Heads up for hatchlings
Make way: it’s time for the turtles.
Sea turtle nesting and hatching season runs from May through October, and this year’s season is full of activity.
As of Monday, Fort Myers Beach had 63 loggerhead sea turtle nests and six had hatched, said Eve Haverfield, founder of Turtle Time, Inc.
Turtle Time is a not for profit organization that monitors sea turtle activity and collects data from Bonita Springs to Bokeelia.
Last year, Fort Myers Beach had 99 nests at this time, Haverfield said.
“It was a banner year state wide. We’re a little behind this year,” she said.
But, she’s not too disappointed – 2018’s numbers are a far cry from what she saw when she founded the organization.
Haverfield launched Turtle Time 39 years ago; she started working on Fort Myers Beach in 1989. That year, there were only five nests.
“Each year it’s been increasing.” she said.
Some of that is due to Turtle Time and other organizations’ tireless education. Turtle Time locates each nest and marks it with stakes and yellow tape to show where it is, so it doesn’t get stepped on or run over. The volunteers also post an informative card to each nest warning curious passers-by not to disturb the nest as well as other important turtle wellness information, like disorientation due to lighting on the beach at night.
The organization has approximately 160 volunteers, who help to GPS, photograph and document each false crawl, nest, and hatch. If the nest has been laid too close to the water or in a dangerously-trafficked area, they will relocate the nest. And, once the eggs hatch, they’ll check to make sure the hatchlings didn’t get disoriented and go the wrong direction.
One female turtle will lay three to five times in a season. Each nest contains, on average, 120 eggs, but only a few will live to adulthood.
Fort Myers Beach only has loggerhead nests this year; Bonita Springs gets green sea turtles and Sanibel gets loggerhead, green, Kemp’s Ridley and and leatherback nests.
Understanding about turtles has improved.
“It’s getting better. It was Wild Wild West out here when I started,” Haverfield said. “Beach furniture was left out, lights were left on. There’s been tremendous change to protect this fragile environment.”
Of course, there’s still room for improvement.
One of the biggest offenders is the incorrect light usage on the beach. Turtle hatchlings are attracted to the lighter horizon of the night sky on the water, but if bright lights from homes and businesses are left on, the babies can get disoriented and crawl toward land instead of out to the ocean.
Officials recommend amber-colored lights, and Haverfield said it’s really the wavelengths of the lights that matter to the turtles. She said the best ones to use outside are Amber LED lights – and to also shield the lights from shining out onto the sand. That includes lights that people may think are okay, like front porch lights, but even those can be visible to turtles on the beach.
Raking beaches is also ill-advised as it makes the nests too deep for the hatchlings to dig out and the tractor can compact the sand. Raking is used to remove debris on the wrack line, like dead seaweed, as well as make the beach more level and beach-chair friendly.
But, beach raking’s popularity is going down, Haverfield said. She’s glad to see it, as having dunes and seaweeds on the beach are part of a functioning system.
“A sterile beach is not a healthy beach,” she said. “I’d like to see less rakings, have people not see seaweed as dirty but as part of a healthy system.”
Haverfield’s excited about the straw ordinance – she said she used to go out on the beach in the mornings to check nests and see the sun reflecting off straws like “icicles.”
“I’m proud of Fort Myers Beach and where it is,” Haverfield said. “What’s good for sea turtles is good for people.”