The Sea Turtle Eggs From Huntington Beach Are Due to Hatch. What Happens Next?
On Saturday, September 19, Huntington Beach Fire Department Marine Safety lifeguards answered a call about a sea turtle near the Huntington Beach Pier. When they got there, the turtle was laying eggs. The Los Angeles Times placed her just south of Tower 15. She cleared a hole in the sand and filled it with a clutch of olive ridley eggs, a short walk from the pier.
The eggs are gone from that beach now. They are incubating in a quiet back room at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Federal wildlife officials say any hatchlings will be brought back to the beaches where the eggs were laid. If that happens, the last scene of the first known sea turtle nesting on the U.S. West Coast will play out near the pier. Until then, wildlife agencies are still watching the city's shoreline.
The Huntington Beach nest was the second one that week. On September 16, Marine Safety lifeguards were called to what looked like an injured sea turtle near Surfside. It turned out to be nesting. The Los Angeles Times reported that she had crawled onto the sand between the waves and the oceanfront condos on Surfside Avenue in Seal Beach. Huntington Beach lifeguards set up a perimeter, worked with Seal Beach lifeguards, and called NOAA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They did the same three days later at the pier.
NOAA Fisheries calls the Surfside nest the first ever recorded for any sea turtle species on the U.S. West Coast. The pier nest was about eight miles away. At first, nobody knew whether one turtle had nested twice. The city's September 22 announcement said it was unclear whether the same turtle made both nests. Dr. Cali Turner Tomaszewicz, a research biologist with NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center, settled it. She compared each turtle's body shape, the number and placement of its barnacles, and its scute pattern. NOAA describes the scute pattern, the layout of the large plates on the shell, as working much like a fingerprint. They were two different turtles.
That shows how far outside normal range this was. NOAA says the closest regular olive ridley nesting is in the western Cape region of Baja California, near Todos Santos, with a few scattered nests near Magdalena Bay. No nests had been recorded north of there before September.
Both nests were fenced, roped off and marked with signs, and crews kept an eye on ocean conditions. Then the weather changed. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says Hurricane Polo was bringing hazardous surf and high tides. That left the team two choices: move the eggs, or leave them and risk losing them to the water.
Early on Friday, September 25, biologists dug up 204 eggs, 100 from Huntington Beach and 104 from Seal Beach, and transferred them to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. The Service says it usually prefers the least intrusive approach. In this case it coordinated a multi-agency response with NOAA Fisheries, the Aquarium of the Pacific, Seal Beach Marine Safety, the Huntington Beach Fire Department and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The Aquarium of the Pacific is keeping the eggs in sand-filled containers in a quiet private area, where staff track temperature and humidity. The aquarium says the room is not a public viewing area, so a trip to Long Beach won't get you a look. The Long Beach Press-Telegram reported that aquarium veterinarian Dr. Lance Adams expected to incubate them at around 80 degrees. He also cautioned that staff might not know whether the eggs were fertilized until incubation is over.
Olive ridley nests usually incubate for 45 to 60 days. Here is how the dates line up for the Huntington Beach clutch:
Late-September coverage, including the Press-Telegram's, said early November. The October 13 federal update moved that to about mid-November, so watch for news in the middle of the month. Every date depends on one open question. NOAA says it doesn't yet know whether the eggs were fertilized or are viable.
If they hatch, the agencies plan to release the hatchlings into the ocean near the original nest sites. They'll be put on the sand so they can crawl to the water themselves. The Service also wrote that warmer water from El Niño may make a natural release possible. It promised updates as incubation goes on and the plan develops. No public release event or date has been announced. Late-September local coverage said any release would happen at night.
NOAA says a female olive ridley typically lays two or three nests a season, about two weeks apart and in the same general area. The agency says it is watching for more. In Mexico, nesting season runs from about July to December, so the fall weeks along this coast still fall within it.
Federal agencies are planning for this to happen again. The Fish and Wildlife Service says it is drafting an interim conservation strategy in case sea turtles keep nesting in California. NOAA says the exact cause is uncertain. It names warm water from ongoing marine heatwaves and the incoming 2027 El Niño as likely factors, along with the species' wandering habits and perhaps a navigational mistake or two.
NOAA's FAQ adds a long-term detail. Adult females tend to return to the area where they hatched, and about 15 years later some hatchlings come back as adults to nest on their birth beach.
Even without nests, the area isn't new to sea turtles. A separate group of green sea turtles lives in the San Gabriel River where it meets the ocean near Seal Beach. The Press-Telegram reported that they were documented there in 2008 and that the aquarium began monitoring them in 2012. NOAA describes them as East Pacific green turtles from Mexican nesting beaches that use Southern California waters for feeding. They are a different species from the olive ridleys that nested this fall.
If a third nest shows up, it will most likely be spotted the same way the first two were: someone on the beach notices a turtle and calls it in. The city and NOAA ask for the following:
The September 16 call came in as a possibly injured turtle and turned out to be a nesting one. Calling is the right move either way. Sea turtles are protected under the Endangered Species Act. NOAA notes that the law prohibits harassing, harming, pursuing, capturing or collecting a listed species. Olive ridley populations along Mexico's Pacific coast are listed as endangered. The Service names bycatch and egg harvesting among their main threats.
Olive ridleys are the smallest sea turtles. Adults weigh up to about 100 pounds and measure roughly 2.5 to 3 feet long, and they live an estimated 30 to 50 years. The September 19 turtle came to lifeguards as a sighting report near the pier, which is also how they would hear about another nest.
Susie McKibben follows the Orange County coast closely, from the sand near Surfside to the beach south of Tower 15. If you'd like to talk about what life along the Huntington Beach shoreline looks like this season and beyond, Schedule a Private Consultation.
A Newport Beach resident and consummate professional, Susie McKibben represent clients seeking top-notch representation for the sale and purchase of residential properties throughout Coastal Orange County.