Turtle watch shocked by EPA halt to nesting

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Sea turtles that have nested on Anna Maria Island beaches for millennia are being targeted as undocumented immigrants.

According to new environmental regulations enacted by new officials with the EPA, sea turtles will no longer be allowed on U.S. shores, and a wall will be built to prevent future nesting activity.

An Aquatic Defense Boundary Wall — a title given to the project by the federal government — will extend the full length of the Gulf-side of the island, about 1 mile offshore.

Similar plans are in motion for neighboring barrier islands where sea turtles nest, including on Longboat Key. An ADBW is under construction in the waters surrounding the Florida Keys.

The wall will be funded using money previously allocated to environmental protection for sea turtles and other species.

ABDW’s Willam Dawson is chair of the wall logistics committee. He claims sea turtles have been considered a “nuisance” by some government factions for years.

“Now that government isn’t wasting all that money on turtle-friendly lights and outreach, we can finally build this wall and keep those seagrass-eating menaces offshore,” Dawson said.

Wall construction could begin as early as May, the start of sea turtle nesting season.

Female sea turtles only come ashore to nest and during this time, lights on the waterfront must be kept low and shielded, so as not to distract the turtles from returning to the Gulf of Mexico.

But no more.

George Linnby owns a home on the beach in Anna Maria and says he is “over it” with sea-turtle precautions.

“Switching out lights, shutting curtains after dark, motion sensors — all this to accommodate outsiders that just want to dig up our beaches with their stinky nests,” Linnby said. “To me they just represent a hazard.”

In a March 31 interview with The Islander, Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring executive director Suzi Fox said she is outraged and will do anything to stop the wall.

“This is a travesty,” Fox said. “If we have to swim out there ourselves and blockade the contractors, then so be it.”

But representatives of longtime Bradenton resident Snooty the Manatee feel differently.

“Snooty always gets really down come May and doesn’t shake his funk until after they’ve gone back out to sea,” Kelly Cooper, Snooty’s social director, said March 29. “We can’t even mention the words ‘sea turtle’ near his tank or he gets agitated.”

According to Fox, the fight has just begun. She will work to designate a “sanctuary beach” for the turtles, if the wall is built.

“We are rallying support from organizations around the country who will help us knock down this wall before it’s built,” Fox said. “Not even the president — or Snooty for that matter — can stop our girls from coming home to nest.”

Fox said she’d put out a call to action April 1.

11 thoughts on “Turtle watch shocked by EPA halt to nesting

  1. Kim Wroblewski

    April Fools Day
    ” Believe nothing and trust no one. Just like any other Day. ” Wow your paper had me there for a minute!

  2. Crusty Barnacles

    All jokes aside, the turtle nests are like an obstacle course when I’m driving my golfcart on the beach,

    1. bonnerj

      Well, it is the April Fools’ edition of The Islander — and clearly labeled as such. It’s one week of newsmaker fun out of 52 weeks in the year. Happy April Fool’s Day. — Bonner Joy and staff

  3. Jessica

    This is absolutely horrible. What sort of heinous monster has a vendetta against turtles?

  4. Michael Fisher

    I really started to think this article was a joke when I began reading. This day and age I have to take things with all seriousness because our government is a laughing matter as of late. However building this wall is no joke. I cannot believe anyone would call these turtles a nuisance. A freaking nuisance!!!!! We are the nuisance. We violated the beaches when we felt the need to build houses by the beach. Anyone who feels that this wall should be put up, should move away far north, close to me, so they won’t be bothered no more. Actually I will trade places with them and respect what nature provides and deal with their “problems” (like my trump quotations?). I am ashamed of my fellow human bothers and sisters that would oppose the turtles and not help with the situation of their nesting and migration. This is just and will be another screw up caused by humans. Mark my words!!!

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