The terrible animal death toll from Queensland's summer of natural disasters is adding up, with a jump in turtle deaths stacking on top of a high number of dugong fatalities.

Figures released on Friday show 649 turtle deaths were reported in the first seven months of 2011.

The toll has jumped by more than 200 compared with the same period last year when 436 turtles died.

It comes after figures showed 96 dugongs washed up dead on the state's coastline in the first seven months of this year, compared with 79 for the whole of 2010.

A breakdown of the figures show 90 turtles died in the Gladstone area in central Queensland, home to a major port and a growing number of ships and dredging projects for the gas export industry.

There were 84 deaths in Townsville, 57 in Moreton Bay, 14 in Hervey Bay and the remainder spread across the state.

Queensland Environment Minister Vicky Darling said the majority of deaths were from malnutrition, sickness and diseases.

Like dugongs, turtles were struggling to find food because seagrass beds, their major food source, had been impacted by turbidity and low salinity following flooding in the coastal catchments, Ms Darling said on Friday.

"These are tragic and confronting numbers and they can be directly attributed to the floods and cyclones," she said.

"These animals are struggling to find a food source and literally starving to death."

Ms Darling said the turtles were weak and as a result spent more time on the water surface where they're more vulnerable to boat strikes.

The situation in Gladstone was the most concerning, she said.

Former environment minister Kate Jones established a panel of marine scientists to examine the causes of deaths in Gladstone.

Ms Darling said the panel's work wasn't finalised yet but a number of initial recommendations were underway such as improved reporting and turtle health checks.