Sea turtle rescue
Sharing the pier with sea turtles
Loggerheads, greens and the occasional Kemp's ridley all feed along the Grand Strand. Every sea turtle in South Carolina waters is federally protected — here is how to avoid hooking one and what to do the moment you do.
Hooked, tangled, injured or stranded turtle
Call the SCDNR sea turtle stranding and salvage hotline. It is staffed around the clock and the call is free.
1-800-922-5431Do not put the turtle back in the water if it is on the beach and injured, and do not transport it yourself. Stay with it, keep people and dogs back, and wait for the responder.
If it happens
You have a turtle on the line
Work through these in order. The goal is a turtle that can still breathe and swim, not a recovered hook.
Do not lift the turtle with the line
A turtle can weigh over 300 pounds. Hauling one up by the line tears the hook through tissue and can drown it. Never lift it out of the water by the line, the hook or a flipper.
Stop fighting it and keep the line slack
Back the drag off so the turtle can surface and breathe. Sea turtles are air breathers — a taut line holding one under is what kills them.
Call the stranding hotline before you cut
SCDNR runs the sea turtle stranding line at 1-800-922-5431, 24 hours a day. Tell them which pier you are on, roughly how big the turtle is and where the hook is. They will tell you whether a responder is coming.
Cut the line as close as you safely can
If no responder can reach you, cut the line as close to the hook as you can reach from the rail without leaning over. Less trailing line means less chance of entanglement. Never cut so much that you leave 50 feet of mono dragging behind the turtle.
Never remove a swallowed hook
If the hook is inside the mouth or throat, leave it. Pulling it out does far more damage than leaving it for a trained responder or a rehabilitation centre.
Report it either way
Even if the turtle swims off looking fine, call it in. SCDNR tracks where hookings happen along the Strand, and that record is what keeps piers open to fishing.
Keep cutters on you
A pair of line cutters or braid scissors in your pocket turns this into a ten-second problem. Fumbling for a knife while a turtle is held under is how they drown.
Sea turtles are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. Handling, harassing or keeping one is illegal — but reporting an accidental hooking is not, and it is what the hotline is there for.
Prevention
How to not hook one in the first place
Small changes at the rail keep turtles off your line and your line out of the water.
Use circle hooks
Circle hooks significantly reduce deep hooking in sea turtles. The shape helps prevent turtles from swallowing the hook if they take your bait.
Cast away from bait zones
Turtles are drawn to areas where bait frequently falls into the water. Casting from a different spot reduces the chance of an accidental hookup.
Clean up your gear
Never leave hooks, line, or nets in the water. Abandoned fishing gear is one of the biggest threats to sea turtles along the Grand Strand.
Watch for surfacing turtles
Sea turtles come up to breathe. If you see one near your line, reel in and wait for it to move on before casting again.
Nesting season, May through October
Loggerheads nest on Grand Strand beaches from May into August, and hatchlings emerge through October. Lights confuse them — turn off pier lights that face the beach where you can, shield your headlamp and use red light after dark. Fill in holes and flatten sandcastles before you leave; a hatchling that falls into one does not get out.
Never touch a nesting turtle, a nest or a hatchling, and keep your distance so she does not turn back to the water without laying. Report a nest you think has been disturbed to the same hotline.
Fishing rules that keep the pier open — gear, cast nets and where you can cast — are on the regulations page, alongside each pier's house rules.