2017 was a bad year for Hilton Head's sea turtles. 2018 could be worse

Last year was a bad one for sea turtles nesting on Hilton Head Island.

And this year isn't looking much better.

According to Amber Kuehn, the manager of the Hilton Head Island Sea Turtle Protection Project, the extended cold weather the Lowcountry experienced this winter puts this year's nesting season at risk.

"The last time we had water temperatures drop, in 2014, we saw a 62 percent decrease in nests statewide and on Hilton Head," she said.

That decline is because the sustained cold water temperatures deplete the supply of the Loggerhead food sources such as crustaceans and shellfish.

Female Loggerheads expend a lot of energy coming to shore and laying eggs, she said. When food sources are depleted, females might not feel up to the task.

The longer-term good news is that the last time sea turtle nests decreased because of cold temperatures, nesting was normal the next year, Kuehn said.

Erin Weeks, spokesperson for the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, said that overall, the last five years have seen a general increase numbers of sea turtle nests.

"Last year was not quite as high as the record-breaking year we had in 2016, but it was still good" she said. "Sea turtle nesting is actually pretty cyclical because the females don't nest every year. So some years we have higher numbers than others."

Weeks attributes the lower number of nests in 2014 to the cyclical pattern of nesting. It was a low year for the state as a whole, she said.

There were 131 nests on Hilton Head in 2014, Weeks said.

In 2015, there were 325 nests. In 2016, there were 411. Last year, there were 325.

Another concern for this season carries over from last year — the dunes were wiped out by Hurricane Matthew and Tropical Storm Irma.

"The dunes will take years to recover," Kuehn said. "And that's a problem because of light pollution. In the past, we haven't had a problem. But now the turtles can see everything — lighting, landscape — everything."

According to the Sea Turtle Conservancy, a nonprofit founded in 1959 to help sea turtles survive in the Caribbean, Atlantic and Pacific, hatchlings are believed to instinctively follow the brightest path, which is often the moon reflecting on the ocean.

"Excess lighting from the nearshore buildings and streets draw hatchlings toward land, where they may be eaten, run over or drown in swimming pools," according to the group's website.

Weeks said disorientation can be seen after the fact by sea turtle tracks that run parallel to the beach, never turning toward the ocean.

"We see hatchling tracks that go a long way parallel to the shoreline, rather than to the shoreline," she said. "And it ends, and you have to assume a raccoon or a bird picked them up."

The solution is to reduce artificial lighting, an answer enforced by the town's Sea Turtle Protection ordinance. The ordinance requires one to reduce artificial lighting visible from the beach starting at 10 p.m. between May 1 and Oct. 31.

The town is working to restore dunes lost in Hurricane Matthew and Tropical Storm Irma, which will ultimately benefit the sea turtles, according to Kuehn.

As part of the town's dune restoration project, 10 miles of sand fencing is being installed along the beach. Scott Liggett, the town's director of public projects and facilities and chief engineer, said vegetation will also be planted along the fence line.

The fences are angled in such a way that sea turtles who approach them can find their way out, he said.

"It's a standardized design," Weeks said. "Even the largest species of sea turtles we get here in South Carolina — the leatherback — can safely make it through the fencing."

Kuehn said the sand fencing does not affect sea turtle nesting habits.

The town is also raking beaches across the island to make the sand more suitable for nesting.

This story was originally published March 22, 2018 at 1:39 PM with the headline "2017 was a bad year for Hilton Head's sea turtles. 2018 could be worse."