CRESCENT BEACH, Fla. — Volunteers from the Crescent Beach Turtle Patrol have said that the 2023 sea turtle nesting season is surpassing last year’s record numbers.
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As the nesting season reaches its apex, droves of Green, Leatherback and the most abundant, Loggerhead, turtles have come in droves up and down the Eastern and Gulf Beaches of Florida.
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“Soon the mamas will swim off to faraway places as their job will be done until they hopefully return in a couple of years and do it all again,” Crescent Beach Turtle Patrol said in a social media post.
Studies show that only 1 out of 1,000 sea turtles survive to adulthood. But it’s all a numbers game as female turtles are known to lay several nests during the season. Counts of 100-plus eggs are laid in each nest.
“As they (turtles) hatch with their brothers and sisters literally climbing and clawing up over each other to dig out of the hole mom deposited them in over the coming months, their road map is with them, genetically hard wired in their brain to swim out to the sargassum,” the Turtle Patrol said. “When they are mature enough they will swim back to the area they knew as a hatchling.”
In order to best protect their survival and long journey we can respect their space. People are advised to stand back at least 50 feet from nest hatchings and just watch.
Bright lights are known to confuse sea turtles. This causes them to head in the wrong direction. Artificial light is a conservation problem in Florida.
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You can do your part by reporting harassment of any kind to sea turtles and their nests. Please call your local sheriff’s office or you can contact the Florida Wildlife Commission, FWC, at 888-404-3932 and report it 24/7.
