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Despite tropical storm, Turtle Watch reports successful year

Despite tropical storm, Turtle Watch reports successful year

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Despite the loss of 200 loggerhead sea turtle nests due to flooding caused by Debby, which passed by Anna Maria Island as a tropical storm on Aug. 4-5, it has been a successful nesting year so far with numbers surpassing those of 2023, and, in some cases, record high numbers.

“It’s been a busy week with a lot of nest excavations – where we count the eggs in the nest to see how well the nest did after it hatched or is overdue,” Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring Executive Director Kristen Mazzarella wrote in an Aug. 30 email. “We’ve had a few hatches this week and we excavate hatched nests three days after the hatch is observed – to allow all the hatchlings to emerge from the nest on their own. However, due to the Tropical Storm Debby, most of our excavations continue to be 70-day (overdue nest) excavations.”

Mazzarella wrote that 135 nests are still incubating on Island beaches.

With a total nest count of 685, there were 200 complete washouts of nests this year, compared to 82 washouts in 2023, when 404 nests were produced.

A new loggerhead nest was found on the Island last week, and volunteers continue to look for new nests and false crawls as well as checking the remaining nests until they hatch and are excavated.

LIGHTING IMPROVEMENTS

Florida Power & Light (FPL) has started installing shields on several streetlights along Gulf Drive in Bradenton Beach. The streetlights could be seen from the beach, and may have led to the death of an adult female sea turtle that nested nearby, wandered into the road and was struck by a car in June.

“These shields will direct the light onto the road and make the lights less visible from the beach, creating a more turtle-friendly environment and helping save sea turtle hatchlings,” Mazzarella wrote. “We thank FPL, City of Bradenton Beach, Manatee County and FWC for their help in making this possible.”

Loggerhead killed by car leaves behind 84 hatchlings

Loggerhead killed by car leaves behind 84 hatchlings

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

BRADENTON BEACH – The nest laid by a loggerhead sea turtle that was struck and killed by a car on Gulf Drive in June hatched earlier this week, producing 84 hatchlings.

“When we conducted the nest excavation, we found one live hatchling in the nest, which was released immediately,” Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring Executive Director Kristen Mazzarella wrote in an Aug. 23 email.

Mazzarella said it was a great hatch success and is hopeful that the turtle’s legacy will continue.

“At this nest, which was situated in the picnic area of Coquina Beach near lifeguard tower 6, we placed a dedication plaque to let people know how, thanks to the awareness this turtle brought about lighting issues, many more turtles were saved from her fate,” she wrote.

After her death, the streetlights that led the turtle into the road were turned off until a turtle-safe solution could be put in their place.

MANY NEST EXCAVATIONS

There have been no new crawls this week, but Mazzarella said they are possible at this time of year.

“What we have been doing a lot of is nest excavations on nests that should’ve hatched around the time of Tropical Storm Debby,” she wrote. “When nests reach 70 days, they are considered overdue and we try our best to do an inventory on them. This is sometimes a difficult task because we don’t know exactly where the nest is without the benefit of a depression from a hatch.”

Volunteers must dig the area within the nest stakes to find the nest chamber. Sometimes, Turtle Watch volunteers may find unhatched eggs that have stopped developing or hatched shells indicating that a hatch occurred but went unnoticed due to inundation from the storm.

“The good news is that we are finding that many of these nests did indeed hatch,” she wrote. “This is reflected in the increase in hatched nest numbers over last week.”

HATCHLING RESCUE

Turtle Watch volunteer Kathy Noonan found and rescued two loggerhead hatchlings that had fallen into a hole left on the beach.

“One of the many hazards we educate the public about is holes dug in the sand,” Mazzarella wrote. “These holes can entrap hatchlings on their way to the water and, unless they are found by someone, they may perish in the hole from dehydration or be picked up by a predator.”

With the loss of more than 180 nests to Tropical Storm Debby, it is even more important to make sure the remaining hatchlings make it to the Gulf, she said, reminding beachgoers to fill in holes in the sand before leaving the beach for the day.

Turtle Watch completes post-storm assessment

Turtle Watch completes post-storm assessment

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring has completed a post-storm assessment of the turtle nests remaining on the beach after what was then Tropical Storm Debby passed by, and they are still hopeful for a near-record season.

The final tally was 479 nests still incubating on the beach at the time of the storm. Of the total 683 nests that were laid, 202 had already hatched. Turtle Watch volunteers documented 182 nests washed out, and 68 nests that are possibly still viable were restaked, according to Turtle Watch Executive Director Kristen Mazzarella in an Aug. 17 email.

“Prior to the storm, we secured the nest stakes and made sure that all nests were marked with a special GPS that we received funding for from an anonymous donor,” Mazzarella wrote. “The GPS documented the location of the nest with high accuracy which makes it very easy to accurately refind and repost nests that lost their stakes in the storm. After the storm passed, we picked up approximately 1,000 nest stakes that were pulled out from the heavy surf.”

Nest inventories are conducted three days after a hatch. Turtle Watch volunteers count the eggs inside the nest to determine the hatch success.

