ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Just in time for Mother’s Day, sea turtles that hatched on the Island have begun returning to lay their own nests.
Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring (AMITW) identified and marked six turtle nests in the first week of nesting season, which began May 1 and runs through Oct. 31.
These nests are just the beginning; hundreds more are expected this year, which will result in tens of thousands of hatchlings. The record for nests was 544 in 2019, and 2018 saw a record 35,788 hatchlings. However, the majority of the hatchlings will not survive to maturity, primarily due to predators. To maximize their chances of survival, the best thing to do is eliminate obstacles created by humans.
Hatchling turtles are born with an immediate instinct to crawl directly to the water. Obstacles such as beach chairs, trash or deep holes they cannot crawl out of lower their odds of survival. Light from flashlights or camera flashes can disorient both nesting and hatching sea turtles, leading them away from the water, as can light from beachfront buildings.
Five species of sea turtles swim and feed around Anna Maria Island, the most common being the loggerhead, according to Turtle Watch, and all are an integral part of the local ecosystem.
Turtle Tips
During sea turtle season, May 1 – Oct. 31, follow these tips to help turtles:
- Turn off lights visible from the beach and close blinds from sundown to sunrise; lights confuse nesting sea turtles and may cause them to go back to sea and drop their eggs in the water, where they won’t hatch. Light can also attract hatchlings away from the water.
- Don’t use flashlights, lanterns or camera flashes on the beach at night.
- Remove all beach chairs and other objects from the sand from sundown to sunrise; they can deter sea turtles from nesting and disorient hatchlings.
- Fill in the holes you dig in the sand before leaving the beach; they can trap nesting and hatching sea turtles, which cannot live long out of the water.
- Deconstruct sandcastles before leaving the beach; they can block hatchlings from the water.
- Don’t use balloons, wish lanterns or fireworks; they litter the beach and Gulf, and turtles can ingest the debris.
- Do not trim trees and plants that shield the beach from lights.
- Never touch a sea turtle; it’s the law. If you see people disturbing turtles, call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Wildlife Alert hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922).
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