Starting on May 1st, volunteers begin a dawn patrol of the beach searching for turtle crawls and possible nests.
Once a sea turtle crawl is found, a team of turtle patrol volunteers assembles at the crawl location to find the eggs.
If the nest is in an unsafe location, the nest will be carefully moved to a safer area on the beach. The nest site is then covered with a protective grating and marked off with stakes, ribbon and a warning sign. For the next 50-70 days of incubation the nest will be monitored for signs of an impending hatching.
At that time, turtle patrol members will start a nightly watch on the nest until all of the hatchlings are released. The nest is then opened and an inventory is taken to account for any unhatched or non-fertile egg and insure that all live babies make it to the ocean.
This process is repeated with each and every nest. The season ends in October when the last nest hatches.
The Holden Beach Turtle Watch Program, (aka Turtle Patrol) was founded in 1989 to monitor and protect the sea turtle population on Holden Beach.
This all volunteer, nonprofit conservation organization operates under the authority of the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (ES Permit 25ST11).