St. George Island
2009 Sea Turtle Season
Summary
122 nests marked for protection and monitoring
106 False Crawls
(false crawls are when a turtle emerges from the water and returns without nesting)35 nests washed away
during T. S. Claudette and during a high tide and south wind on 9/12.20 nests were washed over
by T. S. Claudette and the 9/12 high tide and south wind event.(nests are often laid too close to the water when turtles are disturbed by lights or human activity and wash away or have fewer hatched eggs)
86 nests were evaluated for hatchling success
6013 hatched eggs were counted
3401 unhatched eggs were counted
9 nests were disoriented by lights
on 4 occasions the skyglow from the commercial area contributed to the disorientation
18 houses may have contributed to the disorientations.
569 visitors
attended the 13 "Turtle Talks" given at the Jay Abbot Fire Station