Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring notched another busy week with documenting the activity of nesting sea turtles as the total number of nests on the beaches surpassed 100 by May 30.
AMITW’s tally for the season also includes 103 false crawls, including 60 between May 24 and May 30. False crawls are instances when a female sea turtle comes ashore to nest but abandons the effort.
AMITW also reported another eight adult disorientations, bringing the total to 13.
The situation concerns executive director Kristen Mazzarella. “Many of our disorientations were mother turtles that traveled long distances parallel to the water, likely toward a flashlight on the beach,” she said.
“Mother turtles have already spent a lot of energy crawling up the beach and laying their nests without needing to travel so far out of their way on their way back to the Gulf. We remind folks to not use lights of any kind on the beach and if you must use a light, use a red LED and point it directly at the ground. Also, please turn off any outdoor lights and close drapes after dark to eliminate lights that are visible from the beach.”
In other news, the Manatee County Natural Resource Department placed hay bales near the Bridge Street beach access in Bradenton Beach to keep sea turtles from becoming trapped in rock revetments or reaching the road.
Also, over the Memorial Day weekend, AMITW’s team worked to rescue a sea turtle that made its way under a silt fence and a snow fence to become trapped in a residential swimming pool.
“AMITW’s patrol volunteers and stranding team worked together to corral the turtle to the shallow end and out of the pool,” said Mazzarella.
The loggerhead was rinsed with fresh water and returned to the bay.