Social Circle, Ga. (9/19/2007)–The number of loggerhead sea turtle nests along Georgia’s coast slipped to 688 this year, the third-lowest total since daily monitoring began in 1989. But the preliminary figures released today by the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division characterize long-term trends and not an abrupt decline in the federally threatened species, according to Mark Dodd, a senior wildlife biologist in the division’s Nongame Conservation Section.

“The annual variability of nesting is high,” said Dodd, who coordinates the Georgia Sea Turtle Program. “What I’m really concerned with … is the long-term trend.”

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