Nesting and Management of the Atlantic Loggerhead, 



Caretta caretta caretta (Linnaeus) (Testudines: 



Cheloniidae) on Cape Island, South Carolina, 



in 1979. 



John B. Andre 1 and Larry West 



Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, 



Route 1, Box 191, Awendaw, South Carolina 29429 



ABSTRACT. — Nesting activity of the Atlantic loggerhead turtle, Caretta 

 caretta caretta, was monitored on Cape Island, Cape Romain National 

 Wildlife Refuge, South Carolina, in 1979. The nesting season encom- 

 passed 106 days, beginning in mid-May and continuing through August. 

 An estimated total of 1,093 clutches was laid on the island with an 

 average of 136.6 nests/ km. Seventy-one percent of all turtle emergences 

 on the beach were false crawls (non-nesting emergences). Three-hundred 

 seventy-nine nests were removed to an on-site, predator-proof hatchery, 

 which produced 10,185 hatchlings from 1 17 nests. Mean clutch size was 

 117.0 (SD = ± 4.31)and hatching success was 74.4%. Raccoons and 

 erosion destroyed most of the natural nests, but 714 of them produced 

 3.605 hatchlings. On 4 September, 17.8 cm of rainfall associated with 

 Hurricane David drowned or washed away all unhatched eggs in the 

 nesting areas and hatchery. To reduce predator-induced mortality, 82 

 raccoons were removed from Cape Island prior to and during the turtle 

 nesting season. This resulted in a 25% reduction in first night predation 

 from 1978 levels. An average of 2.2 (SD = ± 1.84) nests were destroyed 

 per night in 1979 compared to 7.5 nests per night in 1978. 



INTRODUCTION 



The major worldwide nesting areas of loggerhead turtles, Caretta 

 caretta (Linnaeus), are in the southeastern United States, southeastern 

 Africa, and eastern Australia. In the United States, C c. caretta nests 

 primarily on the beaches of North and South Carolina, Georgia, and 

 the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of Florida (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

 1979). Cape Island, in Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge (CRNWR), 

 probably has more nesting activity than any other South Carolina log- 

 gerhead rookery. 



In light of the classification of loggerheads as Threatened (Federal 

 Register, 28 July 1978), it is imperative that rookeries be protected and 

 managed to maximize loggerhead productivity. Little is known of the 

 fates of hatchling loggerheads in the ocean, but probably very few reach 

 sexual maturity. This unknown also necessitates that management activ- 

 ities be directed at increasing the number of loggerhead hatchlings 

 reaching the ocean. 



Factors adversely affecting loggerhead productivity on or near 

 Cape Island are predators, poachers, erosion and inundation, and 



•Present address: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P. O. Box 87, Kilauea, Kauai, 

 Hawaii 96754 



Brimleyana No. 6: 73-82. December 1981. 73 



