Rangers say this year’s turtle nesting season at Mon Repos rookery, north of Bundaberg in southern Queensland, has been the most successful in nearly 30 years.

Turtle nesting tours finished on Saturday, with more than 400 loggerhead turtles recorded at the rookery over the past five months.

Ranger Gemma Haley says more than 26,000 people visited the rookery during the season – up almost 3,300 on last year.

“We’ve had not only great turtle numbers but also visitor numbers passing through, which we just think is fantastic because the more people we can get through, the better we can spread the word about the conservation of these species and raise awareness and interest,” she said.

Ms Haley says this season has been one of the best for the turtles.

“We’ve had a really good nesting season this year,” she said.

“It’s been the best one in 28 years, so we’re very happy with it.

“We’ve started to see a stabilisation in the population which is very encouraging.

“They’re not in decline anymore [although] there are of course those natural variations between nesting seasons, so hopefully the trend continues.”