In a vacation resort like Anna Maria Island, it’s tough to educate people about sea turtles because the audience is a moving target.
Visitors who have learned something about vacationing on a turtle nesting beach are always leaving, and visitors who know nothing about turtles are always arriving.
Third Place
Editorial
2016
Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring does a great job of providing educational opportunities for tourists, pitching their tent at art shows and festivals, offering Turtle Talks on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, inviting people to view nests excavations after nests have hatched, and supplying printed information to rental agents, city halls and the chamber of commerce, among other outreach efforts.
Some people plan their vacations around turtle season because they love turtles, Turtle Watch reports.
But others have no idea what leaving their drapes open at night could do to a turtle nest.
The first sea turtle nest of the season that hatched on Anna Maria Island this week was disoriented by lights, meaning the hatchlings probably did not make it to the Gulf of Mexico and died, despite the efforts of dozens of volunteers who get up before dawn to check for tracks and mark new nests and protect the imperiled marine turtles on holiday weekends and throughout the six-month turtle season.
An average 16 disorientations occur each year according to Turtle Watch. That could mean more than 1,000 turtle hatchlings unwittingly killed.
While some rental agents provide information inside their accommodations regarding the laws about sea turtles – such as closing blinds and drapes at night, turning off camera flashes and bringing chairs and umbrella stands in from the beach – some visitors don’t read them, or if they do, they don’t comply.
But some rental agents, as well as some accommodations owners who rent their properties without agents, don’t even bother posting the information for their guests.
It’s very discouraging for Turtle Watch to work so hard to persuade beachfront property owners to provide information, and sometimes even help them install turtle-friendly lighting and windows, then have a nest of hatchlings become disoriented from one person using a cell phone flash at night on the beach because they didn’t know not to.
There’s no excuse not to advise guests about turtle laws on rental websites, in welcome packets and in posted rules. Call Turtle Watch at 941-778-5638. Use the Sun’s “Turtle Tips” and “Live Like a Local” features available in print, on our website and on our Facebook page.
Live like a local – respect wildlife.
