Isle of Palms Winter/Spring 2019-20

14 www.IsleOfPalmsMagazine.com | www.ILoveIOP.com | www.IOPmag.com [ Feature ] I sle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island combined had 72 loggerhead sea turtle nests from May 7 until late September, the biggest nesting season on record since the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources began monitoring the turtle activities in the late 1970s. The previous record was 68 nests in 2012. The South Carolina coast, approximately 186 miles of ocean-facing sandy beaches, set a record in 2019 with 8,753 nests, far surpassing last year’s 2,767 nests. “It’s interesting. Turtles all do the same thing in any given year,” said Mary Pringle, a member of the Island Turtle Team for 22 years and the project leader since 2000. “This year, we saw a rebound from last year. It’s a cyclical thing. About every four years, the turtles will lay fewer nests.” During this record-breaking year, over 7,144 eggs were laid on Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island. The number of turtles that hatched successfully and made it to the ocean was well above the usual state average of 60%. The 15 nests on Sullivan’s Island had a mean hatch rate success of 90.3%, while the 57 IOP nests experienced an 87.9% hatch rate. The huge increase in hatchlings making it into the ocean now compared to the 10% rate of the 1980s is a result of the efforts of South Carolina’s 1,200 sea turtle volunteers, including the 180 Island Turtle Team members. During the season, the volunteers patrol the beaches as the sun rises. They check for turtle tracks and new nests, inventory current nests and move nests to higher ground if the mother turtle didn’t lay them in a safe place. Pringle said her group relocated over half of the 72 nests this year. They also mark every nest with orange tape and a sign. The eggs then incubate for 45 to 60 days. And, like their mother who arrives at night to bury the eggs, the babies hatch and return to the sea while it is dark. They find their way by the light of the moon. Three days after the turtles hatch, the turtle team does an inventory of the nest for the DNR. They record the hatch date, number of shells, how many are dead, the number alive inside the nest and how many eggs are still unhatched. If there are any live ones left in the nest, they carry them close to the water and watch as the 2-inch babies swim in the ocean for the first time. And, even though there were still 13 nests on the islands during Hurricane Dorian, none of them were affected. Thanks to the turtle team, the number of babies hatching and reaching the ocean has increased substantially. Possibly because of nest protection efforts along the Atlantic coast, the survival to adulthood also has improved from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 1,000. “I credit all our volunteers out there who patrol the beaches every single day,” said Pringle. She proudly concluded, “We had a great season.” Loggerhead Turtles Most Nests Ever on State and Local Beaches By Tonya McGue Photos by Barbara J. Bergwerf. Members of the Island Turtle Team help hatchlings reach the water safely.