Coastal protection activists in Georgia are pleased with good news for the rare sea turtle population, threatened by a channel dredging process that is like a vacuum cleaner on the sea floor.
In response to the lawsuit brought by conservation group One Hundred Miles, the US Army Corps of Engineers this month agreed to investigate the dredging threat to loggerhead turtle fisheries and other wildlife in Brunswick Harbor. The announcement that the agency will not conduct dredging year-round while it investigates possible damage coincides with the discovery of the first sea turtle eggs of the 2023 laying season at Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge.
One Hundred Miles is voluntarily dismissing a lawsuit filed in the US District Court of South Georgia alleging that the Army Corps failed to conduct a sufficient environmental assessment of the extent of the damage year-round dredging could cause to turtles, fish and other wildlife .
Sea turtle environmental group project coordinator Catherine Ridley said she is confident the study will provide enough evidence to support policies protecting nesting females as they swim through the channels and lay eggs on beaches during the breeding season.
Last year, the Corps canceled plans to begin a month-long dredging operation in August. In this process, weeds and other debris are caught by a vacuum suction device, making it easier for cargo ships to navigate the port.
The legal battle resumed in December after the Southern Environmental Law Center filed a complaint on behalf of One Hundred Miles, urging the Corps to continue its decades-long practice of limiting hopper dredging to the winter months.
“We still have a long way to go and that’s why it’s so important to prevent risky proposals like this one,” said Ridley. “Many of us are doing our utmost this summer to protect every single nest on the beach, but it doesn’t matter if we can’t also protect the turtles once they get into the water.
“This was a tremendous victory for our sea turtles and all who love them,” said Ridley. “It’s a testament to the thousands of people across our state who have stood up time and time again to make their voices heard.”
While concerns remain about long-term stagnation in sea turtle populations, Georgia’s next sea turtle cycle is upon us after a record 4,071 hawksbill turtle nests were recorded last year, the highest number since 1989, when comprehensive nesting surveys began on the barrier islands.
The 266,000 hatchlings hatched on Georgia’s beaches in 2022 surpassed the previous figure of 2019.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed that the first sea turtle eggs of the breeding season were sighted May 1 on Blackbeard Island, a 5,618-acre wildlife sanctuary on the north end of Sapelo Island in McIntosh County.
Mark Dodd, senior wildlife biologist at the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, said computer models are predicting a more typical season of about 2,800 nests this year.
Despite a potential plateau in population growth over the next 15 to 20 years, sea turtle numbers could still reach their highest levels since the 1950s.
Ridley and Dodd recognize the efforts of a sea turtle cooperative, made up of 200 volunteers, researchers and agency staff, in the monitoring and conservation of sea turtles. Loggerhead sea turtles reach sexual maturity between the ages of 20 and 30 and typically lay 50 to 100 eggs in a single nest in a deep hole, hidden from predators.
“The cooperative has done a tremendous amount of work,” and it’s had a measurable impact, Dodd said. “In the beginning we averaged about 850 nests a year, and in the last five years we’ve gone straight to 3,000 nests.”
This story was provided by WABE content partner Georgia Recorder.
