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| Loggerhead sea turtle track and the Seabrook Island Turtle Patrol on May 26 |
The sea turtle monitoring teams across the barrier islands
of the Lowcountry have been a busy bunch in May of 2019. The warmer than usual
weather brought the mature female loggerhead turtles onshore sooner than normal
and with greater pace. The red hot start to the sea turtle nesting season does
not guarantee a record year however, since the turtle nesting frenzy may simply
end earlier too. It is factual to say that the turtle hatchling season will be
starting sooner since it takes about 60 days for turtle eggs to incubate in the
beach sand.
The Town of
Kiawah Island is leading the way with 100 loggerhead sea turtle nests in place
by May 24, with daily nesting totals as high as one dozen. Longtime Lowcountry
residents can recall when a slower pace of one or two nests per day was the
norm, with higher rates only coming occasionally. In 2018, Kiawah only had a
total of eight sea turtle nests by the same time, putting them on a potentially
record pace for overall turtle nests. In 2013 Kiawah recorded 404 sea turtle
nests, which still stands as their highest total ever.
Seabrook has set a record for the month of May regarding
loggerhead sea turtle nests in 2019. The previous record high in May at
Seabrook was 20 nests in 2017, and they went on to have a total of 70 nests
that year. In 2015 they recorded 19 nests in the month of May and 75 sea turtle
nests overall. But 2018 was a slower year for turtle nests. All of the nesting
success thus far in 2019 is great because sea turtle mortality is always a
concern during the busy boating season of summer. On May 23 the Seabrook Island
Turtle Patrol found a stranded dead Kemp’s Ridley turtle on their beach and
reported it to SCDNR.
The Edisto Beach Loggerhead Turtle Project is
reporting good success thus far too, with 28 sea turtle nests by May 23, when
seven turtles came to lay eggs in one night. The Edisto team is also raising
awareness about visitors not leaving shade canopies, beach chairs, cast nets
and fishing equipment on the beach overnight. They are all a hazard to nesting
sea turtles, especially any large holes dug into the sand that are not filled
back in by the folks doing the digging. The annual Lights Out campaign to guard
against light pollution that might disorient a sea turtle is ongoing through
October 31.
To view the entire feature article in the newspaper click on Colletonian.
To view past blog entries on sea turtles click SCDNR Sea Turtle Trawl - TurtleFest at Edisto Beach State Park - Seabrook Turtle Patrol - Leatherback Sighting - World Sea Turtle Day - SC Aquarium Sea Turtle Release
