Call to protect nesting birds from the cars on SA's Goolwa Beach

A Ngarrindjeri elder says keeping vehicles off Goolwa Beach could help to protect endangered birds as rangers and volunteers work to try and save as many chicks as possible.

Cedric Varcoe welcomed the birds in a ceremony at the Coorong last week, marking the breeding season for some and the return to South Australia of others from as far away as the Arctic.

The birds of the Coorong are some of the Ngarrindjeri community's Ngartji (totems), and Mr Varcoe said it was the community's role to fight to preserve them and protect their habitat.

"In our culture they're our friend, our spiritual guide, our protectors, and when they're not here, or when they're no longer here, our spirit is no longer alive and strong as well," he said.

Birds from far and wide

The Coorong welcome ceremony coincided with the fledging of three hooded plover chicks from the Coorong Beach, a more remote site on the other side of the mouth of the Murray River from Goolwa Beach.

Birdlife Australia has been working with Ngarrindjeri rangers to improve bird survival under the federally funded Shorebird and Wetland Habitat program.

The charity's director of coastal, wetland and marine programs, Grainne Maguire, said the area was important for both resident and migratory shorebirds.

"They'll travel down and they'll stop over in China and Korea and then they'll come here and this is where they spend most of their life,"

she said.

"They fatten up and they rest and they get all that energy which determines the journey back, but also if they breed successfully when they go back."

One of the resident birds being watched is the fairy tern, considered to be at high risk of extinction in the wild, with 1,000 remaining in South Australia across 10 breeding sites.

Two of those sites are in the Coorong, where the terns lay their eggs in a shallow and often difficult to see nest above the high tide mark.

Ban questioned

A 12-kilometre stretch of beach between Goolwa and the mouth of the Murray River is open to four-wheel drives and popular with fishers and families.

The beach at Goolwa attracts a high number of tourists, where the local council has responsibility for the access ramp.

While a permit system has been discussed in the past there is not currently one in place.

Hindmarsh Island resident Wayde Eldridge regularly drives on the beach, setting up his jetski and shade for himself and his dogs Little and Notso.

He thought people driving on the beach were responsible and a ban would be unpopular.

"You get the odd young ones that do silly stuff in their cars and that, but apart from that … I think people look after it pretty well."

Adelaide University associate professor Craig Styan has been looking at how the beach is used and has surveyed a number of beachgoers.

He said while there was no level of driving on the beach that had zero environmental impact, it posed a difficult management question.

"It's almost a paradox … the reason for going is because it's a natural environment, but you being there potentially impacts on some of those natural values," he said.

Dr Styan said many beach drivers were unaware of the impact their cars were having.

SA Environment Minister Emily Bourke said the government would "continue to work with relevant agencies and local councils on matters affecting the safety and protection of our beaches and coastal environments".