2010 Sea Turtle Patrol Team

Jekyll Island’s beach is monitored every morning from May 1 through the end of hatching season, some time in October.  These patrols are often referred to as ‘Dawn Patrols’ because they begin as close to dawn as possible, with some influence from the tides.  During these patrols, we are looking for turtle tracks, from the previous night, from adult female turtles we encountered and those we may have missed.  We also use this time to inspect each nest individually for signs of animal depredation, human interference, tidal inundation, and/or signs of hatching.  Our beach monitoring program also involves nest excavations, conducted after a nest has hatched on its own for 5-7 days (as per our GADNR permit requirements).  Excavations are basically inventories on the contents of each nest that allow us to get an idea of hatching success rates, hatchling emergence success rates and rescue and release any ‘straggler’ hatchlings still in the nest.

In addition to dawn patrols, the GSTC conducts nighttime surveys (9pm-6am) beginning May 15 through the end of nesting season, sometime in August.  It is during these hours and patrols that we are conducting our Saturation Tagging efforts.   Saturation tagging was conducted on Jekyll Island continuously from 1972 through 1998. In 2007, with the inception of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center (GSTC), saturation tagging was once again conducted. Saturation tagging is when a trained, permitted project checks for existing tags on nesting female turtles and applies new tags as needed. All numbers and associated data is recorded and submitted to GADNR as required by the permit. The GSTC was given permission for all activities under a permit by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.  During these encounters each female also undergoes a visual physical exam, is measured and photographed for documentation purposes. GPS coordinates are also recorded for both nests and false crawls. A false crawl is when a turtle emerges from the ocean, but does not find an appropriate spot to lay her nest and returns to the sea without laying any eggs at a location.

Comparison of a Flipper tag vs. PIT tag

The turtles are tagged with 2 types of tags (pictured left): Inconal metal flipper tags and a Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT tag) . The flipper tags were applied using specialized crimpers (below).

The tags were provided by the Dept. of Zoology in Gainesville, FL and are part of the world-wide tagging database moderated at the Archie Carr Nature Refuge. The tags were placed on the 2nd scale of each front flipper and have a letter-number series that is unique to our beach (left).

In addition, turtles were scanned with a PIT tag scanner (right) for an existing PIT tag.  If none were found, a PIT tag was placed subcutaneously in the right shoulder. Each PIT tag has a unique identification number. All data was recorded on approved GADNR Index Nesting Cards.

Overall Historical Nesting Numbers 1972-2009

Results for 2007:
-Nests per female on Jekyll Island, GA only

Results for 2008:
-Nests per female on Jekyll Island, GA only
-Nests per female on Jekyll Island, GA INCLUDING other GA islands

In addition, you can find more information about sea turtle nesting in Georgia on the new nesting database at http://www.seaturtle.org/nestdb/ or just click the widget!