What you can do to help Sea Turtles

From May through August, Loggerhead Sea Turtles come ashore at night to make a nest and lay their eggs. The hatchlings emerge from these nests from mid July through September. The Loggerhead Sea Turtle is a threatened or endangered species and as such is protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. If you see someone harassing a sea turtle or poaching a nest, call 911.

How You Can Help

It is normal for sea turtles to be crawling on the beach on summer nights. Call Fripp Island Security if you think the animal is in a dangerous situation or has wandered well of the beach.
Remove all debris from the beach, especially plastics (e.g., cups, bottles, bags, fishing line). This will prevent them from being swept into the ocean by winds or high tides and mistaken as a food source by sea turtles, dolphin, and fish. Do not dispose of plastic bags in the ocean. Plastic bags in the ocean very closely resemble a favorite food of sea turtles (jellyfish) and will cause death or illness to the turtle that eats them.
Remove furniture from the beach to prevent nesting loggerheads from becoming entangled in chairs.
Fill in holes created by "kids" at play. This will enable the tiny hatchlings to speed along their way to the ocean without getting trapped or disoriented. Watching a hatchling struggle to crawl out of a footprint increases awareness of their point of view and their obstacle-filled course.

Stay clear of marked sea turtle nests on the beach. Disturbing a Sea Turtle nest is a violation of state and federal law.

Resist the urge to approach a crawling or nesting sea turtle. Instead observe the activity from a safe distance off to one side. Never get between the turtle and the ocean. Nesting is a critical stage in the sea turtle's life cycle. Please leave them undisturbed.

Artificial lights affect the nesting and hatching of sea turtles. Brightly lit beaches are a deterrent to nesting females and a deathtrap for hatchlings. They fail to find their way to the ocean before dawn and become the victims of ghost crabs and gulls, or die from dehydration in the morning sun. Dark beaches are critical to sea turtle survival.

We ask our guests to not use any flashlights and porch lights on the beach during this time as any artificial light disorients and disturbs the turtles. Please read and adhere to the Beaufort County Lighting Ordinance.

Call Fripp Island Security at 838 2334 to report all stranded (dead, injured, or otherwise immobile) adult turtles.

Thank You for doing your part to help to Save "So Excellent A Fishe".

A. Natoli 7/21/2009