One in a thousand survive
Turtles face treacherous journey
Loggerhead sea turtles begin
crawling ashore to nest in May and
continue nesting through late
August. Hatching continues from
August through October.
On Oak Island and Bald Head
Island last nesting season, a total of
174 nests, 20,696 eggs and 16,556
hatchlings were reported.
Of those hatchlings, however, only
16 are expected to survive to maturi
ty. Predators and boats are a com
mon cause of injury and death for
sea turtles, and pollution is posing
an increasing threat, said Long
Beach Turtle Watch coordinator Tina
Pritchard.
"Everytime a nesting female is
lost, you potentially lose ten thou
sand hatchlings that may have been
laid over a sea turtle's approximate
ly 50-year life span," she said.
This is particularly bad news for
sea turtles because only one in 1,000
hatchlings is expected to survive to
adulthood, Pritchard explained.
Once in the water, most hatchlings
fall victim to predators and pollu
tion.
Necropsies of three dead turtles
that washed ashore in the area last
year indicated that all of them had
ingested plastic, she added.
In Long Beach this year, a stray
dog destroyed nine nests of eggs
and one nest of hatchlings. Pritchard
and other volunteers tried unsuc
cessfully to trap the dog but were
not able to catch the canine in the
act.
Despite the threat to eggs and
hatchlings, Pritchard said the Turtle
Watch program has dramatically
increased the number of hatchlings
released each year. But because it
takes 20 to 30 years for a loggerhead
to reach sexual maturity, she said it
may be decades before the results of
Turtle Watch programs are seen.
"I know this has to be making a
difference, but it might not happen
until after we're gone," she said.
During nesting season, residents
and visitors are asked to be on the
lookout for sea turtles crossing
Beach Drive at night. Several have
been killed there in recent years.
Anyone who sees a sea turtle is
asked to immediately notify the
Long Beach Police Department, 278
5595.

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