ANNA MARIA ISLAND – The 2023 turtle nesting season is coming to an early end, partly due to Hurricane Idalia.
“No changes in nest numbers,” Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch Executive Director Kristen Mazzarella said. “That’s not surprising as this is usually the hatching time of year.”
The last nest on the Gulf of Mexico side of the Island hatched on Sept. 19 and volunteers continue to check three remaining nests on the bay side.
“We are still hoping to see a hatch,” she said.
Sea turtle season officially begins on May 1 and ends on Oct. 31.
Volunteers did not conduct patrols on Aug. 30 due to Idalia, but they were out on the beach assessing the status of the nests the following day.
“We had 76 unhatched nests left on the beach when Hurricane Idalia came through. Stakes were lost from all but 12 of them,” Mazzarella said.
“It is possible that some nests may still hatch, although unmarked. Turtle season is not quite over, but we are happy with the results, having allowed nearly 23,000 hatchlings to go out to sea prior to the storm.”
One local celebrity loggerhead turtle, Suzi – named after the late Suzi Fox, longtime executive director of Turtle Watch – was released from Coquina Beach on June 27 after being fitted with a satellite monitor. She is participating in the Sea Turtle Conservancy Tour de Turtles race and is currently swimming in the Gulf of Mexico near Cancun, Mexico.
The hatchling numbers from Suzi’s nest were unavailable due to the storm.
“Unfortunately, we never saw Suzi’s nest hatch prior to the storm, so we don’t have any information on how many hatchlings the nest produced,” Mazzarella said. “It is possible it hatched on one of the rainy days prior to Hurricane Idalia. The rain sometimes makes it impossible to see the hatchling tracks and therefore document the hatch.”
As the season winds down, Turtle Watch focuses on education and outreach.
“We are looking forward to having a booth at the Anna Maria Farmer’s Market in October,” Mazzarella said. “We are still compiling our data and working on coordinating with the schools about outreach programs.”
