Hammocks Beach State Park in Onslow County has one of the longest sea turtle nest monitoring projects in North Carolina. The earliest record of nesting on the island comes from 1975, and nightly patrols to measure (and eventually tag) nesting females started in 1979. Park staff monitor and protect all sea turtle nests laid on the island and are also active in the NC sea turtle stranding and salvage network. Aerial surveys identified nesting crawls prior to 1979, with the following results: 1975 = 66 nests counted between 20 June and 23 July; 1977 = 10 nests and 3 false crawls between 27 June and 05 July; 1978 = 54 nests throughout the summer.