Hurricane Erin destroys sea turtle nests along North Carolina beach as volunteers scramble to save remaining eggs
As Hurricane Erin churned off the North Carolina coast this week, its powerful waves destroyed most of the remaining sea turtle nests on Emerald Isle, dealing a blow to what had been shaping up as a successful nesting season.
"Out of our 10 remaining nests, we've probably lost eight of them," Dale Baquer, president of the volunteer group Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Patrol, told ABC News.
The losses started Monday, before the Category 2 hurricane made its closest approach to the coast, Baquer said, noting that they began the nesting season with 23 nests. Thirteen had successfully hatched before the storm but only two nests now remain viable after Erin's impact.
"We knew it was coming, but the waves were a bit higher and sooner than we had hoped," Baquer said. Unlike some other states that allow relocating eggs to hatcheries, North Carolina prioritizes keeping the hatching process natural, she said.
The Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Patrol coordinates 280 volunteers who monitor the area's 13-mile stretch of beach, according to Baquer. From May through August, volunteers conduct daily morning walks searching for turtle tracks and new nests. Each nest typically contains between 80 to 150 eggs, Baquer said.
"When they see tracks, they call me and I send out a team to help dig and locate the eggs," Baquer explained.
The group takes one egg from each nest for DNA studies at the University of Georgia. To protect hatchlings from becoming disoriented by light pollution, volunteers dig trenches from nests to the ocean.
"If lights are on at houses on the island, turtles will head that way. Our trenches help guide them in the right direction to the ocean," Baquer said.
The primary turtle species nesting in North Carolina is the loggerhead sea turtle, which nests every two to four years, Baquer said. Through DNA studies, researchers found these turtles typically lay about three nests per season in North Carolina, with nesting occurring every 14 days.
While Hurricane Erin's impact was significant, Baquer noted that king tides – naturally occurring, exceptionally high tides caused by the moon's peak influence – typically cause more nest losses than tropical storms or hurricanes. However, Baquer said her team wasn't expecting Erin to have the impact that it did.
"We weren't expecting another king tide cycle until September," she said.
For those wanting to help protect sea turtles, Baquer emphasized simple actions beachgoers can take: "Fill in holes on the beach, pick up trash, turn out lights at night, and remove equipment from the beach."
She also stressed the importance of reporting any sea turtles spotted out of the water.
"We don't have the type of turtles that come out and bask in the sun," Baquer said. "Whenever somebody sees a sea turtle out of the water, it needs to be called into a local group because they're either sick, they're nesting, or something's wrong."
The Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Patrol currently has a two-year waiting list for new members, who must commit to at least 25 hours of service during the nesting season, according to Baquer
