2023 has been another record setting sea turtles nesting season here in the Palmetto State, with beaches all over South Carolina getting into the sea turtle fun.
2023 saw the third highest total number of sea turtle nests in a single season along beaches in South Carolina since record keeping began in the early 1980s, according to the totals from seaturtle.org.
In 2019, a whopping 8,798 loggerhead sea turtle nests were laid on state beaches, a South Carolina record. That was followed by 7,995 in 2022.
2023 produced 6,629 nests along Palmetto State beaches, the third highest total to date.
According to this year’s statistics, those nests yielded a total of over 387,000 baby sea turtles that made their way across the South Carolina sand into the Atlantic Ocean.
SCDNR oversees a network of volunteers who help staff count nests. Volunteers and staff from Hunting and Hilton Head Islands have both reported very high nest counts and beaches all over the Lowcountry and the rest of the state have reported the same.
According to SCDNR, altogether more than 1100 individuals participate in nest monitoring activities in South Carolina each year. The data collected are crucial in monitoring populations, formulating protective regulations, making management decisions, and maximizing reproduction for recovery.
As of the October 21st, Hunting Island State Park has seen a new season record of 195 nests; Fripp Island has had 118; Hilton Head Island reported 353 nests; Daufuskie Island has seen 75; Edisto Beach State Park has had 304 while Edisto town beach had 189; Pritchards Island has seen 76 nests; and Harbor Island has enjoyed 108 nests this season.
Even little Coffin Point Beach on St. Helena Island has had a near-record year with 22 nests. Smaller yet, Lands End beach on St. Helena Island even had 4 nests this year, as did Parris Island.
The 2023 season began right on time with a May 2nd nest laid on South Island, near Georgetown, SC. And it ended with the last nest reported being dug up by a momma turtle on September 4th at Edisto Town Beach.
The first hatch of the 2023 season occurred on Lighthouse Island on July 14th.
A high number of ‘day nesters,’ or female sea turtles that come ashore to nest in broad daylight instead of more typical darkness, has also been documented in 2023. The increased number of day nesters could be because of dry sand conditions, which can hinder a sea turtle’s efforts to dig a nest cavity, or harassment during night emergence, a release said.
Record-breaking years have become increasingly common across the Southeast recently, and sea turtle biologists are optimistic that the trend signals the beginning of recovery for loggerhead sea turtles, whose nests make up the vast majority of nests here in the Palmetto State. Loggerhead turtles were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1978.
State and federal law prohibits the harm of or interference with sea turtles or their nests. Harassment includes any activity that changes a sea turtle’s natural behavior, ranging from approaching nesting females to take photos to ‘assisting’ hatchlings on their path to the ocean.
“Sea turtles are wild animals,” said biologist Michelle Pate, director of SCDNR’s sea turtle program. “Let nature take its course.”
If we continue to let nature take its course….we might just keep having record years like these.
Here’s hoping.
