ANNA MARIA ISLAND – The first loggerhead sea turtle nest of the season has been located in Bradenton Beach by volunteers from the Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring organization.
Although sea turtle nesting season begins officially on May 1, Turtle Watch volunteers started patrolling the Island beaches on April 15 to ensure finding any early nests.
“We have been awaiting our first nest for a few weeks and are excited to see that sea turtle nesting has finally begun on Anna Maria Island,” Turtle Watch Executive Director Kristen Mazzarella wrote in a May 15 email. “We look forward to another productive nesting season.”
The nest laid in Bradenton Beach was relocated to a location nearby to prevent it from being in the project area of an upcoming beach renourishment project. The nest relocations are conducted by trained personnel authorized by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Marine Turtle Permit MTP-087, per special permit conditions, according to Mazzarella.
According to Turtle Watch volunteer Karen Anderson, relocated nests are recreated to the same specifications of depth, diameter and size to those the nesting turtles created.
NESTING NEWS
Turtle nests laid: 8 (8 loggerhead, 0 green)
False crawls: 17 (17 loggerhead, 0 green)
Nests hatched: 0
Hatchlings produced: 0
Hatchling nest disorientations: 0
Adult disorientations: 0
Source: Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring
