It’s been an above average 2021 sea turtle nesting season here in the Palmetto State, with beaches all up and down the coast of South Carolina getting into the turtle fun.
A whopping 5,650 loggerhead sea turtle nests were laid in this season on state beaches, nearly 100 more than last year’s total of 5,561.
This year’s nest total is more than the past ten year average of 5,302 per year, which was bolstered by a record setting 2019 season when an amazing 8,795 nests were discovered.
This season’s nests yielded an estimated total of 521,300 eggs with an estimated 369,940 hatchlings emerging from the nests and making their way to the ocean.
Nearly every nest this season was attributed to Loggerhead sea turtles. Rare green sea turtles accounted for only five nests, and the rarer Kemps Ridley turtle only one, with no leatherback nests found in the state.
SCDNR oversees a network of volunteers across the state who help its staff count sea turtle nests. Volunteers and staff from Hunting and Fripp Islands have reported solid nest counts all year and beaches all over the Lowcountry sea islands and the rest of the state have reported the same.
Local Beaufort beaches
Our local Beaufort area beaches had a good year as well.
Hilton Head’s beaches saw 283 nests this season. Hunting Island had 130 sea turtle nests and the beaches in Edisto had a total of 323 nests in 2021. Fripp Island saw 80 nests, Daufuskie Island 81, while 64 were found on Pritchards Island and 82 on Little Capers Island. Coffin Point Beach on St. Helena Island had a total of 23 nests this season, 65 on Harbor Island and 5 were found on St. Phillips Island.
Even Parris Island got into the fun this year with 8 nests and 4 were found at Land’s End next to Fort Fremont on St. Helena Island.
Surprises along the way
The 2021 season began on time with a May 5th nest found on Seabrook Island starting off the year. The first hatch of the 2021 season occurred along Edisto Beach on July 12th. Hilton Head saw a rare Green sea turtle nest this year.
Solid, above average seasons have been the norm 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.
Thanks to SCDNR for the 2021 statistics.
