Sea turtle eggs stolen from island nests
BY TRAVIS LOLLER, The Island Packet
Published Friday, August 19th, 2005

Poachers hit seven loggerhead sea turtle nests on a Hilton Head Island beach, the worst such incident in recent years.
All of the nests, which held an estimated 125 eggs each, were in an area between the Folly and the Westin Resort that is "easy access with no buildings or houses," said Carlos Chacon with the Sea Turtle Protection Project. The nests were laid between May 31 and July 14 and probably were poached within a day or two of being laid.


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The poaching is very disheartening, Chacon said, because it undermines the efforts of so many people who are trying to save the species. The loggerhead is on the federal endangered species list, and the population has been decreasing by 3 percent a year since records began in 1980.
For every 10,000 hatchlings, only one survives to adulthood, scientists estimate. So even in a good year, Hilton Head produces only a few turtles that are expected to survive and breed and come back to the island.

"The species is in danger of disappearing," Chacon said.

Charlotte Hope, a biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources, said the turtle eggs are a traditional food source in the Sea Islands and parts of Latin America. They also are considered an aphrodisiac by some people. The eggs could have been taken for either of those reasons.

It seems likely that at least some of the eggs were sold because one person probably would not consume so many eggs.

Some nests are poached nearly every year on Hilton Head. In 2001, five nests were poached and hundreds of eggs taken.

But this year was particularly bad. In a typical year there are not more than about six nests poached in all of South Carolina, Hope said.

It is illegal to interfere with the turtles, which are South Carolina's state reptile. Chacon said the person who poached the nests probably knew that because the thief stole eggs from an isolated stretch of beach and covered the nests back up after removing the eggs.

State penalties for stealing turtle eggs are a $1,000 fine and up to one year in jail or both and could be applied per egg, said Sgt. David Vaughn of the Department of Natural Resources. Charges also could be brought under the federal Lacey Act that prohibits the transport of wildlife taken illegally. A conviction could lead to a fine of $250,000 and five years in federal prison per egg.

In 1999, an island man was convicted in federal court for stealing turtle eggs, but Vaughn said the chances of finding the thief this time are slim because the poaching was not discovered for several weeks.

The last poaching probably was in mid-July. Last week, Hope and volunteers with the Sea Turtle Protection Project dug into a nest on a tip and found that all the eggs had been taken. They then examined other nests in the area and found six more empty.

Lights on the beach also have been a problem this year, Chacon said. Lights from buildings as well as flashlights can draw hatchlings away from the ocean and toward the sand dunes, where the disoriented turtles are likely to die. Some are eaten by ants and ghost crabs, others bake in the sun, while still others make it to the ocean eventually but are too weak to swim to the Gulf Stream.

Town officials decided before the nesting season began in May that town enforcement agents would not patrol the beach at night, as they have in years past. Instead they would rely on beachgoers to report bright lights on the beach, which are illegal from May to October.

Data from turtle project field coordinator Kim Jones show an estimated 16 percent of hatchlings have gone the wrong way upon hatching this year as opposed to an estimated 10 percent last year. It is very important the beaches remain dark through October, she said.

"We're at a critical period right now," Jones said. "It's right in the middle of hatching season."