Remote Raine Island, 620 km north west of Cairns, is host to one of the greatest animal migrations on Earth. As many as 60,000 female green turtles migrate thousands of kilometres to lay their eggs here in a peak breeding season.

Featuring in Sir David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef documentary series, this marine sanctuary is not only the world’s largest green turtle rookery, it’s also the most important seabird rookery in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area and home to apex predators, pristine coral reefs and diverse populations of fish and other precious marine life.

Nesting season at Raine Island

But all this is in danger. Years of monitoring show that the northern Great Barrier Reef green turtle population is in decline and, without action, is headed for collapse.

The Foundation played a leading role to initiate the Raine Island Recovery project. This five year, $7.95M collaboration between BHP, the Queensland Government, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the Wuthathi Nation and Kemerkemer Meriam Nation (Ugar, Mer, Erub) Traditional Owners with the Foundation are protecting and restoring the island’s critical habitat to ensure the future of key marine species including green turtles (nam - the common language word for turtle), seabirds and other marine species.

Visit the Raine Island Recovery Project website to learn more about the project.