Sea turtles nest at record rate in Georgia

[depakid]

t's been a good year for Georgia's sea turtles. As of Friday, loggerhead sea turtles had laid 1,737 nests along the coast, from Savannah to St. Mary's. The previous record high for this threatened species was 1,646 in 2008.

And that number could go higher. The network of volunteers and biologists who patrol the state's beaches for signs of turtles all summer found eight nests of unknown species, plus four from green turtles and four from the gigantic leatherbacks, the world's largest turtle.

Still, Georgia sea turtle coordinator Mark Dodd isn't celebrating just yet. "We have seen an exciting trend in the nesting data over the last couple years, but we are not quite ready to say the species is in a period of recovery," he said. "Scientists are very cautious by nature, and we need to have a high level of confidence that there is a real trend in the nesting data as opposed to one that might occur by chance."

What will it take to convince this skeptical turtle researcher that Georgia's loggerheads are out of the woods? Not too much more. "One more average or above average nesting year, and we will have a statistically increasing trend in the data," he said.

Cumberland Island, the state's largest barrier island, led the nesting this summer with 480 nests. "We keep expecting nesting to end, but they just keep coming," Dodd said. "It's like they just don't want to stop. While most of the rest of the coast hasn't had a nest in several weeks, Cumberland had three last week."

Nesting season runs from May until September.

Tybee saw 10 nests, not a record for the island - that was 11 nests in 2007 - but close. Uninhabited Little Tybee had 16. Also in Chatham County, Wassaw Island posted a record 160 nests by late last week, said Kris Williams, director of the Caretta Research Project, which has been tracking nests there since 1973.

"We had 141 in 2006, so we beat it by 19," she said. "We had 159 loggerhead nests and then we had a green turtle." (Since then Wassaw recorded another loggerhead nest, bringing its total to 161.) The green was the same mama turtle who laid her eggs on Wassaw in 2003.

"It took her a while, and then she came back," Williams said. Williams would like to think the record year is the result of all the conservation efforts volunteers and staff have put into Georgia beaches in the past three decades.

More: http://savannahnow.com/news/2010-09-04/sea-turtles-nest-record-rate-georgia

[jdlh8894]

1. NEAT!

I think each nest holds an average of appox. 100 eggs. It's great to watch them hatch and head to sea when the moon is just rising.A shame that only about a third of them will survive their first year.

[xchrom]

2. Awesome. I hope the results stay as great and continue to grow. Nt

[stuntcat]

3. I heart sea turtles!

too late to rec! :kick:

The people who helped them are heroes.