What do you do if you see a sea turtle?

 

The Mighty Sea Turtle

Every year a cycle of life occurs on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore when female sea turtles return to the beaches where they were born to lay the next generation. The sea turtle emerges from the ocean to make her way ponderously up the beach where, after crawling to a place she deems appropriate, she digs a hole with her back flippers to lay her eggs. Once she covers the nest, this majestic reptile slowly makes her way back to the ocean using light cues. The nesting process can take between 1-3 hours to complete. A couple of months later, the nest seems to boil over as tiny turtles struggle out of their shells, out of their nest, and, out across a beach full of hazards by the light of the moon to their new home - the ocean.

 

Sea turtles, some of the largest living reptiles, are long-lived, cold-blooded, air breathing, migratory, and spend almost their entire lives in the sea. They range in size from the smallest species weighing 75-100 pounds to the largest species weighing almost 2,000 pounds. Visitors can tell the difference between a land or pond turtle and a sea turtle by their front limbs. Sea turtles have flippers, wheras land and pond turtles have feet with claws.

There are five species of sea turtles found along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore – the leatherback, hawksbill (rarely seen), Kemp’s ridley, loggerhead and green. While all five of these sea turtle species can be found in Seashore waters throughout the year, it is the female loggerheads, greens and occasional leatherbacks that nest on these beaches, which are considered to be the extreme northern limits of their nesting grounds.

Nesting Habits

Although sea turtles live most of their lives in the ocean, only adult females return to land to lay their eggs. They often migrate long distances between foraging grounds and nesting beaches. Generally nocturnal nesters, sea turtles nest on sandy beaches with minimal disturbance between April and November. The 100 or so eggs in the nest will incubate for two to three months with the temperature of the sand determining the gender of the hatchlings – warmer sand will develop mostly females, cooler sand produces mostly males. As a result of this, our coastline produces the majority of the male population for the entire North-Atlantic subpopulation, which extends from the Florida/Georgia border to Virginia.

 

While eggs are incubating the nests are highly vulnerable to weather events and predators as well as other types of disturbance such as a curious animals or persons digging up the nest. Once the incubation period has passed, the hatchlings make their way out of their shells and slowly make their way up and out of the sand. Once they are on the beach, they must use light-cues and magnetic fields to find their way to the ocean. If they make it to the ocean, these tiny reptiles will swim for twenty-four to thirty-six hours to reach the Gulf Stream and the seaweed “nurseries” where they will be protected for the next ten years. It is estimated that only one in 1,000-10,000 hatchlings survives to maturity.

 

The park’s beaches have been consistently monitored since 1987. Nest numbers here have fluctuated greatly in the last two decades with the fewest in 1987 at eleven and the peak of 99 in 2002. In 2004, only forty-three nests were recorded on the Seashore, possibly as a result of Hurricane Isabel (2003). Since then turtle nest numbers have been steadily rising in the park with seventy-three in 2005, seventy-six in 2006, and eighty-two in 2007. These eighty-two nests, including one rare leatherback nest, constituted 14.5% of North Carolina’s total nests for the year. In 2008, sea turtle nest numbers reached an all time high with 112 total nests.

Why Protect Sea Turtles?
The greatest threat to sea turtle survival is human activity including: the loss of nesting habitat due to coastal development, drowning in fishing gear, being hit by boats, disturbance of nesting beaches (development, beach lighting, sea walls, jetties, items left on the beach overnight, and nighttime activity on the beach), pollution and non-degradable debris in the ocean, and harvesting of eggs and adults for food and commercial goods. Although we may not be able to stop all of these things from affecting certain species, conservation and protection of fish, wildlife, and plants can only benefit the planet for, according to the Endangered Species Act (ESA), these species “are of esthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational, and scientific value to the Nation and its people.”

Like all National Parks, the seashore is a special place that was established to help uphold the National Park Service’s mission “to preserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.” Conserving endangered species is an important part of this mission and a responsibility of all those who would be stewards of Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

 

Sea turtles were placed under the protection of the ESA including the five species found in the Seashore’s waters with the Kemp’s ridley, leatherback and hawksbill listed as Endangered, the loggerhead as Threatened, and the green as Threatened in its entire range except in the breeding populations in Florida and on Mexico’s Pacific coast, where it is listed as Endangered.

 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: IF YOU SEE A SEA TURTLE

If you see a nesting sea turtle (May – September): Watching a sea turtle lay her eggs is an amazing experience that many visitors at Cape Hatteras National Seashore have had the privilege to enjoy! However, nesting turtles can become disoriented by flashlights, loud noise, and pets. If you see a nesting female, please keep your distance (at least 30 ft) and remain quiet during her time on the beach. Turn off all flashlights, and please DO NOT use flash photography. Also, please keep pets out of the area. As the turtle comes up on the beach, do not block her path in any way. This could cause the turtle to lay her nest below the high tide line, where the eggs may be washed away. You can alert biologists to the location of the nest by calling (252) 216-6892.

If you see a live turtle on the beach that is NOT nesting (all year): Cape Hatteras National Seashore often finds sea turtles washed ashore alive and dead. Live sea turtles should only be on the beach if they are nesting, so all live turtles on the beach that are not nesting are either sick, injured, or cold stunned due to low water temperatures. It is very important to get all of these animals into rehab as soon as possible so that they can hopefully receive treatment and later be released. If you see a live turtle on the beach, please immediately call the Lead Sea Turtle Bio-technician at (252) 216-6892.

If you see a dead sea turtle (all year): Dead sea turtles, even ones that are really smelly, provide vital information about the sea turtle population off of Cape Hatteras. If you see a dead turtle, please report it at (252) 216-6892. If the turtle has already been responded to, it will have orange spray paint on the shell. Please remember that all species of sea turtles are protected under the Endangered Species Act, and it is, therefore, illegal to take, own, buy, or sell any sea turtle part. This includes skulls, shells, claws, etc.

If you catch a sea turtle in a net or on a fishing line (all year): If you are a fisherman and happen to catch a sea turtle in your net or on a fishing line, please call (252) 216-6892. Even if the turtle is alive and looks fine, they can develop later complications that can result in their death. You will not be in trouble for catching these turtles, we only want to ensure that they receive treatment and can later be released.