Tybee Island prepares for sea turtle nesting season

TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. (WTOC) - Turtle season officially kicks off Saturday on Tybee Island as loggerhead sea turtles begin nesting on the island’s beaches.

Volunteers with the Tybee Sea Turtle Project are preparing for six months of turtle duty to protect the nests.

“It’s a balancing game of how much do we intervene to protect them while keeping it as natural as possible,” said Amy Capello, a volunteer with the Tybee Sea Turtle Project.

Daily patrols and overnight stakeouts

Volunteers permitted and trained by the Department of Natural Resources walk beaches daily, marking any nests they find.

When nests show signs of hatching, volunteers go on turtle stakeouts, sitting by the nests into the early morning to give hatchlings the best chance at survival.

“There is nothing so amazing than standing on the beach in the middle of the night with a star filled sky and a hundred little baby sea turtles at your feet making their way to the water,” Capello said.

How beachgoers can help

The main rule of turtle season is to not touch the animals or their nests.

Residents and tourists can help by keeping beaches clean, flat and dark. After a beach day, pick up trash and knock down or fill in any sandcastles and holes made.

Sea turtles use the light of the horizon to get to the ocean, so human emitted light can cause problems. The City of Tybee Island enforces a Lights Out Program, requiring beach front structures to turn off artificial lights at 9 p.m. The program begins May 1st and lasts until October 31st.

Experts advise beachgoers to not use flashlights once the sun goes down.

“If you absolutely feel like you have to, you can use a red filtered flash light, but even then I would encourage you to turn it on and off as necessary,” Capello said.

Conservation efforts showing results

Conservation efforts are led by Tybee Island Marine Science Center. Program Director Alli Caldwell said the impact is clear.

“We’re starting to see it pay off, in 2004 there were 400 nests in the state of Georgia, and in 2022 we had 4,000,” Caldwell said.

A major issue on Tybee is erosion. The island has lost 60 percent of its shoreline in recent years, according to the Mayor.

While erosion does cause concern for nesting season, it is nothing new for volunteers.

“We do relocate nests if needed, so if we don’t think that it’s in a good spot, we’ll move it,” Caldwell said.

If you see an unmarked nest on Tybee beaches, do not touch it. Call the Marine Science Center and they will send staff out to make sure the eggs are protected. If it is outside of business hours, call the Tybee Police non-emergency line, who will get in contact with volunteers.