Overview
- Two olive ridley sea turtles were observed nesting on Southern California beaches in mid-September, marking the first recorded natural sea turtle nests on the U.S. West Coast.
- A NOAA photo identification confirmed the nestings were laid by two distinct individual turtles, and local, state and federal teams fenced and monitored the sites before taking further action.
- On Friday biologists collected and transferred more than 200 eggs from Seal Beach and Huntington Beach to the Aquarium of the Pacific because forecast high tides and hazardous surf from Hurricane Polo threatened to wash the nests away.
- The eggs are being held in temperature-controlled incubators and, if viable, are expected to hatch in about 45 to 60 days, with officials stressing uncertainty about hatch success and sex ratios that depend on incubation temperature.
- Scientists say unusually warm ocean conditions tied to a strong El Niño and possible navigational or storm effects likely drove the northward nesting, raising questions about future range shifts and new conservation challenges for California beaches.