.

Want to know more

Learn more about some of our migratory and resident shorebirds that call the Sunshine Coast home.

Feedback Survey

Actions

Before completing the survey, please review these key actions from the draft Shorebird Conservation Plan 2025-2030. The survey focuses on the actions in the draft conservation plan that are most relevant for community feedback.

For the purposes of the survey activity Action 1.1 and 1.2 have been combined as these actions are closely aligned and can't occur in isolation.

Why should we do this?

Shorebirds face many threats including habitat loss.

High value habitat is an area that is very important to the survival of a species. It provides food, shelter and the right conditions to live and thrive.

For shorebirds, high value habitat is on sandbanks, mudflats, and rocky foreshores – which we have here on the Sunshine Coast.

Protecting shorebird habitat means helping shorebirds when they are here for summer.

And for the bigger picture, it means we preserve biodiversity and the natural world for future generations to enjoy and benefit from.

How could we do this?

We would use the assessment tool (Table 1) of the State Guidelines for Local Government dog off-leash areas in State Marine Parks to identify high value shorebird habitat. This could include:

  • high tide roost sites
  • important feeding areas with high numbers of shorebirds and different species
  • nesting sites (actual and potential)
  • sites supporting endangered and vulnerable species.

To be consistent and apply the same high standard across our region, we will also use this tool for areas outside the Marine Park.

Once it’s identified and declared, the community, Council and the State can work together to protect it.

This action would complement the work of the Queensland Government – who are currently mapping all shorebird roost sites in Queensland. This mapping layer will become a Matter of State Environmental Significance.

Matters of state environmental significance (MSES) are state-significant environmental values that are identified by the Queensland Government to aid in the protection of biodiversity through the planning system and environmental offsets framework.

What would be the change?

Protecting these areas would mean keeping people and domestic animals out of high value roost sites between October and April.

There would be more community engagement before any local laws could be changed.

Why should we do this?

Disturbance from human activities is the biggest local threat for shorebirds.

When shorebirds are disturbed, they use up precious energy that they need for migrating.

Shorebirds are particularly vulnerable to disturbance during high tide when there are only a few sites available for them to use.

High tide roost sites are small areas of sand which are dry at high tide.

The availability of roost sites changes depending on the tide height as well as the amount of sand in an area.

The historic roost site at Maroochy North Shore is currently not available high tide habitat because there is too much disturbance. But it is used for nesting by resident shorebirds.

When disturbance is managed it will provide suitable habitat to support an essential additional roost site in the Maroochy River, where there is currently only one site available.

Giving shorebirds space to rest and recover is part of the solution to preserving the species now and for the future.

How could we do this?

Once high value shorebird roost sites are identified (see Action 1.1) - we propose closing these sites to the public between October and April.

We would put signage up and inform the community via media and social media of this seasonal change.

What would be the change?

This would mean keeping people and domestic animals out of high tide roost sites between October and April.

For example, the maps below shows the current high tide roosts in the Maroochy River and Pumicestone Passage. These areas and their importance for shorebirds can change over time.

There would be more community engagement before any local laws could be changed.

Why should we do this?

We want to learn more about the resident shorebirds that breed on our shores. We want to improve our understanding of their population status, where they nest, how successful they incubate eggs and raise chicks, and any threats they face, to be able to better protect them.

How could we do this?

A citizen science program would help us to do this. Volunteers would be trained as citizen scientists under Birdlife’s Beach-nesting Birds program. The program would be managed and supported by council staff. All data will be recorded on the Beach-nesting Birds datahub, contributing to a national dataset.

What would be the change?

Our community can get involved in a shorebird citizen science program.

Why should we do this?

We share our beautiful coastline with shorebirds.

Raising awareness and providing opportunities for the community to learn more about shorebirds and how to share our shores are important pillars of the Shorebird Conservation Plan.

How could we do this?

We’ve been using interpretive signage at Golden Beach, Pt Cartwright, Cotton Tree, Nojoor Road and North Shore for a few years and have had positive feedback from the community about the signage.

Where and when needed, we will change the messaging on the signs. We may remove signage from locations that are no longer relevant and install new signage at locations where there is renewed need for information.

What would be the change?

This action continues the work we already do. There would be temporary signage at coastal locations near shorebird habitat during shorebird season from October to April.

Why should we do this?

Shorebirds can be hard to see because they are well camouflaged, shy, and are usually a long distance away on a sandbank. Our aim is for people to see the shorebirds and feel more connected to protecting them.

How could we do this?

We want to give the community an opportunity to learn about shorebirds and to observe shorebirds using specialised equipment such as a spotting scope and binoculars.

What would be the change?

This action continues the work we already do. The community would have more opportunities to see shorebirds through events or binoculars located in foreshore areas.

Why should we do this?

Many community members already know about shorebirds and support their conservation.

They have a close connection to the community and a keen awareness of the community’s needs and concerns.

How could we do this?

Some ways we could empower community members include:

  • building relationships with potential champions and listen to their concerns and ideas
  • educating local champions about the importance of protecting shorebirds
  • providing support and resources to local champions to help them spread the message in the local community.

What would be the change?

Our community would have the opportunity to be more connected to our local environment and be informed on the impacts on their actions on threatened shorebirds.

Contact us

If you have questions or want to learn more about a project, contact us below:

Name Coastal Conservation & Planning team
Phone (07) 5475 7272
Email CoastalLakesandWetlands@sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au

Your actions

What action will you take?

Shorebird conservation is achieved through education, advocacy and partnerships with the community and expert advocacy groups. We also want to hear about what action you take to protect Shorebirds on the Sunshine Coast. (max 140 characters).

You have 140 characters left
Moderation Policy

4 November, 2024

Doug Van de Hoef says:

I will expect Council to find an acceptable balance between wildlife protection and the strong desire of the community to keep a dog beach o

31 October, 2024

Burney says:

I will continue volunteering as a Wader and Shorebird counter doing our monthly surveys of the Pumicestone Passage and listing disturbances.

31 October, 2024

Burnice says:

I will continue volunteering as a Wader and Shorebird counter doing our monthly surveys of the Pumicestone Passage and listing disturbances.

31 October, 2024

Colins says:

Promote your actions across Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group (ESRAG) OCEANIA COMMUNITY.

Contact us

if you have questions or want to learn more about a project, contact us below:

Name Coastal Conservation & Planning team
Phone (07) 5475 7272
Email CoastalLakesandWetlands@sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au

Quiz

Contact us

if you have questions or want to learn more about a project, contact us below:

Name Coastal Conservation & Planning team
Phone (07) 5475 7272
Email CoastalLakesandWetlands@sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au