No Slowdown on Sea Isle Turtle Sightings

By MADDY VITALE Turtle nesting season, when female diamondback terrapins make their way from the marsh to seek sandy soil to lay their eggs, may be over, but that doesn’t mean turtles will be out of sight. Steve Ahern, who runs the Sea Isle City Terrapin Rescue along with his wife, Susan, said turtles have been spotted all over the island recently. “We are still seeing babies from nesting season. They have been coming out since the end of August,” Ahern explained. “You don’t see as many in the fall. They really like to stay in their warm nests through winter.” The Aherns caution that if someone sees a terrapin that might be in distress, there is something they can do. “We got a bunch of calls about turtles in people’s garages or on the sidewalk. People can walk them down to the marsh area and put them in the grass – not in the water,” Steve said. “They will still be out possibly for another month. A big rainstorm will also bring them out.” He said Cape May County’s project two years ago to install metal fencing to provide a safe turtle barrier on Sea Isle Boulevard has helped decrease the number of diamondback terrapin deaths. “Fencing has been a tremendous help. There are about 90 percent less fatalities there,” he noted. “The 10 percent (of turtle deaths there) you can’t control because of a break in the fencing where the marina sign is. It is really effective.” A closeup view shows the intricate metal fencing that turtles will face when they try to cross the road. Typically at this time of year, at least for the last five years, the Aherns and a group of volunteers would have spent this Saturday uncovering hatchlings from two turtle nesting boxes erected outside of the Sea Isle library at 4800 Central Ave. Each year, the team carefully unearths the hatchlings to release them into the marsh and counts the empty shells to determine the estimated number of turtle hatchlings that already left the nests to compare to prior years. Nesting season for diamondback terrapins is normally from May to July. This year it began later, in June. It can take eight to 14 weeks for the terrapin eggs to hatch. The terrapins seek sandy soil, so beaches and dunes are often where they will nest. The nesting boxes also provide a safe place to lay eggs, with an added protection against predators of an enclosure. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Aherns canceled the fall dig this weekend. Instead, the Aherns noted what they saw in the nesting boxes at the library and what they saw and heard in the community. “It was a good nesting season,” Steve said. “There were good numbers of hatchlings out. Basically, by now, all the eggs have hatched. But that doesn’t mean that the turtles have decided to come out of the nests.” The turtles may remain there until spring. If it is mild, they may come out as early as March. If cooler, more likely they will leave the nest in mid-April, Ahern said. “Usually, by now, we would be dismantling the boxes to make sure they are ready to be functional in the spring. That won’t be the case this year," he emphasized. "We will have to dig up whatever nests didn’t develop, put new sand down and rebuild some of the boxes.” For more information, call Steve and Susan Ahern of the Sea Isle City Terrapin Rescue at (609) 263-7358. Volunteers work through the day in October 2019, prior to COVID-19, in one of the nesting boxes at the library.