Sea turtle nests hatch on Dauphin Island despite tropical storm threats

DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. (WKRG) — It’s good news for marine life lovers along the Gulf Coast. At least 30 sea turtle hatchlings made it to the water even after Tropical Storm Alberto’s impacts in the Gulf of Mexico causing several of the nests to flood.

Liz Gross with nonprofit organization Share The Beach said the flooding can cause the nests to not have the oxygen needed in order to hatch.

“Our nests were all inundated, which means water was all over them,” Gross explained. “And we really felt that there wasn’t going to be any chance of these nests actually hatching.”

After 8:30 Saturday night, Gross was excited to learn that there were at least 30 eggs on Dauphin Island that hatched.

“We were beyond excited that we have a group chat and everybody was talking about it!” Gross said. “We’re like, yay, yay! Even on the other side of the bay, it is now giving them hope that their nest may have some hatchlings that survived as well.”

And with Beryl increasing the rip current risk in the News 5 viewing area, Gross said she hasn’t seen impacts to the nests.

“There were concerns,” she explained. “As a matter of fact, the tide was coming pretty close to the nest yesterday and we didn’t know what would happen last night, but it seemed to back off. It did not get up to the nest. And yes, we have dangerous rip currents, but it doesn’t seem like the swells are as high as we had expected them to be.”

Sea turtle nesting season ends in August, but Gross explained if you plan to go to the beach, take some keep the sea turtles and other sea life in consideration.

“What we say is clean, dark and flat,” she explained. “So clean up your trash after you beach gear. Bring that all in. That should not stay on the beach is an obstacle to our turtles as well as to people. Keep it flat. If you dig a hole, fill it in. keep it dark. They use the light of the moon to get themselves to the water. So if you have lights on that is disorienting them and they’re going towards your light instead of the water.”

Gross said on Wednesday, she plans to go to Dauphin Island to excavate all of their eggs to check on the status of how the rest are doing.

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