Sea turtle nesting season is underway, and a dedicated cadre of turtle volunteers are combing the state’s beaches at dawn, hoping their group will earn first-nest-of-the-season bragging rights in 2025.
Most likely, the honor will go to volunteers in a county along the Atlantic Ocean as turtles nest there a full month before they start to come ashore along the Gulf.
Last year’s nesting season in Florida revealed the fragile balance between heartbreak for sea turtle enthusiasts and encouraging nesting trends in Florida, where more than 90% of sea turtle nesting in the United States occurs.
Momma turtles packed beaches throughout Southwest Florida. Sea turtle lovers were giddy because the scene on Sanibel Island’s beaches wasn’t unique: there were so many square markers with yellow tape stretched across the top, warning of a turtle nest below, it was hard to walk down the beach. Two of the rarer species of turtles were setting nesting records.
Last summer’s star was the leatherback, which was the first type of turtle to lay a nest on Sanibel Island –- only the fourth time that species nested there – while another leatherback dropped eggs in the sand in Pinellas County for the first time in recorded history.
“A leatherback nesting on Florida’s Gulf Coast is rare,” said Jack Brzoza, a Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation biologist. “These turtles more commonly nest on the East Coast.”
Some 60 days later, the 40 leatherback hatchlings that burst from the nest and made it to the water were the lucky ones. They would have a shot at a perilous journey to adulthood during which, if successful, they grow from the size of a silver dollar to that of an industrial-sized refrigerator.
Then came the hurricanes.
Tropical weather systems wiped out thousands of nests along Florida’s Gulf Coast in September and October. On Sanibel Island alone, Tropical Storm Debby washed out 269 nests on August 4, or 31% of all the nests. Hurricane Helene, in late September, destroyed seven more.
Robbin Trindell, the lead sea turtle biologist with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, said last summer that if a hurricane destroys a nest, it’s an exercise in futility to try to repair it. At that point, the embryos inside the eggs are no longer viable and have a different purpose.
“If you see any eggs on the beach after storms it’s best to leave them in place,” she said. “They are an important source of nutrients for birds and other animals, so it’s not a complete waste to the system.”
When Category 3 Hurricane Milton blew by 150 miles west of Sanibel and Captiva its winds and waves pounded the islands, but all of the island’s living hatchlings were already out to sea.
Overall, 2024 was a successful season as Florida recorded 126,263 sea turtle nests across all species. Loggerheads accounted for the majority with 110,122 nests, followed by green turtles with 14,308 nests, leatherbacks with 1,799, and Kemp’s ridleys with a record-breaking 34 nests.
Green turtle numbers were lower than the previous year’s record-breaking total of 76,645 nests but landed in their typical range. Leatherbacks continued their upward trend with promising numbers.
Despite these successes, researchers caution that only one in 1,000 sea turtles survive to adulthood, making each protected nest vital. Six of the seven sea turtle species worldwide remain threatened or endangered, underscoring the ongoing importance of conservation efforts.
Lee County Sheriff's deputies understood that when they rescued 15 baby sea turtles that went the wrong way and tumbled into a storm drain near Fort Myers Beach. The hatchlings were discovered by the sea turtle volunteers with Turtle Time, and deputies worked quickly to release them into the Gulf.
Sea turtle nesting season began March 1 on southeast Atlantic beaches from Brevard to Broward counties, with Gulf Coast and northern Florida shores expecting activity by April or May.
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