‘Such high numbers.’ Sea turtles set new record on Anna Maria Island beaches

There are still a couple of months left in the 2024 sea turtle nesting season.

But Anna Maria Island has already seen a record for sea turtle nests.

The Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring conservation group announced in early July that the previous record of 543 nests was broken.

On the island, 636 nests were observed, as of Friday. The AMI group has monitored sea turtle nests weekly since 1983. The previous record was set in 2019.

“We are excited that so many sea turtles have decided to nest on Anna Maria,” Executive Director Kristen Mazzarella said in the group’s Facebook post. “We can thank the conservation efforts of patrollers that protected nests 25 years ago for producing the hatchlings that are coming ashore to nest in such high numbers this year.”

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Sunshine State is home to five sea turtle species . The most common to Anna Maria Island is the loggerhead, the AMI group says on its website.

New sea turtle record on AMI

Loggerhead sea turtles can live between 70 and 80 years , with females reaching maturity around 35 years old, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries department.

Female loggerhead sea turtles lay around 100 eggs in a nest, with adult females producing three to five nests per season, NOAA Fisheries said.

The nesting season is between April and September, the Anna Maria Island conservation group said.

“In order to ensure that this incredible number of nests results in a record number of hatchlings making it to the water, we need to do our best to provide a turtle friendly beach,” Mazzarella said on the group’s post.

How to protect sea turtles

Sea turtles are federally protected under the Endangered Species Act.

To keep AMI’s beaches turtle-friendly, people visiting at night are asked to leave the beach clean, dark and flat.

AMI Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring offers the following additional tips:

• Do make sure to take everything with you when you leave the beach
• Do fill in holes, knock down sandcastles and take furniture off the beach
• Don’t abandon fishing gear
• Don’t disturb nesting turtles or emerging hatchlings
• Do contact Florida Fish and Wildlife Rescue to report any dead or injured marine life
• Don’t use artificial light (cell phones, flash photography, fishing lamps) on the beach at night
• Do visit IslandTurtleWatch.com and learn more about how you can help
• If you find a turtle (adult or hatchling) in distress, please call AMITW at (941) 301-8434 or FWC at 888-404-3922 .

Recent crosswalk fatality

The record-setting numbers come a few weeks after a nesting female loggerhead sea turtle was hit by a car and later died .

The incident happened near the Coquina North Boat Ramp on Gulf Drive in Bradenton Beach. Experts said the turtle was disoriented due to new crosswalk lights illuminating that part of the road.

The Florida Department of Transportation, which installed the crosswalk lights, told the Herald it was temporarily turning off the crosswalk lights before adding lighting shields to block the light from the shoreline.

Nesting turtles use the moon’s natural light reflecting off the water to lead them safely back into the ocean, while artificial lights can cause disorientation and lead them in the wrong direction.

Sign Up for Local Breaking News