The eggs are being held in sand-filled containers<\/a> in the Molina Animal Care Center. After an incubation period of 45 to 60 days, viable hatchlings will be released back to the beaches where they were found, officials said.<\/p>\n The Aquarium of the Pacific, which works with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has rehabilitated sea turtles since 2000. <\/p>\n Marine ecologist Jeff Seminoff, right, with Fish and Wildlife biologist Jonathan Snyder, explains the hatching process during a press conference Friday at the Aquarium of the Pacific.<\/p>\n (Don Leach \/ Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n Jonathan Snyder, the acting field supervisor of the Carlsbad U.S. Fish and Wildlife office, said at a news conference at the aquarium Friday that it\u2019s been a fast-moving and dynamic situation. <\/p>\n \u201cIn general, the Fish and Wildlife Service likes to focus on the least intrusive method possible when trying to recover species,\u201d Snyder said. \u201cBut in this case, the nests were going to be destroyed … We had to make some quick decisions, and I think this was the best decision for species recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n Lance Adams, a veterinarian at the Aquarium of the Pacific<\/a>, said the eggs were transported in Styrofoam coolers to the aquarium. They continue to be held there.<\/p>\n Olive ridley sea turtles are some of the smallest sea turtles, typically found in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. This is the peak of the nesting season for olive ridleys in Mexico, the season running from July to December.<\/p>\n Adams said the hatching success of the two nests could be on the low side, since the eggs were moved more than a day after they were laid. <\/p>\n Olive ridley sea turtle eggs were collected on the beach in Huntington Beach on Friday morning.<\/p>\n (Courtesy of Huntington Beach Police Dept. )<\/p>\n \u201cWe leave the eggs alone,\u201d Adams said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to take that full amount of [incubation] time before we say, \u2018oh yeah, we see hatchlings\u2019 and the eggs were fertile. Or, we see nothing and we have to go and investigate what might have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeff Seminoff, who works at the NOAA Fisheries\u2019 Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, added that fewer than 1% of hatchlings actually make it to adulthood.<\/p>\n If a member of the public sees a sea turtle nesting, in distress or suspects they have found a nest, they are asked to call the 24\/7 West Coast Sea Turtle Stranding Hotline at (562) 506-4315.<\/p>\n Turtle eggs also found in 2020<\/p>\n In May 2020, five sea turtle eggs were found in Huntington Beach and taken to Debbie McGuire, who was then executive director of the Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center. <\/p>\n McGuire said in an email that she suspected the eggs might belong to green sea turtles, but DNA testing by NOAA Fisheries was inconclusive. <\/p>\n Since the 2020 eggs did not hatch and there was no observation of a sea turtle laying them, McGuire is not claiming that the discovery is a documented sea turtle nesting event.<\/p>\n Four sea turtle eggs were found in Huntington Beach in 2020.<\/p>\n (Courtesy of Debbie McGuire)<\/p>\n But McGuire, now the chief development officer for the Human-Wildlife Coexistence Initiative<\/a> (HWCI), believes it is an interesting footnote to the nests that were recently discovered.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes wildlife gives us pieces of a story years before we understand what those pieces mean,\u201d McGuire said in the email. \u201cI think that may be what makes this discovery so interesting … For me, the most exciting part is that something we discovered six years ago may now be part of a much bigger story. We have an opportunity to learn from what is happening right here on our beaches, and hopefully protect these animals and their habitat for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n Seminoff said Friday that the eggs discovered in 2020 had possibly not been stored correctly at a bit too high of a temperature, which made genetic analysis unsuccessful.<\/p>\n Officials say upcoming air show was non-factor<\/p>\n Some local residents had concerns that planes at next weekend\u2019s Pacific Airshow<\/a> in Huntington Beach could cause damage to the eggs due to noise and vibration, but officials said that was not a factor in their decision to move them.<\/p>\n Seminoff said that loud human sounds and vibrations have been found to have a negligible effect on the development of sea turtle eggs.<\/p>\n![\"Marine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790390290_400_.jpeg\")
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