Sea Turtle Late-Term Nest Collection and Hatchling Release Plan

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Unified Command Wildlife Branch scientists and partner organizations are implementing an extraordinary plan to protect sea turtle nests and eggs from potential impacts of the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

The plan, entitled Sea Turtle Late-Term Nest Collection and Hatchling Release Plan, was developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA-Fisheries), and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC), and involves translocation of an anticipated 700 nests in an effort to prevent the loss of the entire cohort of hatchlings.

The plan takes a proactive approach to minimize oil-spill impacts by ensuring nests are marked to prevent damage from beach clean-up operations, and by coordinating the collection of nests at a point in the incubation cycle where transport is less likely to result in the loss of viable eggs.

“Permitted nest surveyors have been in the field locating and marking nests daily since the start of the nesting season,” said Sandy MacPherson, FWS national sea turtle coordinator. “Data on the nest location and the date deposited are being closely tracked. This allows us certainty in timing the nest collection phase of the plan.”

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