CLEARWATER, FL – After the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported several sea turtle nests being disturbed, the Clearwater Marine Aquarium is reminding both Pinellas County residents and visitors to take care. Sea turtle nesting season, which runs through Oct. 31, is a critical time for sea turtles.
These threatened and endangered species of sea turtles continue to return to the original beach where they were born to lay their own eggs in nesting areas where generations of sea turtles have been hatched.
Five species of sea turtles nest along beaches in Florida, including leatherbacks, green sea turtles, loggerheads, Kemp’s ridley and hawksbills.
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Disturbing a sea turtle nest is a crime the FWC takes seriously.
FWC Officer Specialist Michael Morrison spent months tracking down the person responsible for disturbing a turtle nest in Sarasota. He eventually found the culprit and turned the case over to the Sarasota State Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
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Despite a handful of nests being disturbed this nesting season, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Research Institute, which is responsible for coordinating data collection, conducting research and compiling annual surveys on sea turtles and their nests, said the number of turtle nests appears to be on the rise this year.
The preliminary statewide nest totals to date are:
The institute credits Florida’s coastal communities with helping to increase the viability of turtle nests by spreading word through public service announcements, posting turtle awareness signs and passing ordinances limiting the amount of lighting allowed on beaches during nesting season.
However, turtle nests continue to be threatened by increased coastal development and increasingly congested beaches.
“We want to remind locals, new residents and tourists that the nesting season is here, and to be attentive when visiting the beach during this special time,” said Clearwater Marine Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Conservation Program Manager Lindsey Flynn.
In April, Flynn’s team found its first sea turtle nest in the Clearwater area, which is historically early and the first-ever recorded by CMA before the official start of the season on May 1. Last year, the research institute recorded a total of 488 nests in Pinellas County.
Flynn and her team of 24 staff, college interns and volunteers are trained each year to carefully monitor nearly 21 miles of beach seven days a week during nesting season, from April 15 through Oct. 31, looking for signs of turtle tracks that show a female turtle has nested nearby.
They are among nearly 3,000 people who collect valuable data on Florida’s nesting sea turtles along 840 miles of sandy beaches.
To ensure that sea turtles don’t become alarmed and abandon their nests and that newly hatched sea turtles make it safely to the ocean, the aquarium offers the following tips:
Like other turtle-tracking groups around the state that are certified by the FWC, the aquarium trackers report annual nesting data to the FWC institute, including false crawl counts, disorientation events, obstruction events, predators and vandalism.
“A big challenge we face is encouraging residents and businesses to use sea turtle-friendly lighting to reduce the number of sea turtles crawling away from the water or wandering on the beach due to the presence of bright artificial lights.”
The hatchlings use the light of the moon as a guide to the ocean, and artificial lights can distract them, causing them to head in the wrong direction, sometimes falling into storm drains or ending up on busy roads.
The aquarium hosts a Protect the Nest Program, which allows the public to purchase a personalized plaque and virtually adopt a sea turtle nest for the year to protect nests in the aquarium’s survey area.
The wooden, turtle-shaped plaques are affixed to a nest during the season and will be returned at the end of the season to the purchasing individual or family. Visit protectnest.org for more details.
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