Skip to main content Skip to main navigation Skip to search

Help for those affected by flood

Visit nema.gov.au.

Close
Home

Top navigation main

  • News & media
  • Jobs
  • Minister
  • Contact us
Main menu

AWE Main

  • Agriculture and land
    Agriculture and land Building stronger and more sustainable agriculture, fisheries, forestry and land care.
    • Animal health
    • Farming, food and drought
    • Fisheries
    • Forestry
    • Climate change and agriculture
    • Plant health
    • Drought and rural support
    • Mouse infestation advice
    Xylella

    Protect against unwanted plant pests

    Our biosecurity system helps protects us. Everyone has a role in supporting our biosecurity system.

    Find out more

  • Biosecurity and trade
    Biosecurity and trade Lowering biosecurity risks to Australia, and assisting industry to accelerate growth towards a $100 billion agricultural sector by 2030.
    • Aircraft, vessels and military
    • Biosecurity policy
    • Cats and dogs
    • Exporting
    • Importing
    • Pests, diseases and weeds
    • Public awareness and education
    • Trade and market access
    • Travelling or sending goods to Australia
    Brown marmorated stink bug

    BMSB Seasonal Measures

    Australia has strengthened seasonal measures to manage the risk of BMSB.

    View our seasonal measures

  • Science and research
    Science and research Undertaking research and collecting data to support informed decisions and policies.
    • Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES)
    • Our science strategy
    Abares

    ABARES Insights

    Get 'snapshots’ of agricultural, forestry and fisheries industries, or analysis of key issues.

    Find out more

  • About us
    About us We enhance our agricultural industries and trade, and manage the threat of biosecurity risks to Australia.
    • Accountability and reporting
    • Assistance, grants and tenders
    • Contact us
    • Fees and charges
    • News and media
    • Our commitment to you
    • Payments
    • People and jobs
    • Publications
    • What we do
    • Who we are
    Read more about our Budget

    Budget October 2022-23

    The 2022–23 October Portfolio Budget Statements were released on 25 October 2022.

    Find out more

  • Online services
    Online services We do business with you using online platforms. This makes it easier for you to meet your legal requirements.
Department of Agriculture

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. About us
  3. News and media
  4. Hooded plover among birds aided by recovery program

Back to news - AWE

  • Back to news

Hooded plover among birds aided by recovery program

  • Media release
  • Animals
19 March 2021

Vulnerable Hooded plover breeding rates have increased tenfold on parts of the Victorian and South Australian coast, thanks to the tireless efforts of an army of volunteers and a 15-year bird-recovery program, partly funded by the Australian Government.

The Hooded plover is just one beneficiary of Birdlife Australia’s successful Beach-nesting Birds Program, celebrating fifteen years of operation today. Other birds helped include the Pied oystercatcher, Sooty oystercatcher, Beach Stone-curlew, Red-capped plover and Fairy tern. 

The program is jointly funded through Birdlife Australia, state governments and a number of private philanthropic partners. The Australian Government has invested a total of $7.5 million over the life of the program.

Launched on a stretch of the Victorian coastline in 2006, the program started with a small band of 40 dedicated volunteers, recruited by Birdlife Australia, to help conserve Australia’s endemic beach-nesting birds.

It has since grown to an army comprising 1500 volunteers and 350 land managers. For 15 years, they have mobilised across beaches along the Australian coastline, collecting important data on native beach-nesting birds, erecting signage and fencing around vulnerable breeding sites and educating beach users to the birds’ presence.

Birdlife Australia’s Coastal Birds Program Leader Dr Grainne Maguire said: “We would like to thank the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment for their funding over the years.

“This collaboration shows how citizen science can generate real outcomes. It’s a tale of hope. The volunteers’ monitoring efforts help us better understand the threats these birds face, which then guide on-ground management efforts to alleviate these threats.

“The protection of breeding sites has resulted in tangible successes, where breeding rates of some birds such as the Hooded plover, have increased tenfold on busy beaches across Victoria and the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia.”

 “The efforts of our volunteers have helped halt the decline of the Hooded plover population and we are beginning to see it rebuild.

“The program works across thousands of kilometres of coastline. Achieving conservation success for beach-nesting birds would not be possible without a large and diverse network of participants, from regional NRM bodies and local councils, to coastal policy makers and academics.

“Listed as Vulnerable under national environment law, the Hooded plover is exclusively dependent on sandy ocean beach habitats. They lay their eggs in shallow scrapes in the sand, either on the upper beach or in adjacent backing sand dunes.

“Program volunteers have worked hard to raise awareness among beachgoers of this bird’s presence and to give the birds undisturbed space to successfully breed,” Dr Maguire said.

Key partners from within Victoria will gather today to celebrate at Point Nepean National Park on the Mornington Peninsula. Find out more here: www.birdlife.org.au/projects/beach-nesting-birds/news-feed-bnb

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Copy link

Contact us

Agriculture:

media@agriculture.gov.au

(61 2) 6272 3232

Related

Imported cats and dogs

Release of rabies risk review

  • Statement
  • Animals
12 January 2023
Heat and cold stress in Bos taurus cattle

Media statement: Final report published for the review of heat and cold stress in Bos taurus cattle

  • Statement
  • Animals
15 December 2022
World Organisation for Animal Health

World animal health visit a first for Australia

  • Media release
  • Animals
08 November 2022
Thanks for your feedback.
Thanks! Your feedback has been submitted.

We aren't able to respond to your individual comments or questions.
To contact us directly phone us or submit an online inquiry

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Please verify that you are not a robot.

Skip

Footer

  • Contact us
  • Accessibility
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy
  • FOI
Last updated: 09 May 2022

© Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.