Posted on August 13, 2025
VIRGINIA BEACH — A sand replenishment project in Croatan Beach was put on hold to allow loggerhead turtle eggs to hatch.
It has been rescheduled to after turtle nesting and hatching season ends in November, said Mark Haviland, spokesperson for the Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the project.
The Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response team responded to a turtle crawl on Croatan Beach last month near the equipment for the sand project, an aquarium spokesperson said. The team relocated 130 eggs closer to the sand dunes, set up a protective perimeter around the nest and are monitoring the site.
Manson Constructing Corp. was contracted to renourish the beach in Croatan this summer, but there was a delay in getting some of the dredge equipment on site, and then the turtle nested, Haviland said.
Meanwhile, the window of opportunity for sand work is coming to a close. Sea turtle nesting and hatching activity along the Atlantic coast extends from Sept. 1 to Nov. 14, and beach replenishment is prohibited during that time.
Before heading to Croatan, Manson Construction Co. had placed sand on the beach in the resort area from 16th to 21st streets. The original contract called for renourishing the beach from 15th to 45th streets, but it ended early, in May, because of problems with the consistency and color of the sand.
Beach restoration equipment in Croatan Beach in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Aug. 7, 2025.
The same source of sand dredged from the deepest part of a ocean shipping channel will be placed in Croatan where the beach is narrow and continues to erode from storms. The Army Corps, in consultation with the city and the aquarium, rescheduled the work to begin Nov. 15, Haviland said.
“The profile of Croatan is not what the city or the corps would like to see there,” he said. “We’d like to have more sand along that beach, and I think the city would, too and with all the dredging work going on in the Atlantic Channel, it’s the perfect opportunity.”