“Having missed two days of patrol, on 8/7 we had 27 inventories to complete – 19 were completed and eight were unable to be found,” Mazzarella wrote. “We used the new GPS’s to locate nests and determine which ones were washouts and which ones could be reposted.”

In the past week, Turtle Watch documented one new nest and three false crawls, along with 31 nest hatches.

“We are hopeful that we will still have a near record season, with 255 nests still incubating on the beach, combined with the 202 nests that have already hatched, we will have more nests than last year (2023 had 404 nests)” she wrote. “However, to make this a successful season, we will need the help of the public and visitors to ensure that hatchlings make it safely into the Gulf.”

Storm washes out more than 160 turtle nests

Storm washes out more than 160 turtle nests

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Featured, Outdoors, Sea turtles.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Following Hurricane Debby, Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring volunteers have been assessing the damage to turtle nests on local beaches.

Of the 479 nests that were incubating at the time of the storm, volunteers reported 227 remain staked and are likely still viable, 44 have been restaked and are likely still viable, 169 have been confirmed as complete washouts and 39 nests are yet to be assessed.

Due to Debby, which was a tropical storm while passing AMI, Turtle Watch volunteers were unable to patrol the beaches on Aug. 4-5 but were back on the beaches on Aug. 6.

“We knew we were going to lose some nests, but we were happy to report that we documented many hatched nests on Sunday morning before the storm, and a couple more hatches were reported by the public on the days we were unable to survey,” according to an Aug. 9 press release from Turtle Watch Executive Director Kristen Mazzarella. “There may be even more hatches that we don’t know about, so we are glad that hatchlings got out!”

Volunteers have collected more than 1,000 loose nest stakes, which will be repainted and reused next year.

Mazzarella expressed gratitude to those who placed stakes in piles at the dunes.

“We hope to complete our assessment and restake all viable nests by early next week,” she wrote.

Volunteers are continuing to conduct daily patrols looking for new nesting crawls, documenting new hatches and nest disturbances and conducting an inventory of nests that have hatched or reached an overdue date.

“While we are saddened by the loss of so many nests, we are encouraged by the number of nests still left on the beach,” Mazzarella wrote. “As high as our nesting numbers were this season, we still may have a record number of successful nests before the season is over.”

So far this year, a record number of nests were laid on the Island – 683 – which broke the 2019 record of 543.

If you see a sea turtle or hatchling in distress, please call the Turtle Watch 24/7 hotline at 941-301-8434.

Turtle Watch marked nests with GPS before Debby

Turtle Watch marked nests with GPS before Debby

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – In advance of Hurricane Debby, Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring volunteers secured stakes at the 682 nests on the Island.

“Thanks to a generous anonymous donor, we have been using a special GPS to mark our nests, which means that if the nest loses stakes, we will be able to repost the nest in nearly the exact location it was originally posted,” Executive Director Kristen Mazzarella said.

Volunteers will be documenting any overwash or inundation that occurs as they check every nest after the storm.

“Our FWC Marine Turtle Permit gives us permission to work with and make informed decisions about sea turtle nests. However, it does not allow us to relocate nests or excavate nests early due to storms,” she said.

“These eggs that are outside the nest are likely already compromised and will not hatch, but with your report, we confirm and document the loss,” Mazzarella said. “Eggs that are exposed but remain in the nest are safest if they are not moved. The important thing to remember is that each nesting female deposits several nests in the season, essentially ensuring that at least some of her eggs will survive.”

Turtle Watch marked nests with GPS before Debby
Many sea turtle nests were inundated by Hurricane Debby on Sunday and Monday, likely making them unviable. Many nests lost stakes, but were marked by GPS before the storm. – Submitted

If you find eggs that are washing out, or uprooted stakes, please note the number on the stakes and report it to Turtle Watch at 941-301-8434.

Sea turtle nests disturbed at Coquina Beach

Sea turtle nests disturbed at Coquina Beach

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

BRADENTON BEACH – Upon seeing a group of six people digging around a marked turtle nest at the south end of Coquina Beach on Saturday, two early morning walkers did exactly what they were supposed to do – contact authorities.

“We saw a group of people digging with their hands into the nest. They were laughing and taking selfies and when we told them that it was illegal they became really rude,” one of the observers said.

The observers, Charlotte and Teri, contacted the Bradenton Beach Police Department non-emergency line.

“If they would have said, ‘Sorry, we didn’t know,’ I would have walked away, but instead they continued on to disturb two more nests,” Teri said.

An officer came out and contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

“There were four women and two men,” Charlotte said. “One of the women was put in handcuffs.”

After about an hour, FWC officers arrived, the women said.

“FWC showed up and I showed them the nests and he said he wanted me to sign the report,” Teri said. “When the other FWC gentlemen came over, they had a conference and said I didn’t need to sign a report, because there was no wet sand, even though you can clearly see the nest they disturbed.”

Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring Executive Director Kristen Mazzarella was notified of the incident and sent a volunteer out to check the nests.

“What that tells me about the wet sand is that they didn’t dig too deeply because the sand below the surface is wet,” she said. “But you should never put your hands inside a turtle nest enclosure.”

