The federal government this summer proposed designating about 8,850 acres of beaches and nearly 428,000 square miles of coastal waters as protected critical habitat for six populations of green sea turtles.
The proposed rule is a response to an agreement reached by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries with environmental groups that sued in 2020, including the Center for Biological Diversity, Sea Turtle Oversight Protection and Turtle Island Restoration Network.
“These graceful marine turtles have come a long way but healthy habitats will be key to their survival,” Elise Bennett, CBD’s Florida and Caribbean director, said in a news release. “The global climate crisis and sea level rise are already harming these turtles’ nesting and feeding areas and we can expect those threats to get worse. These ancient reptiles are legally entitled to our help and the federal government needs to give it to them.”
- For Pacific green sea turtles, proposed terrestrial habitat includes about 2,233 acres of nesting and basking beaches in the main Hawaiian Islands, 95 acres in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, 242 acres in American Samoa, 125 acres in Guam and 179 acres in the Northern Mariana Islands.
Proposed marine habitat includes nearshore waters off Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam and the Mariana Islands.
- For Atlantic green sea turtles, proposed marine critical habitat includes nearshore waters up to 20 meters deep around all of Florida, parts of Puerto Rico and parts of the U.S. Virgin Islands in areas the turtles use for reproduction, migration, foraging and resting. Habitat also includes sargassum habitat in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean.
Proposed critical habitat on land includes 250 acres in Puerto Rico, 117 acres in Vieques and the U.S. Virgin Islands and about 5,725 acres of nesting beaches in Florida, including at Siesta Key.
CBD said FWS and NOAA Fisheries had determined that climate change and threats from sea level rise meant the turtles still needed U.S. Endangered Species Act protection but despite recognizing those threats — particularly to low-lying nesting beaches — the agencies failed to protect the turtle’s critical habitat.
Federal experts have found that green sea turtles should be considered 11 distinct populations or distinct population segments.
Some sea turtle populations, like those in Florida, are improving due to the federal Endangered Species Act’s protections but other populations continue to struggle. The Mediterranean, Central South Pacific and Central West Pacific populations remain in danger of extinction and remain listed as endangered.
The FWS and NOAA Fisheries are taking comments on the critical habitat proposals online at regulations.gov through Oct. 17. To file a comment, search for the docket for NOAA-NMFS-2023-0087.
Meanwhile, on AMI, Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring is reporting a record number of green sea turtle nests this season.
The Islander connected with Kristen Mazzarella, AMITW’s executive director, to talk about greens and their nesting on the island.
The Islander: AMITW reported another green sea turtle nest in mid-August. Is the number of greens higher than usual this season?
Kristen Mazzarella: Yes, we have had a record number of green turtle nests this year.
We currently have 11 nests and our previous record was nine.
Green turtles nest every two years. So it is not uncommon to have a high year like this year, followed by a low year of 0-1 green turtle nests.
The Islander: You can identify a green’s nest by its tracks? And the nest markings?
KM: Yes, green turtles use both pairs of flippers at the same time to traverse the beach. This leaves tracks with flipper marks directly across from each other.
Loggerheads alternate their flippers and thus their flipper marks are alternating.
In addition, green turtles often leave large craters in the sand — this is from using their very long flippers to dig out sand to cover their nests.
The Islander: Do greens nest for about the same period, May through October?
KM: Loggerheads usually nest between April and August while greens arrive a little later in the season than loggerheads — nesting between the end of May and early September.
The Islander: Are they also susceptible to lighting disorientations?
KM: Yes, all sea turtles use light to orient themselves to the water in the dark, so all are susceptible to disorientation from artificial lighting.
The Islander: AMITW has reported loggerhead and green nests this season. It’s not likely to see other species nesting on AMI beaches?
KM: We have never seen any other species on AMI beaches, although we are always hoping to find a Kemp’s ridley or leatherback nest as they do nest on the Gulf coast occasionally.
For more information about AMITW, call the nonprofit at 941-301-8434, email info@islandturtlewatch.com or go online to islandturtlewatch.com.