Coast and marine

Each year from October, millions of short-tailed shearwaters (Puffinus tenuirostris) transverse vast areas of open ocean from the arctic region westward towards Australia to breed.

Find out more about algae blooms.

Find out how to book the coastal discovery van for your school or organisation.

Find out more on what maintenance is happening at Currimundi lake.

Over the past twelve months council officers have been collecting planktonic samples from several inshore locations to examine what our “normal” jellyfish communities look like throughout the summer months.

Council will use sand from the Maroochy River to widen and restore the beach to provide protection from future storms.

From November to March, 6 sites were sampled monthly using a plankton net and the variety of life that was discovered was astounding.

Read about the junior eco-leaders forum with Tim Silverwood.

View our rocky shore species identification information.

In preparation for the arrival of nesting loggerhead turtles, local schools again helped clean our beaches through council’s annual schools beach clean up.

New murals celebrate the start of shorebird season.

Up to 10,000 migratory shorebirds inhabit various ecosystems that shape the interface of our coast.

Stonefish live in coastal shallow waters, estuaries and creek mouths along the Australian coastline, including on the Sunshine Coast.

Each summer over the past 5 years, council officers have collected plankton samples from our waterways to better understand the microscopic life of the Sunshine Coast. During January 2020, we collected a number of very small and very young jellyfish within our estuarine and offshore sample sites.

Each year over 30,000 humpback whales migrate past our beaches on their annual migration to the warmer waters of Hervey Bay and beyond.

Check out the latest sighting of the whitespotted eagle ray.

Seagrasses are important breeding and feeding grounds for large numbers of fish and invertebrate species.