Fighting for survival

The number of stranded, sick and injured sea turtles on our coastline is rising.

Floodwaters smother seagrass meadows with sediment. Storms sweep plastic and rubbish into the sea. Sea turtles pay the price. They are unable to tell food from debris, and ingest plastic, become entangled in bags and loops, and face starvation as their food supply disappears.

Sea turtles are among the world's most endangered animals. Without urgent action, we risk losing them entirely.

Life-saving rescue needs local support

The UniSC Milbi Centre provides a dedicated home for life-saving turtle rescue, rehabilitation and research in Hervey Bay’s Great Sandy Strait – one of the few regions in the world where six of the seven sea turtle species are found.

Before the centre opened, stranded turtles travelled hours from their ocean home to inland hospitals that often operated beyond capacity.

Now, more turtles can receive the urgent care they need, but the demand continues to grow, and so does the cost of meeting it.

A coastal lifeline

Our priority is to ensure the UniSC Milbi Centre can operate every day, rescuing, rehabilitating and researching the growing number of turtles in danger.

This centre gives our endangered turtles the best care and the greatest opportunity for survival.

From rescue to release, each turtle receives specialised veterinary care, access to purpose-built rehabilitation tanks, nourishment and monitoring, sometimes for months, even years.

The team conducts vital research into the general health of threatened turtle populations and other sea life.

New insights into disease, environmental stressors and pollutants are strengthening conservation efforts here and around the world, helping protect our oceans and their wildlife.

You can be a part of every recovery

Help ensure this life-saving work continues, every single day.

Every turtle that arrives carries a story: boat strikes, plastic ingestion, disease, entanglement.

Sea turtles are sentinel species, living mirrors of ocean health. What we find in their bodies tells us what is happening in our seas.

Every turtle we save is also a source of knowledge that helps protect the ocean for generations to come.

Your support helps fund:

• Emergency rescues
• Ongoing rehabilitation and care
• Disease and climate research
• Community education
• Collaboration with Butchulla Land and Sea Rangers 

Every gift helps keep the water clean, the tanks running, and the next turtle one step closer to release.

Yes, I'd like to help!

Leading the way

Professor Kathy Townsend, is a leading marine biologist who leads the project team of internationally renowned researchers in human impact on the marine environment and a large team of Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students.

"There are so many important aspects to sea turtles; people will travel from all around the world to see them, they are culturally significant to the Butchulla people, and they have a central contribution to the ecosystem. I don’t think anybody wants to live in a world without sea turtles.”