● Mission Accomplished
Sea turtles come ashore in SA over the summer months to lay their eggs
A loggerhead turtle returns to the ocean near Kenton-on-Sea in the Eastern Cape this week after laying its eggs in the sand. Turtles are know to visit our shores in November, December and January.
In the coming weeks sea turtles may be spotted hauling themselves onto Eastern Cape beaches searching for a safe spot to lay their eggs.
East London museum scientist Kevin Cole said there had been various records of turtles, specifically the loggerhead, nesting on provincial shores during November, December and January.
The most recent sea turtle sighting occurred this week near Kenton-on-Sea. The species of turtle which swim in our “waters are the green, hawksbill, loggerhead and the leatherback sea turtles. Only the loggerheads and leatherbacks nest on our shores, preferring the subtropical waters and sandy beaches,” Cole said.
We have had a successful nesting record “from Chintsa Bay of a loggerhead depositing eggs during December and hatchlings recorded going back to sea early March. Other loggerhead turtle tracks have been recorded near the Quko River and the most recentwas a loggerhead photographed close to Kentonon-Sea this past Wednesday,” Cole said.
Unfortunately all seven sea turtle species are listed as either endangered or critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature s (IUCN) red list of
’ threatened species 2007.
With populations declining worldwide, it is increasingly important for the public to be aware of possible nests and hatchlings along our shores.
Having recently observed a female loggerhead nest on the beach at Bhanga Nek in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in KwaZulu-Natal, Cole said the egg-laying process was slow and meticulous, with females laying up to 120 eggs at a time and 500 eggs in one season. It was a very privileged occasion to watch “an almost 1m loggerhead drag herself up the beach and meticulously choose a site well up from the high-water mark to nest.
The eggs take between 47 and 66 days to “incubate and tiny hatchlings, between 39 to 49mm big, emerge at night to begin their life in the sea if they make it to the water safely. A sad fact is that only four in 1,000 hatchlings “are estimated to reach maturity.”
He said some of the major threats to sea turtles included modern fishing using trawl nets and longlines, a loss of nesting ground and human disturbance due to coastal developments, marine pollution and global warming.
We were also told that at Bhanga Nek honey “badgers, genets and ghost crabs are opportunistic predators for the hatchlings.”
Cole said public awareness and education were among the best tools for conservation efforts.
Increased public awareness can help these “creatures, an example being the increased nesting sites of the leatherback turtle colony in KZN. The colony has recovered from five nesting females in 1966 to a stable 168 nesting females in 2000.”
Cole urged the public to report any sightings of sea turtles on Eastern Cape shores to the East London aquarium or museum. They should be left undisturbed.
In the case of hatchlings, it is best not to “put them back in the sea. Rather, the hatchling should be placed in a dry container and kept at room temperature before contacting the aquarium or the museum. All turtle reports are referred to Ruth Wright at Bayworld in Port Elizabeth and rehabilitation for serious cases takes place under her supervision,” Cole said.