Hurricane Erin did not make landfall on the US mainland this week, nor did it cause major damage to infrastructure. However, strong winds and huge waves swept through the Outer Banks Islands of North Carolina, severely impacting the nesting ground of loggerhead turtles, which were already under threat, with a large number of turtle nests being destroyed.
According to reports from the Associated Press, more than half of the 43 loggerhead turtle nests on Topsail Island were destroyed. Terry Meyer, conservation director of the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, said, “We found turtle eggs nearly completely submerged in the water, on a scale I have never seen before.”
While Erin was twice the size of an average hurricane, it did not cause widespread damage to infrastructure, but the loggerhead turtles suffered the most. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), loggerhead turtles are listed as a threatened species due to bycatch in fishing operations and are the most common sea turtle species in North Carolina, nesting every two to three years between May and August, with each nest producing about 100 eggs.
Meyer pointed out that although the damage to dozens of turtle nests may not be fatal for the entire species, it is a heavy blow for volunteers who guard 26 miles of beach each summer and monitor turtle nests. “When you dig out a nest with 100 fully developed, but all dead, turtle hatchlings – even for someone of my age, it is very hard to bear.”
On Emerald Isle, about 53 kilometers northeast, Dale Baquer, head of the local sea turtle patrol organization, said that out of 10 loggerhead turtle nests, eight may have been destroyed. Only one nest hatched before the storm, while another survived due to its higher location. The fate of the other nests will only be known after the 75-day incubation period.
Baquer said, “These nests have suffered severe damage, with significant impact from high tides and flooding, but we remain optimistic.”
Due to strict North Carolina laws requiring the natural incubation process of sea turtles to be maintained, conservation organizations could only clear signage, structures, and fencing before the storm to prevent further harm to the nests. Baquer explained that organizations can only intervene in rescue efforts with state government permission when nests have already hatched or when high tides directly wash away turtle eggs.
“This situation is very tense and not something you can get used to, but this is nature, this is what happens,” she said.