Keep Lights Out for Loggerheads The support of South Carolina
coastal residents is needed more than ever to raise awareness
and educate our visitors to Keep Lights Out for Loggerheads. The
loggerhead (Caretta caretta) sea turtle nesting season is May
through October. See video of loggerhead hatchlings. Nesting
occurs on the beaches of South Carolina’s barrier islands. From
May to mid-August, loggerheads come ashore to deposit
approximately 120 eggs in a nest cavity in the dry sand dune
system. Sixty days later, loggerhead hatchlings emerge from the
nest at night and head to the ocean. Nests hatch from July
through the end of October. During the nesting season,
loggerheads may be disoriented by artificial lights. A
disorientation event occurs when artificial light from man-made
sources leads turtles away from the ocean. To date in South
Carolina, 34 disorientation events of loggerhead hatchlings have
been reported to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR)
Marine Turtle Conservation Program. This is com