January 22, 2009

Loggerhead nesting for 2008 was 7th highest year on record

loggerhead turtle on the beachIt’s great to hear that 2008 was a great year for loggerhead turtle nest sightings – 3x better than 2004 sightings – but it’s still a far cry from previous highs. The Marine Turtle Conservation Program website has lots of data if you want more information.

Meanwhile, SeaTurtle.org shows Charleston County has the most stranded turtle nests in SC (possibly due to it’s long coastline), and most of those were loggerheads:

Loggerhead Green Kemp’s Ridley Leatherback Hawksbill No ID Total
Beaufort 6 2 9 1 0 0 18
Charleston 37 3 11 2 0 0 53
Colleton 1 1 2 0 0 1 5
Georgetown 10 4 3 0 0 1 18
Horry 20 0 2 1 0 1 24
Jasper 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 74 10 27 4 0 3 118

The main threat to adult loggerhead turtles is shrimp trawls, and crab nets and shrimp trawls threaten Kemp’s Ridley turtles too.

yellow bellied slider florida box turtle florida cooter florida softshell turtle eastern painted turtle chicken turtle common snapping turtle spiny softshell turtle eastern river cooter turtle


What do you think about that?


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