Sea turtles are protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act and Florida’s Marine Turtle Protection Act. According to Florida law, no one may harass, disturb, take, move, sell, damage, destroy, injure or kill any marine turtle, hatchling, egg or nest.

In an email request by The Sun for comment on the incident, FWC Public Information Officer Bradley Johnson wrote the following:

“On July 13, 2024, The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Bradenton Beach Police Department, and an FWC biologist responded to a report of a sea turtle nest disturbance on Coquina Beach. Once on scene FWC officers and biologists surveyed the nests and did not locate any evidence of the nests having been disturbed. FWC officers also spoke to the individuals who were near the nests and educated them on sea turtle nests and their protections.”

Mazzarella said the two women did the right thing by contacting authorities.

“Each of the three cities has a non-emergency telephone line,” she said. “The number for FWC is posted at each nest.”

If you see people disturbing turtles, call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Wildlife Alert hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922), or call:

• City of Anna Maria code enforcement — 941-708-6130, ext. 111.

• City of Bradenton Beach code enforcement — 941-778-1005, ext. 227.

• City of Holmes Beach code enforcement — 941-778-0331, ext. 260.

Turtle nests run over on AMI beaches

Turtle nests run over on AMI beaches

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – On a daily patrol last week, Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring volunteers were shocked and saddened to find multiple turtle nests that had been trampled on and run over with vehicles.

On its Facebook page, Turtle Watch posted photos of tire tracks and footprints through multiple nests with marker stakes broken and on the ground.

Vehicles are illegal on the beaches of Anna Maria Island.

“We’d like to remind everyone that tampering with, disturbing or harassing any nest, adult or hatchling sea turtle is a federal offense punishable by a fine and/or jail time,” Turtle Watch Executive Director Kristen Mazzarella said.

Disturbances to nests have the potential to impact their success, she said.

“We don’t know if any of the eggs were broken,” Mazzarella said. “We’ll find that out later in the season.”

Turtle Watch volunteers spent the morning of July 11 reposting nest stakes and documenting disturbances to at least four nests in undisclosed locations in Anna Maria and Holmes Beach.

This is the second time in a week that Turtle Watch volunteers found damaged nests, although Mazzarella said the prior incidents were likely not malicious and due to carelessness.

Mazzarella said multiple issues with nests following the Fourth of July holiday included people knocking over stakes, tearing marker tape, walking across nests, digging in the sand close to nests and putting up tents in nesting areas.

Turtle nests on local beaches are clearly marked with yellow numbered stakes and pink caution tape.

Turtle nesting season runs from May through October.

“I’d like to remind people, if you see something, say something,” Mazzarella said.

Report wildlife violations to the FWC. If your information results in an arrest or citation, you may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000. You can report four ways:

• “FWC Wildlife Alert” app (download from Google Play or Apple Store)

• Text 847411 (Tip411) with the keyword “FWC” and information about the violation

• Call the Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (888-404-3922)

• Submit a tip at MyFWC.com/WildlifeAlert

If you see a nesting turtle or hatchling in distress, call Turtle Watch at 941-301-8434.

Turtle Watch commemorates Suzi Fox Day

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – As turtle nesting season begins, Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring (AMITW) declared May 1 as Suzi Fox Day to honor the legacy of its former executive director.

May 1 is the official start of sea turtle nesting season on Anna Maria Island, although the first turtle nest was laid in April this year. The season ends on Oct. 31.

“Suzi’s passion for protecting sea turtles enriched the community conservation efforts of AMITW for over 30 years and we dedicate this sea turtle nesting season to her,” Turtle Watch Director Kristen Mazzarella said.

“As part of our efforts to honor Suzi, we are renaming our Adopt-a-Nest Program in her memory,” Mazzarella said.

The “Suzi L. Fox Adopt-a-Nest” program allows donors to symbolically adopt a sea turtle nest laid on Island beaches. Proceeds from the program help Turtle Watch protect sea turtles and provide education and outreach.

Turtle Watch commemorates Suzi Fox Day
Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring dedicated this plaque in memory of late executive director Suzi Fox. – Submitted | Turtle Watch

A plaque intended to be placed on a nest laid on May 1 says in part, “In Loving Memory of Suzi L. Fox. Her legacy continues as the Sea Turtles and Shorebirds return to AMI.”

“Only the turtles know which nest it will be,” Mazzarella said.

For the safety of the nest and hatchlings, AMITW does not disclose the nesting dates or locations of nests, Mazzarella said.

May 1 was also proclaimed “Suzi Fox Day” in the city of Bradenton Beach.

The Bradenton Beach City Commission issued the proclamation in January to honor Fox, who served as Turtle Watch director until her death on Sept. 30, 2022.

Under Fox’s directorship, the organization grew.

“In three decades, we monitored 7,339 turtle activities, protected 4,454 nests, 301,694 turtle eggs, and watched 271,680 hatchlings depart to become a future generation of loggerheads that will return to the region as they reach maturity,” according to the Turtle Watch website.

Sea turtles on the Island broke both nesting and hatchling records in 2022.