Loggerhead Sea Turtles are listed globally as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Loggerhead sea turtles northwest Atlantic population is being scrutinized and a plan being devised to provide recovery strategies.

NOAA’s Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) are seeking public input for the plan to review and discuss the species ecology, population status and trends, and identify threats to the loggerhead sea turtle in the northwest Atlantic.

Loggerheads are one of five species of endangered sea turtles that lay their eggs on US beaches, from South Carolina, Georgia, Florida east and west coasts May through August. The green, leatherback, hawksbill and Ridley turtles can also be found in US waters, but the loggerhead is the most visible.

Tracks are easily detected in the sand where the large females pull themselves up the beach beyond the high water line, create a nest, and return to the sea, leaving a distinctive path. On populated beach communities they negotiate beach chairs and canopies left behind by ignorant tourists. Bulkheads and seawalls thwart their instinct. Some return to the sea without laying their eggs.

The loggerhead sea turtle arrives at night to quiet sandy beaches, probably the same one it was born itself, but 20 years later, and drops 75 to 150 eggs into a excavated nest. About 60 days after a turtle lay its eggs, hatchlings dig themselves out from the nest and head toward the water, aided by moonlit skies, or distracted by man made lights.

The mortality rate is high. If the hatchlings head in the right direction and get to the sea quickly they swim for miles to get to the offshore sea weed line. Many head the wrong way to street lights and die under vehicle wheels. Some get eaten by crabs, or birds, other fish and stingrays. Only about one in 2500 live to breeding stage, spending their whole life at sea.