Conservation groups across Florida are celebrating a record-high sea turtle nesting season, despite damage from last year’s hurricanes.
Anna Maria Island had its strongest sea turtle nesting season ever, with nearly 30,000 hatchlings emerging along its coast.
Director of Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch, Kristen Mazzarella, said part of the success comes from a quiet storm season for the greater Tampa Bay region.
Last year’s devastating hurricane season played a part in this year’s numbers, with sand dunes and tall grass being destroyed, allowing man-made light to flood the beach. This disorients turtles away from the light of the moon that is supposed to lead them to water.
“We're finding that turtles are getting into private property a lot more because there's no dunes to stop them from getting up there,” said Mazzarella.
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Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch has a 24/7 phone number people could call for volunteers who can come to relocate hatchlings to a darker area on the beach.
The 21-mile stretch of Pinellas County beaches Clearwater Marine Aquarium monitors saw 405 nests and 613 “false crawls,” where female turtles come ashore to lay eggs but leave the beach without nesting.
They do not have an exact number of hatchlings at this time.
Sea Turtle Conservation Program manager Carly Oakley said 2024’s hurricanes impacted sea turtles' natal beaches elsewhere – where they are born and later return to lay their own eggs.
"They are having to look for other places to nest and they just so happened to choose our area, which we are definitely not complaining about," said Oakley.
Both conservation groups monitor beaches before sunrise from mid April, shortly before nesting normally starts, until the last nest is gone, normally around October. But with warmer conditions creeping in sooner each year, turtles may be hatching earlier.
The groups search for new nests, marking them and checking for disturbances from flooding, predators and human activity.
"Keeping the beach clean, flat, and dark is really important during nesting season," said Mazzarella.
Beachgoers can help hatchlings reach the water by filling holes, knocking down sand castles, picking up obstacles and turning off artificial lights – just be sure to give turtles space on their journey.
“If you are caught tampering with them, although you may be helping, you can receive jail time and hefty fines,” said Oakley.
Officials say it's still possible to see sea turtles on the beach, so make sure to give them space.
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Officials said loggerhead and leatherback turtle species make up most of the Gulf Coast population, but the rare Kemp’s ridley and green sea turtles also made an appearance this season.
Tampa Bay isn't the only hatchling hotspot -- the International Union for Conservation of Nature reclassified green sea turtles from "endangered" to "least concern."
WUSF’s Ricardo Cuomo contributed to this story.
