There is no such thing as a weekend. It could be Stranded Sea Turtle Sunday, Washed up Whale Wednesday, Tourist Trouble Tuesday. Whatever it is, it is completely unpredictable and constantly changing with the weather, wildlife, and whim.
Maintaining this ridiculously random day-to-day is like a competition with an unseen opponent. After two decades, I’ve encountered most of the wildlife hurdles repeatedly and experience has equipped me with the confidence to handle it.
It’s like any relationship. I’m attached to the beach because I spend time with it while taking care of it for those that depend on it. Long nights are spent enforcing personal property removal after sunset, assisting town code enforcement with lighting violations after 10 p.m. on Saturday nights, nightly monitoring for three renourishment projects, and of course, Sea Turtle Patrol and Stranding Response.
Observing 3 million beachgoers annually and becoming politically involved to advocate for beach ordinances to mitigate human impact on sea turtle nesting habitat requires persistence and dedication. Relationships are hard work, but there is always potential for unexpected moments that revive the passion and refresh stale initiative.
Sea Turtle Patrol’s Amber Kuehn poses with the young loggerhead turtle after removing a fisherman’s hook from her mouth.
Back to the Beach
After the whale incident that consumed me for three days in May, I was headed home when I got a call from the SCDNR radio room. “There is a sea turtle with a hook in its mouth. The fisherman is keeping it in the surf until help arrives. The location is beach marker 8 on Hilton Head Beach. Will you respond?”
“Seriously?” I answered in disbelief. I turned the truck around.
As I rounded the sandy toe, I was relieved to see a familiar red Tacoma carrying one of my lifeguard friends and it made me smile. I was so tired. Just one look, and I knew immediately that the sea turtle was a loggerhead, but then I realized … I’ve never seen a loggerhead like this one! It was only 48 centimeters – about 18 inches long! My heart reacted, my passion flared, and I woke up. If you just thought to yourself “What’s the big deal?” let me explain.
A loggerhead this size has recently returned from its migration to the Azores (Portugal) and Canary Islands (Morocco). It left the East Coast of the USA as a tiny hatchling and statistically, it is 1 of 100 hatchlings that survived the nearshore predators and the three-day swim from the shore to the Gulf Stream current, 70 miles east of Hilton Head Island.
There is no reliable statistic for loggerhead hatchlings surviving the full migration and the next 30 years before becoming sexually mature. Loggerheads return to the East Coast at approximately 15 years old, but are rarely seen in our area. I assume that they prefer a familiar habitat, the visibly clear water of the Caribbean Sea that is similar to the islands where they grew up.
Loggerheads eat things that can be found on the ocean floor such as whelk, clams, crabs, and urchins. Very little sunlight penetrates the water in the Lowcountry because it is filled with larval fish, crabs, shrimp, oysters, etc. The density of these microscopic spawn in the warm, cozy summer months is immense in Beaufort County’s salt marsh estuary, the “Nursery of the Ocean.” Light encounters the surface of the water and “bends” – which is called “refraction.” Individual light waves penetrate the water and reflect on the high concentration of microscopic organisms. Without light in the water, you can’t see through it – it is dark, NOT dirty!
Sea turtles are reptiles and therefore have lungs to breathe air. However, they have evolved the ability to smell their prey underwater in areas where light does not reach the ocean floor. They open their beak slightly to take in water and force the water out of their nostrils. Before the water is expelled, it passes an olfactory gland, which allows them to smell the water and identify food items that are nearby.
These new loggerhead recruits will rely on this instinctual ability passed down through 100 million years of evolutionary adaptation to find food in their new, bountiful but obscure Lowcountry foraging ground.
Loggerheads eat things that can be found on the ocean floor such as whelk, clams, crabs, and urchins.
A Message of Hope
Since this sea turtle is not sexually mature, there was no visible indication of gender. I went with “female” in my narrative, because I hope that she survives for another 10 to 15 years to lay eggs on this Hilton Head beach.
I had never held a juvenile loggerhead. I flipped her over onto her carapace (shell) to remove the hook. Only a hatchling sea turtle can turn itself back over. This method is not harmful to the turtle and it allowed us to keep her still. To prevent her beak from biting my fingers, I inserted a plastic tent spike for her to bite down on and we were able to easily remove the circle hook with plyers.
She was very active and ready to return to the water, but first, I had to measure and take pictures for my SCDNR stranding report. I am permitted (SCMTP- 566) to handle endangered sea turtles when necessary, but I must admit that I did not want to put her back on the sand. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. It wasn’t happiness; it was pure joy.
This loggerhead had not been out of the water since she emerged from her nest and followed the reflection of the moon on the water to find the ocean years ago. When it was time to put her back on the sand, she directed her gaze to the ocean. Her loggerhead gait – the alternating front flipper crawl – was very awkward. As she entered the water, her practiced and efficient breaststroke propelled her gracefully into her element.
Afterwards, I called my SCDNR supervisor in Charleston in disbelief. She said that she had gotten another recent report of a juvenile similar to this one. “It is a good sign,” she said. “It means that we are getting early recruitment to the area.”
In contrast to the sad sperm whale scenario, the ocean delivered a message of hope to the beach and the beach shared it with me. I can’t ignore the timing. It was the spark that we needed to revive and refresh our relationship.
Before she left, I took a small piece of keratin from her shell for a DNA sample. If she returns to nest in 10 to 15 years, I will know who she is. She is now a character in my journey and I am so privileged to have met her.
A juvenile loggerhead found her way back to Hilton Head Island about 10 to 15 years early, and an unfortunate encounter with a fisherman’s hook is the only reason her presence was discovered by Sea Turtle Patrol.
