It’s a wrap for the 2014 turtle nesting season, as Friday is the last day.
In Manatee County, the Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring Group is celebrating another successful year. While there were not as many sea turtle nests as last year, the turtle watch group reports overall it was a good year.
According to the group, there are 260 Sea Turtle nests this year. That’s a 109 fewer than last year’s 369 nests. This year’s total number of hatchlings was 18,257.
The group credits the nice sand for their success and people following the lights-out rule at nights for the accomplishment.
Visitors like Timothy Hoth, from New York, said that while he’s happy to hear it was a good season, he’s sad he missed it.
“I can’t believe it,” said Hoth. “I showed up on the last day.”
Although the season is over for now, the turtles will be back in May. Turtle Nesting Season runs from early May through the end of October.
Five species of Sea Turtles are found in Manatee County. The most common nester is the Loggerhead.
During sea turtle nesting season, beachgoers are asked to keep lights off at night, avoid any interaction with nesting turtles and avoid all marked sea turtle nests.
When people leave lights on at night, sea turtle hatchlings may become disoriented and head toward those lights, instead of the moonlight over the ocean.
To ensure hatchlings make it to the water, people are asked to do the following:
- Remove all belongings from the beach, flatten sand castles and fill in holes
- Properly dispose of litter in designated receptacles on the beach
- Stay off dunes and use the designated walkovers for crossing
- Shield any artificial lighting that may shine toward the beach