OFTEN QUESTIONS COME UP AND MANY ARE CURIOUS AS TO HOW DID THE NMB STP
START? WHAT DO THEY DO? HOW HAS THE NMB STP VOLUNTEERS IMPACTED THIS
BEAUTIFUL ENDANGERED SEA TURTLE SPECIES?
Chuck has gone back from 2010 when the Patrol was Started to 2021, to research and analyze the data, he also had conversations with DNR. The numbers are not only interesting, but his Story shows just how impactful the NMB STP Volunteers have made to this endangered Sea Turtle Species.
Every year since 2010, from May through October, on the beautiful shores of North Myrtle Beach, volunteers participate in finding and protecting Sea Turtle nest. During the season these volunteers enjoy the brilliant sunrises, good exercise, the fellowship of like-mind people, and the excitement of finding a turtle crawl, a turtle nest, and sometimes even a sea turtle.
However, on some days during the season, these same volunteers get to experience a hot humid morning, a high tide that forces them to walk through the soft sand, and the occasional torrential down pour that soaks them to their bones. It is on these mornings that the common goal of protecting an endangered species and helping its population to flourish is what keeps the volunteers going.
So if that is the goal, then a couple of great questions to ask are "How are we doing?", and "Are we really making a difference or is all of this activity just fluff to make ourselves feel better?". Well the most objective way to answer these questions is to look at the data that has been collected in North Myrtle Beach since the inception of the Sea Turtle Program from which 2010.
Since 2010, 131 nest have been located and protected in North Myrtle Beach. Those nest contained 14,941 eggs from which 11,780 Sea Turtle Hatchlings emerged and made it to their way to the ocean. But does locating and protecting these nest really make a difference? The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources conducted a study of unmanaged (i.e. unprotected) nest in the 1970s and 1980s and found that only 8% of eggs had hatchlings emerge. So if left unprotected what would have happened to 14,941 eggs laid in North Myrtle Beach? Hang in there because here comes the MATH part:
If North Myrtle Beach's nests would of remained unprotected and only 8% of 14,941 eggs would have had hatchlings emerge, then only 1,195 hatchlings would of made it to the ocean.
Since the nest were protected an additional 10,585 hatchlings made it to the ocean who otherwise could of been destroyed be a predator (fox, coyote, racoon, etc.), submerged by high tides and storms, or unintentionally disturbed by humans.
So congratulations to all those volunteers that enjoy the spectacular sunrises and low tides, but also endure the hot humid mornings and down pours. There are an additional 10,585 sea turtle hatchlings that thank you for your efforts. You truly are making the difference.
Thank you Chuck.
Linda has written a little about the beginnings of the NMB STP
The North Myrtle Beach Sea Turtle Patrol was formed during the winter months of 2009-2010. Several volunteers from Waties Island would meet in the old NMB Library, now the NMB Historical Museum to work on establishing the Patrol, obtaining needed permits from DNR and most important, how to the long NMB Beaches, how many volunteers were needed and how to recruit valuable people. It was touch and go but we started walking NMB in the summer of 2010 with less than 50 volunteers. Before this, no patrol was on NMB, the beaches were never checked, crawls and possible nest were hardly recorded. Our first Season, 2010, we found and protected 9 nests.....our record season was 2019, 25 nest on NMB with an additional 2 relocated from MB. We added Briarcliffe and the region around Apache Pier to our Patrol.
Nest protection and Volunteer patrols started in the 1980's in SC with just a handful of DNR Employees and volunteers. Most nest protection started south in SC, in the Charleston and Hilton Head area....Nest protection took off in the 1990's. North Myrtle Beach was one of the last beaches to have an active Patrol, many thought with the building and other rapid beach development affecting the natural beaches, and the tourist industry with packed busy beaches, the turtles would ignore our beaches. We have not found this.
Record Nest all up and down our coast has increased since we started patrolling NMB. Since it takes about 30 years for Loggerheads to reach sexual maturity, the increase activity in nesting over the last 5 years could be the result of more turtles making it to maturity, more nest in SC surviving and more hatchlings making it to the water
Older picture of the NMB STP
Loggerhead Nests in SC 2011-2021
Published by DNR
No comments:
Post a Comment