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Sea Turtles Enjoy Good Nest Stats

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The Associated Press

Published: August 15, 2008

SAVANNAH, Ga. - Rare loggerhead sea turtles are having a record nesting season on the Georgia coast and have been laying eggs in promising numbers on southern Atlantic beaches from Florida to the Carolinas.

Still, biologists warn that the population of mammoth turtles, which weigh up to 300 pounds, remains fragile. And the federal government is considering a proposal to classify loggerheads as endangered after 30 years of listing them as a threatened species.

Along the 100-mile Georgia coast, biologists and volunteers working with the state Department of Natural Resources have counted 1,544 loggerhead nests since the nesting season began May 1.

That's the most turtle nests recorded since Georgia began keeping count in 1989, breaking the previous record of 1,504 nests in 2003. About 90 percent of loggerhead nests in the United States are found in Florida, which had its worst nesting season since 1989 last year. Florida biologists counted 28,074 nests in 2007, less than half the state's peak of 59,918 in 1998.

Beth Brost, who compiles sea turtle nesting data for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, said no numbers have been tallied so far this year. She said nesting appears to have increased.

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