 The Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Control Program Coordinator told WNCT, We look for sea turtle nests, set them up, protect them, and then when it's time for them to hatch, we make sure they all get to the ocean, and then we'll do an excavation, and we collect all the official data for the state of North Carolina. During some years, there have been up to 52 nests along the Emerald Isle coast.