Sea Turtle Association marks mid-season victories, challenges

BY ARLENE HALL, BOCA GRANDE SEA TURTLE ASSOC.

As of July 31, Gasparilla Island was at the halfway point of the May-October sea turtle nesting season. As of Wednesday, August 5, the Boca Grande Sea Turtle Association (BGSTA) has documented 584 nests (574 loggerhead and 10 green), from the north end of the island down to the northern end of the state park at the south. 

Many people we see on the beach have been asking us how this year compares with last. Well, by this time last year, we had 537 loggerhead nests and 25 green sea turtle nests, so this year’s total nests are a bit ahead of last year. Because green turtle nesting activity is known to fluctuate greatly between years, this season’s lower green-nesting figure is not surprising or concerning.

Nesting activity, both false crawls and nests, peaked during the second half of June. The 1,146 crawls (307 nests) recorded that month represented quite a jump from the 455 crawls in May (162 nests). On June 21, BGSTA patrollers recorded a whopping 83 new crawls – 15 nests and 68 false crawls in a single day! By July, however, nesting activity dropped to just 364 crawls (110 nests) for the month, and there have been only 17 crawls (including 5 nests) so far in August. Within the next couple weeks, all new crawls will cease, and our daily focus will be solely on monitoring the remaining incubating nests.

As previously reported, the first nest hatched on June 26 and that activity has been going strong since then. Currently, there are only 290 nests still incubating on the beach, about half of the 584 total. The wild surf whipped up by the passing tropical depression on July 20-22 completely washed away 41 nests. Nearly 200 other nests were washed over by that surf or were temporarily in standing water such as tidal pools, but many of those have since hatched so we hold out hope that the impact of the storm was minimal on those that remain. As for the 294 nests that have been completed, most of them had hatched, with hatchlings emerging and entering the Gulf. There are always some nests each season that do not successfully hatch, for reasons associated with the eggs themselves, the surrounding sand conditions (including exposure to waves) and invading roots, ants or other predators. Fortunately, mammalian predators have not been as big a problem so far this season as they were last season.

As directed by FWC prior to the season, certain nests are marked for inventory by BGSTA patrollers as they are initially documented. At a certain point after hatching, or once the normal incubation period has passed, our patrollers will excavate and inventory the contents of these nests. As of August 5, BGSTA patrollers have inventoried 146 nests, providing FWC with data that is used to determine the success of the nests on the island and identify trends in nesting activity; such data will continue to be collected for the remainder of the season. Inventoried nests also include those that were symbolically “adopted” by participants in the BGSTA’s 2026 Adopt-a-Nest fundraising program. All work performed by BGSTA patrollers is in accordance with FWC Marine Turtle Permit #26-123 and #26-173.

Over the next month, you’ll notice fewer yellow stakes on the beach each day as nests hatch and the stakes are removed. However, you will continue to see BGSTA patrollers out on the beach every morning, doing our part to help the local sea turtle population. Please continue to also do your part by keeping our beaches CLEAN, FLAT and DARK by picking up your trash and removing beach equipment, filling in holes, knocking down sand structures and turning off lights (both indoor and outdoor) that can be seen from the beach and will disorient the hatchlings. We’re in the home stretch now, let’s keep this successful season moving forward!