Endangered Manning River Turtle Population Stable Post-Floods in NSW

New underwater surveys have revealed that an endangered freshwater turtle species is holding steady, one year after record-breaking floods in northern New South Wales.

The Manning River turtle, or helmeted turtle, is one of Australia's rarest freshwater turtles and is only found on the NSW Mid North Coast.

The Manning River peaked at historic levels during flooding in May 2025, damaging river banks with debris and pollution, also impacting river health.

NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water senior eco-hydrologist Daniel Coleman said, despite the impact, recent underwater video surveys revealed the Manning River turtle was surviving at pre-flood numbers, showing great resilience.

"You know, you can imagine as a person being in that water is incredibly dangerous, and are these animals able to survive?

"It seems like we're getting most of the turtles back where we expect them to be."

The Manning River turtle has been monitored annually in seven rivers over the past four years, including the Barnard, upper Barrington and upper Gloucester rivers.

Mr Coleman said this year, 26 sites were monitored with 27 Manning River turtles recorded, plus 96 eastern long-neck turtles and 75 Murray River turtles, an introduced species.

He said a comparison to last year's survey data revealed the population had "remained stable", despite an expected flood impact.

The surveys have, however, revealed that some turtles have been displaced downstream, away from their more favoured locations near river headwaters.

"Going forward into the next few years, I will be interested to see if those turtles stay there, or they move back to the headwaters," Mr Coleman said.

"The population size is quite strong in some areas, and in other areas, it's really struggling.

"So one of the things we want to know in those areas where it's struggling is, why is that, what is the key driver … is it foxes, drought, land use?"

Mr Coleman said the Manning River turtle's total wild population remained unknown, with researchers hoping to determine an accurate estimate over the next few years.

Fish species booming

Mr Coleman said this year's surveys had also revealed some fish species were thriving after the flood.

"We're getting big schools of these flashy, silver freshwater herring.

"The river was flooding and remained high for some time, and that provided opportunity for species to breed and move around."

The Manning River is also a unique Australian double delta river system with two permanent entrances to the ocean.

"It's quite a large catchment with some really decent perennial streams and rivers in its headwaters … I think the fact there are so many different branches of the Manning River itself maybe makes it resilient," Mr Coleman said.

Tracking over time

Teams will continue to monitor the Manning River turtle each year around early Autumn, to determine the ongoing impacts of floods and times of drought.

There is also a successful captive breeding program to establish an insurance population, run by Aussie Ark and the Australian Reptile Park, on the NSW Central Coast, along with conservation work by the MidCoast Council, Local Land Services and NSW Threatened Species team.

Mr Coleman said the river surveys revealed "many interesting interactions".

"We get things like bull rout, which is a poisonous fish kind of like a stone fish in freshwater and eels, Australian bass and mullet, and three different turtle species…you just see the river alive,"

"We want to keep monitoring through time, because that's when you can really pick up trends, on whether animals are increasing or decreasing."