Sea turtle population ‘skyrocketing’ with 7th most successful nesting season in decades

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - Righteous! Researchers at Mote Marine Laboratory are tracking nearly 3,000 sea turtle nesting sites ready to hatch between Longboat Key and Venice.

The tide is turning for sea turtles on the Suncoast.

Researchers at Mote Marine Laboratory have their eyes on what they expect to be the 7th most successful nesting season it’s seen on our beaches in decades, and it could get even better. The lab has counted 2,713 loggerhead sea turtle nests along with more than 40 for green sea turtles and a single Kemp’s ridley sea turtle nest.

The nesting season spans from May 1 until Oct. 31, so those numbers could climb up to 3,000 nests overall before the end of the year.

ABC7 spoke to Melissa Macksey, the senior biologist and conservation manager at Mote Marine Laboratory, to understand what’s behind the sea turtle’s comeback. She explained these numbers are a culmination of decades of conservation work.

Since the Endangered Species Act passed in 1973, she said plenty of sea turtle conservation organizations have cropped up around Florida to help the struggling marine animals. Throughout the past 50 years, the combined efforts of all those organizations have lifted up the sea turtle population gradually moving them out of the endangered species category down to threatened.

“It’s awesome to know the work is paying off, even if it takes a few decades because they’re such long-lived species,” she said. “It’s kind of awesome to take credit for all the work they did back before I was even born.”

In recent years, that payoff has become more obvious. Mote Marine, which has been tracking sea turtles between Longboat Key and Venice for the past 41 years, saw all of its most successful nesting seasons within the past five years. Twenty years ago, researchers could expect to see maybe 1,000 nests on our beaches, but now those numbers are skyrocketing.

Macksey doesn’t have a prediction on how long it will take for sea turtles to grow beyond their threatened status, but she hopes the day comes soon.

Beachgoers can also do their part to help out sea turtles during nesting season.

Macksey is advising people to steer clear of nesting sites (marked with stakes and roped off) and make an effort to clear away trash and sandcastles that could obstruct hatchlings once they break free to make their dash to the water.

However, she insists the biggest help is turning down lights alongside our shores. When the baby turtles hatch--likely within two months--they look toward the moon’s reflection on the waves to find their way into the gulf. If bright lights on the opposite side of the sand are visible, they can get confused, run the wrong way, and eventually die.

With any luck, this year’s hatchlings will have a smooth run home and keep their population surviving and thriving.

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