It's a beautiful, beautiful area and it's
a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be able
to come out here with the school owning
the island. Coastal Carolina University
does own part of the two and a half mile
long Waties Island and uses it, in
part, as an outdoor classroom. We just
have a great resource right at our
fingertips for our students to get out
to the island and do different types of
research. On this day the students along
with a group of local volunteers are
out to walk the beach. We are out here
monitoring sea turtle nests. At this time
of year, this is an everyday event. They
are looking for nesting turtles in,
beginning in May, through, really through
August. Erin Dean is not just a Marine
Science major, but she's also president
of Coastal's Sea Turtle Club. I
specifically want to do sea turtle
rehabilitation at sea turtle centers and
helping them be rehabilitated and be
able to be re-released back into the
ocean once they are healthy again. Waties
Island is a good place to get sea turtle
experience.
Sea turtles seem to like Waties Island.
There are seven species of sea turtles
in the world. They're all endangered. There
are some that are more endangered than
others. Sea turtle nests
typically contain around 120 eggs. If
even one turtle from one of those eggs
reaches maturity, it's a great success.
The stats on how often a hatchling
survives is really low. There's about one
in a thousand chance, actually, so it's a
very small chance so we do everything we
can to try to make sure that they get
that opportunity.
There are indications that the health of
at least some sea turtle species is
improving. The South Carolina Department
of Natural Resources has been tracking
sea turtle nesting for the last 30 years
and they have been seeing a trend that's
increasing in the number of nests. Mario
Costello's approach is similar to that
of most students and volunteers in terms
of the chances of locating a nest on any
given morning. We get to clean up the
trash that we find so, I mean, we're doing
good for the environment and hope...
if we're lucky we get the nest.
On this morning, no new nests. We would
love to have a nest every day, but nature
doesn't work that way. In places where
there is a large human presence the discovery
of a nest, often means relocating it
to a safer spot. They only do that here
if the nest is below the high tide line.
On Waties Island we are letting nature
take its course for the most part. The
daily walks do provide an opportunity to
monitor nests that are already in place.
We're just making sure that no predators
have gotten into them, they haven't been
disturbed. Here though, the turtles and
their nests don't really need caretakers.
We are really there to collect data as
part of an international database. One
feature of this daily exercise is that
students and volunteers, most of whom are
retired, work together. I think it's a
great outreach tool into the community.
Thus far this season, sea turtles have
laid a handful of nests on Waties Island.
One year we had 26 nests so let's hope
we have another great season. Each new
nest provides hope for sea turtles. It
just means that there's more sea turtles
that have the chance of being born.
Playing a role to help make that happen
can be pretty special. It makes me feel
like I'm doing something great. Sea
turtle monitoring on Waties Island will
continue through summer and into the
fall.
