The number of sea turtle nests on Anna Maria Island grew to 636 as of July 12.
In late June, sea turtles had set a record for annual nests with four months still remaining in the season, topping the 543 nests documented in 2019.
The Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring team is tracking nesting activity this record-breaking season while turtle watchers decades ago laid the foundation for the season, working to safeguard the island habitat then for hatchlings that are now nesting mothers.
“Kudos to the volunteers that came before us that protected all the hatchlings that are now coming ashore as nesting mamas 25-35 years later,” turtle watch executive director Kristen Mazzarella said in a news release.
The Islander July 10 paid a visit to Kathy Caserta, a former turtle watch volunteer, and her husband Vic, who are guardians of the shoreline accessible from their island home for a full generation of sea turtles.
The Casertas moved to their house on 30th Street in Holmes Beach overlooking the shore in 1999. While Vic Caserta is a Florida native, Kathy Caserta came from Pennsylvania.
“They offset the craziness in your life,” Kathy said of finding a saving grace in the sea turtles that helped her through a major lifestyle change.
She joined AMITW as a volunteer in about 2000 and spent five years volunteering for the organization. That is when she met Suzi Fox, executive director until her death in 2022.
“She was wonderful,” Kathy said of Fox. She said she often helped Fox by looking into possible incidents on the beach, such as investigating reports of injured sea turtles.
Kathy said turtle protection measures have changed over the years.
Before a storm, for example, AMITW would relocate nests that were too close to the water, burying them in a new spot, safe from high surf, at Coquina Beach.
However, new regulations require leaving the nests in their original location, now considered a best practice for hatchlings.
The landscape in front of the Casertas’ house has changed as well.
The couple planted sea oats to help prevent beach erosion and those dunes have proved to be important habitat for nesting sea turtles.
And it appears to be working in their favor. This nesting season, they counted 10 nests within their purview, with one already hatched.
The Casertas also spend a good amount of time sharing the knowledge they have accumulated about sea turtles, nesting season and the beach with others.
Although they have observed greater crowds on AMI’s beaches over the years, they also have seen a growing awareness of protecting habitat and knowledge about sea turtles.
One fact Kathy Caserta shared with The Islander: Female sea turtles often will nest on the beach where they hatched.
Twenty-five years since she started volunteering with turtle watch, Kathy said she is touched by that truth.
“They do come back, the kids come home,” she said. “You can never get tired of a sea turtle.”
From the director …
Despite record high sea turtle nest numbers that, as of July 12, surpassed 600, Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring is seeing a concerning number of disorientations among hatchlings, according to executive director Kristen Mazzarella.
Mazzarella reported July 12 that it’s “very disturbing” that 55% of the nests that are hatching are disorienting.
Disorientations can be caused by a variety of factors but artificial light is the most common cause. Artificial light can disorient adult and hatchling sea turtles away from the Gulf and into danger.
“Please, close your blinds and shut off unnecessary exterior lights or use turtle-friendly, shielded bulbs,” Mazzarella said.
Turtle Watch also reported that a nesting sea turtle became disoriented the week beginning July 8 and was found on an island roadway. The turtle was returned to the water with the help of turtle watch volunteers and the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.
Earlier this season, a disoriented sea turtle crawled to Gulf Drive in Bradenton Beach and was struck and killed by a motorist.
On a positive note, a loggerhead decided to share the beach and nest in the posted area for a nesting least tern colony in Bradenton Beach.
— Masha Dolgoff