Sea turtles nest on California beach for the first time
For the first time, sea turtles have been recorded nesting on a California beach, prompting researchers to take action to protect over 200 eggs laid last week on Southern California beaches.
“This is the first known record of a sea turtle nesting on any beach in California,” researchers said during a press conference.
Today, researchers returned to the beach as part of a major effort to remove the eggs ahead of an upcoming storm expected to bring high surf.
“In this case, the nests were going to be destroyed, again a dynamic situation, and we had to make some quick decisions, and I think it’s the best one for species recovery,” researchers said.
The eggs were transported to the Aquarium of the Pacific, where they were placed in sand-filled containers. Temperature and humidity will be closely monitored during the incubation period.
“And those eggs, when they begin to hatch somewhere in the 40 to 60-day incubation period, when they’re ready, those hatchlings will then be returned to the areas where they were collected from and released back out into the wild,” researchers said.
It remains unclear why the sea turtles chose Southern California to nest. One possible explanation is the warmer ocean temperatures brought by an El Niño year.
“There might be some navigational blunder with these animals. For some reason, they probably thought they were a little bit farther south. The closest nesting beaches are about 700 miles south from here,” researchers said.
Last November, a sea turtle was spotted near the Monterey Wharf, surprising many, including naturalist Sophie Darling. On Friday, Darling shared her thoughts on the conservation efforts to save the endangered olive ridley sea turtle.
“And [researchers] were able to take the eggs and incubate them and kind of bring that into a conservation mindset of setting these young ones up for success, to hatch, to live, and then be released,” Darling said.