Turtle Diary: Slow And Steady Winner
At the Brunswick Nuclear Plant in North Carolina, employees began working on how to prevent turtles from slipping past the plant’s protective barrier on the Cape Fear River.
The plant was averaging 11 stranded turtles a season, with Brunswick’s sea turtle recovery program making sure they were rescued and returned to the river.
Then employees began to attack the root of the problem – how to stop turtles from getting past the barrier in the first place.
A maintenance program that shortened the time the barrier was lifted and provided easier and more frequent inspections to identify holes turtles could slip through has shown great results.
In 2012, the plant had 23 sea turtles slip past the barrier. In 2014 … zero. That result is a win for the company and sea turtles alike.
