Tropical Storm Fay cut short a record-breaking year for loggerhead sea turtles. But the good news is the loss does not appear as far-reaching as first thought. 

Scouring beaches over the weekend, biologists and volunteers worried about what they would find; or more importantly, what they wouldn’t find. Nest counts for the federally threatened loggerheads, Georgia’s primary nesting sea turtle, had been expected to surpass 1,600 for the season, breaking the state’s previous high from 2003. 

After assessing the damage this weekend, it is likely that only 8 percent of nests will be lost due to the storm surge, said Mark Dodd, a senior wildlife biologist with the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division. 

Nearly half of all reported nests had already hatched out. Fay’s surge claimed some remaining nests. Others were inundated by high tides and may or may not hatch at this point, Dodd said. The Sea Turtle Cooperative, a group of conservation organizations and volunteers, will carefully monitor these nests for the rest of the season. 

Although the damage seemed more extensive in some areas, Dodd stressed that tropical storms and hurricanes are a fact of life on the coast and the loggerhead has successfully evolved alongside these destructive forces of nature. 

“Tropical storms are natural occurrences; they happen with some frequency on our coast,” said Dodd, who works with Wildlife Resources’ Nongame Conservation Section. “Long-lived species like the loggerhead turtle have a reproductive strategy that accounts for periodic catastrophic loss of nests.  Individuals may lose their entire reproductive output several times during their lives and still produce enough hatchlings to replace themselves.” 

The storm affected the loggerhead population across coastal Georgia’s beaches as well as those in South Carolina and Florida. 

A lost nest is exactly what it sounds like; it is just gone. But researchers know where the nests are by using a combination of stakes and GPS tracking. Even after a destructive storm such as Fay, they know where to look. 

“When you have a storm surge with a lot of wave energy you can lose 20, 30 or even 40 feet of beach,” Dodd said. 

What is left is not a gentle rolling beach but what is referred to as a  “scarp,” which is a sharp, steep wall of sand. “Generally, if the stake is gone then the nest is gone as well.” 

Over the last 20 years, an average of 5 to 7 percent of nests were lost annually due to high tides and destructive weather. At most, 20 percent of nests are lost at a time. Even with that high a percentage, the loggerhead population can bounce back. 

The cooperative had counted 1,544 nests on Georgia beaches as of Aug. 7, breaking the 2003 record of 1,504. The sea turtle nesting season runs roughly from May through September. 

Loggerheads are state-listed as endangered. Georgians can help conserve them and other animals not legally hunted, fished for or trapped, as well as native plants and habitats, through buying wildlife license plates featuring a bald eagle or a ruby-throated hummingbird. 

They can also donate to the Give Wildlife a Chance state income tax checkoff. Both programs are vital to the Nongame Conservation Section, which receives no state funds. 

Visit www.georgiawildlife.com for more information, or call Nongame Conservation offices in Social Circle (770-761-3035), Forsyth

(478-994-1438) or Brunswick (912-264-7218).