NEPTUNE BEACH, Fla. — The volunteers with beaches sea turtle patrol have been busy so far this turtle nesting season with tracking crawls and nests, relocating many nests due to the beach renourishment project, and monitoring successful hatches.
As of Aug. 28, there have been 81 nests.
“80 of them are loggerheads, and we had 1 green which has hatched,” said Kevin Brown, Field Supervisor for Beaches Sea Turtle Patrol. “We are the largest hatchery, state of Florida, for loggerheads in the world.”
Fifty-three nests have hatched so far.
“5,259 hatched eggs,” said Brown.
That’s an 80% hatch rate, which is above average statewide. And we need every last hatched turtle, as only 1% live to adulthood.
Because of the beach renourishment project, 62% of nests had to be relocated. They didn’t lose any eggs in transport, but the new location posed problems.
“Because we had to relocate them in areas that were nonpopulated, especially Hanna Park, you’re going to run into predation, said Brown. “You’re going to run into more ghost crabs and fox communities.”
Brown said they did add screens and other tactics to try to ward off predators.
The beach renourishment project itself didn’t inhibit sea turtles from laying their eggs.
“A great example is one crawled right up in the work zone,” said Brown. “They called; I went out. They immediately stopped work. So there’s a good partnership there.”
But beachgoers can negatively impact sea turtles if they don’t keep the beach clean, dark and flat.
“Lights off,” said Brown. “Keep the beach flat because these hatchlings can get stuck in those holes.”
Kevin Brown says it has been a successful turtle season so far for the Jacksonville, Neptune and Atlantic beaches.
Beaches Sea Turtle Patrol has partnered with Beaches Energy to provide free #CleanDarkFlat stickers. You can pick them up at the beaches town halls or the coffee shops Breezy, Cup of Job and RoundBird. For nest updates and more information on the patrol, head to bstp.net.