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Sea turtle season ends/ education doesn’t

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FILE PHOTO Sea turtles have completed another season of nesting. Hatchlings, such as this little guy, are reportedly on their way to the Sargasso Sea to mature. They may possibly return to their birth area in the future.

As our human “snowbirds” return to Estero Island, another species of part-time residents are making their way further south. The 2014 sea turtle season has come to an end.

Since prehistoric times, many endangered marine creatures have called Fort Myers Beach home from May through October during a ritual that includes mating, nesting and hatching. Turtle Time volunteers again dedicated themselves to the early morning monitoring that is needed to ensure the life cycle continues.

Turtle Time founder Eve Haverfield reported a successful year, partly due to no impact from tropical storms and the continued education that limits sea turtle disorientations. The Beach recorded 48 hatched nests – four more than last year’s 44, but down from the record-setting 65 nests of 2012.

The six-month process provides protection for the sea turtles after a mating ritual in nearby Gulf waters and consequent nesting on shoreline dunes.

“There was an improvement in the number of nests and a decrease in the number of false crawls, which means fewer sea turtles were deterred and, in essence, more sea turtles nested,” Haverfield said. “In 2012, we witnessed the turning point of that downward trend for loggerhead sea turtle nests. I think we are still part of that upward swing according to state numbers, which looks really, really optimistic.”

A positive sometimes is followed by a negative. Turtle Time also recorded the Beach’s most disorientations, where a sea turtle loses its sense of direction due to extraneous circumstances.

“Sadly, on Fort Myers Beach, we had six nests that had disorientations,” said Haverfield. “That is an all-time high, unfortunately.”

The so-called Turtle Lady attributes disorientations to the fact that 25-watt yellow bug lights are no longer available to help shield light from the eyes of newborn hatchlings. However, amber LED bulbs are available.

“They are a little bit more pricey than the old-fashioned light bulbs, but those lights cut (Beach residents’/property owners’) monthly electricity bill by like 70 percent and the longevity of those bulbs can be like 10 years,” said Haverfield. “The benefits far outweigh the initial costs.”

Concerted efforts are called for, and businesses or anyone else shouldn’t have to suffer.

“Sea Turtle conservation is about making a beach turtle-friendly so that sea turtles that rely on beaches for their survival can share the beach with businesses, residents and guests,” Haverfield said. “We believe that balance is obtainable.”

The 2014 season did not feature any storm impacts, unlike 2012 when 47 percent of the hatchlings involved in the 65 nests were “lost” due to tropical storms and disorientations. The high number of nests in 2012 came after a 10-year downward trend -including 11 in 2009, 23 in 2010 and 28 in 2011- in recent years.

Besides the Beach, Turtle Time volunteers monitor beachfronts on Big Hickory Island, Bonita Beach, Bunche Beach and part of Bokeelia.

Overall, the nest count from those five locations was 152 this year, compared to 149 in 2013. There were a total of 203 nests in 2012.

Hatchlings emerge from those nests upon hatching, find the light of the moon, scamper to reach the Gulf and swim for their lives using the Gulf Stream in hopes to reach the Sargasso Sea, where they use the Sargassum as cover from predators until they are mature. These turtles are known to return to birth sites and continue the ritual.

This year, the first hatched nest was recorded on July 16 -an emergency excavations due to being past its hatch time on the 74th day (a normal hatching process runs between 55 to 65 days). In all, 104 hatchlings were said to have emerged from that nests’ 107 eggs for a 97 percent success rate.

Nest excavation is a big part of sea turtle conservation. Results are sent to the Sea Turtle Marine Division of the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, which is passed on to U.S. Fish & Wildlife.

During the off-season, Haverfield is planning on working on updating the sea turtle brochure, including letting folks know where to get amber LED lights. Go to www.myfwc.com/conservation/u-conserve/lighting to learn more. Call Turtle Time at 481-5566 to receive information about the endangered species.

“I appreciate the many, many business and residents who have helped with sea turtle conservation by being compliance with lighting and beach furniture and who take great pleasure in being part of the solution instead of the problem,” said Haverfield. “‘My volunteers are truly wonderful. We couldn’t do what we do without our terrific volunteer corps.”

Florida celebrates high sea turtle nest count

Researchers are again seeing a high number of sea turtle nests on Florida’s beaches this year. The number of nests in Florida has increased over the past several years as a result of increased conservation efforts and decreased detrimental storms throughout the state.

More than 1,800 biologists, interns and trained volunteers patrol Florida’s 199 nesting beaches to identify, mark and monitor nests. Researchers at Florida’s three National Estuarine Research Reserves, located in Naples, Apalachicola and Ponte Vedra Beach, gather evidence to track sea turtle populations and document the success of the nests.

This year, 960 total nests have been reported in Florida’s three NERRs. Researchers at Guana Tolomato Mantanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve have reported 134 nests, including 10 rare green turtle nests. The nest count in Rookery Bay NationalEstuarine Research Reserve has increased from 475 in 2013 to 560 nests this year. At the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve, 266 nests have been identified.

In addition to more total nests, Rookery Bay Reserve also had more hatched nests this year, totaling 360 this season, compared to just 287 last year. The increase in hatched nests reflects the improvement of statewide nesting productivity. Additionally, Cape Romano, within Rookery Bay Reserve, is reporting the highest number of sea turtle nests since 2006. An estimated 6,000 hatchlings from those nests have made it to the Gulf more than double last year’s reported 2,500 and soaring above the count of 678 in 2012.

Sea turtles spend the vast majority of their lives in the open ocean, only coming inland to nest. Florida is a vital area for sea turtle nesting, with nesting areas running along both the Gulf and Atlantic coasts.

-information provided Florida Department of Environmental Protection