The world according to me....

One of the great things about my job is the wealth of opportunity to participate in different activities dealing with sea turtles. I recently was invited to go up in a small fixed-wing aircraft, as part of an aeiral survey for turtles and marine mammals in the inshore and near-offshore waters around Piney Island, which is part of a target range used by Cherry Point Marine Corps Base. Lisa and April from the CAST team at the NOAA Beaufort Lab were the other observers, plus two pilots, and together we spent about 6 hours flying east-west transects across Core and Pamlico Sounds. The only turtle I saw was a dead loggerhead floating in the middle of Pamlico Sound. What I did see a lot more of were vehicles driving on the beaches of Cape Lookout National Seashore and Cape Hatteras National Seashore. In the photo above, you can see a pickup truck driving along the beach on North Core Banks. Beach driving is a contentious issue in North Carolina, with strong supporters and strong detractors. Several municipalities have debated restricting beach driving seasons, while others have moved to open up their beaches to greater vehicle access. This issue has not been fully resolved in North Carolina or elsewhere and will likely remain a major topic of discussion for the future along the coast of the SE USA.