Tweed Shire Council is considering formal guidelines to protect threatened beach-nesting birds, following breeding failures linked to visitor disturbance at Hastings Point.
A report to the October 22 meeting sets out an action plan covering fencing, ranger enforcement, volunteer monitoring and managing visitors during busy periods.
Staff recommend councillors receive the plan and request operational guidelines, developed with agencies and stakeholders. Some measures are already being implemented as resources permit.
The accompanying plan says a sooty oystercatcher chick died after visitors ignored fencing and signs and entered its chick-rearing area on November 8–9 last year.
The chick was the first of its species recorded in Tweed Shire in more than a decade.
A beach stone-curlew pair also lost its first chick during the 2025–26 breeding season. A second chick survived following sustained work by Council staff and volunteers.
‘Many of the actions require substantial allocations of staff resources at breeding times,’ the report states.
The measures are estimated to cost $19,500 annually, with approximately $41,000 in establishment costs. Council allocates $40,000 annually through the Tweed Coast Conservation Program, funded by holiday park dividends.
Actions include temporary fencing around threatened nests within two days of reports, protection for chicks moving beyond nest sites, and enforcement of Hastings Point estuary’s existing dog prohibition.
The plan also proposes a community monitoring program and initiatives to reduce injuries from discarded fishing tackle.
Staff say longer-term guidelines could be developed during 2027–28. Costs, staffing requirements and external funding opportunities would be refined through that process.
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