A South Carolina couple is doing their part so sea turtles will be around for their grandchildren — here are some places where you can go to help, too
Words by Trudy Haywood Saunders
“The barrier islands—that’s what I really like,” Bob Ermer, a retired Charleston police officer, says while the jon boat, driven by the refuge staff, cuts through the serene, salt marsh waters of Jeremy Creek outside McClellanville, South Carolina. It’s a typical day for the refuge crew, but the view never gets old. “They don’t want to be disturbed, so they go to the place of least disturbance,” Ermer says. He’s talking about the endangered loggerhead sea turtles, but the same could just as easily be said about himself and his wife, Joan, seated beside him.
After reading The Beach House by Mary Alice Monroe, Joan Ermer made a decision. “When I retired, I wanted to be a turtle lady,” she explains. In 2014, she began working with the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge sea turtle recovery program. She talked Bob into attending an interest meeting that April. “I dragged him because I didn’t want to go by myself,” she recalls with a smile. By the end of the meeting, he was hooked.
Like Joan, a growing number of people are seeking ecotourism destinations, where they can play an active role in conserving the environment, and turtle rescue is becoming increasingly popular. Throughout the South, numerous destinations offer opportunities for visitors to get involved at various levels, from participating in guided tours, like those in Cape Romain, to participating in hatchling discovery and release at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, Florida.
The Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge extends 22 miles along the South Carolina coast, encompassing more than 66,000 acres of barrier island, salt marshes, and tidal creeks. It is home to more than 293 bird species, 24 reptile species, and 12 amphibian species, and is also home to the largest concentration of sea turtle nests on the East Coast north of Cape Canaveral, Florida. The turtle program began in 1979 after the species was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
Like the Ermers, the turtles are drawn by the lack of development and lights on the islands. Four types of threatened sea turtles have been found at Cape Romain: green sea turtles, Kemp’s ridleys, leatherbacks, and loggerheads, though loggerheads make up the vast majority of all nests on the wildlife reserve.
“The program wouldn’t happen without volunteers,” Jerry Tupacz, a wildlife refuge specialist, says. Days start at about 5 a.m. Layered clothing is a must. There is no shade on the islands, and they have to carry gear through the water.
“It takes a dedicated person, someone who really enjoys doing that kind of work outdoors,” Bob says.
Early in the season, volunteers travel along the beaches, looking for tracks or turtle crawls. Nesting turtles crawl up to a high point and lay a clutch of eggs. Each turtle typically lays between four and seven nests (one every 12 to 14 days) with an average of 115 eggs in each.
The Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge extends 22 miles along the South Carolina coast, encompassing more than 66,000 acres of barrier island, salt marshes, and tidal creeks.
When the volunteers find a nest in a safe spot above the high tide line, they dig down, take one egg out, and put the shell in a test tube for DNA testing. If the nest has to be moved, each egg is counted, placed in a bucket, covered with sand to keep it from getting too hot, then relocated to another part of the island, and remarked and logged.
“This takes about 15 minutes to move a nest, once we find it,” Bob says. “There’s quite a bit involved.” It’s getting harder for turtles to find suitable nesting sites due to erosion and predators.
By mid-July, the eggs start hatching. “Most turtles hatch 55 to 60 days after the eggs are laid, but we don’t touch them until 70 days if there is no recorded hatch date,” Joan says.
Once the hatchlings make it to the ocean, males and females return in 25 to 30 years to the area where they hatched, but only females emerge on the beaches to nest every two to three years. Tupacz sees the number of turtle nests trending up as a good sign. “The rising average certainly makes you feel optimistic, but I would be cautiously optimistic, considering the state of the islands, the erosion,” Tupacz says. “They’re coming in greater numbers, even though they have less real estate to put the nests on. They’re nesting right on top of one another.”
“There’s a lot of work in it. People want to see the baby turtles, but that’s the end result of everything that you do to get to that point,” Bob says.
For Bob, one of the highlights of volunteering is pulling turtles out of the marsh—typically 250-to-300-pound female loggerheads. Seeing a nesting turtle is still on the Ermers’ turtle patrol bucket list. “We’ve just missed a couple because you can tell by the tidelines,” Joan says.
“These turtles will not lay eggs until they are about 30 years old. We won’t know until 30 years from now how these turtles do,” Bob says. “We won’t be here, but the information will be.”
Where to Volunteer
Dozens of sea turtle organizations around the South rely on the support of dedicated volunteers to continue their work. Seaturtle.org provides information about the world’s sea turtle population, including where you can volunteer or learn how to become an advocate.
South Carolina
Friends of Coastal South Carolina – The volunteer group based in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, helps with the loggerhead sea turtle species management project and nest protection at Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge. The site is considered the most crucial nesting habitat for threatened loggerhead sea turtles north of Florida. Learn more about joining the volunteer team.
North Carolina
Oak Island Sea Turtle Protection Program – This all-volunteer nonprofit in Oak Island, North Carolina, has a patrol team that monitors turtle tracks and nests and that responds to sick, stranded, or injured turtles. A separate group of volunteers, called nest parents, sets up vigils to watch over new nests beginning 50 days after the nests are laid and sets up runways for hatchlings.
Georgia
Georgia Sea Turtle Center – Georgia’s only sea turtle education and rehabilitation facility relies on volunteer support for rehabilitation, research, and education programs. Volunteers are accepted through the Jekyll Island Authority for a variety of roles, including animal transport, dawn and night patrol, and education center docents.
Florida
Loggerhead Marinelife Center – Described by Reefs.com as “one of Florida’s most-visited nonprofit scientific destinations focused on ocean and sea turtle conservation”, the center engages volunteers to support its mission. The Juno Beach, Florida, location enlists volunteers as young as 16 to help on site and at local piers to assist in rescuing stranded marine life and encouraging responsible fishing. Sea turtle rehab volunteers must be at least 18.
Virginia
Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center – The nationally recognized stranding team program has responded to more than 10,000 stranded marine mammals and sea turtles since it began 30 years ago. In addition to regular volunteers, opportunities are available for one-day events and youth as young as 14.
Alabama
Alabama Coastal Foundation – Residents of Gulf Shores, Alabama, and Orange Beach, Alabama (not visitors), can volunteer through the Share the Beach initiative. They also provide guidance to the general public about how to report a nest and guidance about avoiding the use of bright lights on beaches at night.
