Sea turtle update: Grand Strand has dozens of nests, volunteers staying ‘very busy’
Grand Strand volunteers who check and report on sea turtle nestings are “very busy” this season with a record amount of nests on beaches, a local sea turtle enthusiast group says.
As of Monday, there have been 23 nests laid in Myrtle Beach, up from five nests in 2018, according to South Carolina Department of Natural Resources’ sea turtle nest monitoring system. There have been 19 reported nests in North Myrtle Beach, four in Surfside and 24 in Garden City, the monitoring system reports.
Mari Axson Armstrong with Garden City/Surfside South Carolina United Turtle Enthusiasts said the team of volunteers is “very busy” monitoring beaches and their work is a “total labor of love.”
“Our team of over 40 volunteers are keeping very busy between looking for new nests every morning, as well as checking every one of the 28 nests currently incubating on Garden City Beach daily, sometimes more than once a day,” she said.
Other portions along the Grand Strand have also seen nests, like seven reported in Briarcliffe Acres, two at Myrtle Beach State Park, 27 in Pawleys Island and together 22 in North and South Litchfield, online records show.
SCDNR started counting nests by ground in the 1980s, said Erin Weeks with SCDNR. The most nests reported in a year since DNR began counting was 6,446 in 2016, Weeks said.
As of Monday, there have been more than 6,600 sea turtle nests laid on South Carolina beaches, up from 2,767 nests last year. Nesting season runs from May to October.
There were 36 nests laid from North Myrtle Beach to Huntington Beach State Park in 2018 compared to 116 sea turtle nests laid in 2017.
This story was originally published July 8, 2019 at 4:04 PM.
