Go Wild All Night – Join a Turtle Watch!
Not everyone likes to hit the bars on summer nights. Some people hit the beaches. In summer, North Carolina's beaches are the northernmost nesting area for loggerhead turtles, fascinating creatures threatened with extinction. All along our shores, people concerned for the survival of these ancient denizens turn out on summer nights to help protect their nests and hatchlings.
The loggerhead (Caretta caretta) is among the largest of the sea turtles. Adults average more than 3 feet in length and weigh about 300 pounds. Between early May and late October, the mother turtle creeps ashore at the very spot where she herself was hatched, to lay her eggs along the dunes above the high-water line. She covers them over to incubate them in the warm sand. A single female may lay 120 spherical eggs at once and repeat the process up to six times a season.
The hatchlings begin to appear in July, with the peak hatching period being September. Hatching usually occurs at night, an entire nest erupting all at once into scores of cute, 3-inch-long hatchlings. Getting across the beach strand and into the water is a perilous journey for the little critters. The baby turtles make a great meal for ravenous crabs, gulls and raccoons, which is why loggerhead moms lay eggs in such great numbers. The hatchlings can even get stranded in a human footprint.
A
loggerhead mom lays her eggs in a nest high above the waterline.
Photo: Scott Taylor
This is where humans can help. Under the auspices of the North Carolina Wildlife Commission, turtle conservation programs along our coast provide much-needed protection to turtles and education to humans. Certain volunteers are trained to render emergency medical services. It is otherwise illegal even to touch such federally protected species unless they're injured or in serious distress.
Volunteers are always needed to assist with locating and marking nests. When nests are due to hatch, volunteers smooth out turtle runways to help the newborns in their run to the sea. The primary roles of the turtle project are to protect all marine turtles, to educate the public, to report turtle activity and to stay out of the turtles' way. As turtle-watchers are fond of saying, the right of a turtle to be is more important than our right to see.
The Topsail Turtle Project (TTP), organized in 1986, sponsors weekly talks for the public at the Surf City Town Hall, (910) 328-4131, on Thursday at 4 PM during the summer. It also provides free volunteer training in late April and maintains a small turtle exhibit at Town Hall.
Topsail Island gets an average of 100 turtle nests each year. It's easy to help, mainly by observing a few simple guidelines:
• Avoid disturbing a turtle crawling to or
from the ocean.
• Avoid leaving outdoor lights on all night, particularly at the oceanfront.
Lights can disorient turtles and cause them to lose their direction.
• Keep a respectful distance from nesting turtles and don't shine lights in
their eyes or harass them in any way. (Besides, it's illegal.) Sit quietly
and watch nature take its marvelous course.
• Report turtle sightings and turtle tracks (they may indicate the location
of a nest). Adult turtle tracks look like single bulldozer tracks heading
straight into the water.
• Never disturb a nest. This also means avoiding the dune line in nesting
season when driving off-road vehicles on the beach. Known nests are clearly
marked with brightly colored ribbon.
• Pick up trash. That's right! Keeping beaches clean will help reduce the
need for sanitation machinery that can crush turtle eggs.
You can help. Volunteering requires
commitment and hard work (and some loss of sleep). Or you can simply notify
qualified turtle watchers at the numbers below when you see turtles or signs
of nests.
Wrightsville Beach, (910) 791-4541
Carolina Beach, Kure Beach, (910) 458-0015
Southport, Oak Island, (910) 278-5518
Caswell Beach, (910) 278-4507
Holden Beach, (910) 842-7242; pager (910) 754-0766
Ocean Isle Beach, (910) 579-9513; pager (910) 754-1272
Sunset Beach, (910) 579-2994 or (910) 579-5862
Topsail Island, (910) 328-1000
To report dead turtles and violations
anywhere in North Carolina call (800) 662-7137. For more information call
the North Carolina Sea Turtle Project at (919) 729-1359.