Beachgoers in early June found areas in Bradenton Beach lined with hay bales, prompting a range of inquiries on social media.
No, the bales are not new sustainable beach benches.
No, AMI doesn’t have a wagon train rolling down the shore.
No, they don’t attract bobcats or alligators.
But officials with the Manatee County Natural Resources Department and Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring hope they protect nesting sea turtles, prohibiting them from crawling into danger zones — roads, rock revetments and pools.
The hay bale barrier is a new tool deployed by the county for 2025 because hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024 eroded the beaches, washed away dunes and destroyed sea oats and other plants that helped prevent sea turtles from reaching hazards or disorienting toward artificial light.
The bales are at Cortez Beach, as well as near the Bridge Street access in Bradenton Beach.
Beachgoers are asked to leave the barriers intact.
“We are grateful to Manatee County’s Natural Resource Department for being proactive and deploying hay bales as an organic barricade to prevent adult and hatchling sea turtles from getting trapped in the rock revetments at the south end of the island and from being able to make their way directly from the beach to the road,” AMITW executive director Kristen Kristen Mazzarella said.
In her May 6, weekly report, Mazzarella said nesting had continued to increase for the week prior “and we are only 20 nests short of the count this time last year.”
AMITW also documented the season’s first green turtle nest. All the other nests have been by loggerheads.
Greens are larger than loggerheads, have parallel flipper marks and create large craters when covering their nests, Mazzarella said.
Green turtles generally nest every other year on AMI.
In 2023, AMITW reported a record year for green turtles with 12 nests.
“We hope to break that record this year,” Mazzarella said.
Class lessons from AMITW, AME
Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring, during the 2024-25 academic year, invited teachers and students at Anna Maria Elementary School in Holmes Beach to compose questions about sea turtles, shorebirds and AMITW’s work on the beaches. Over the next couple of months, the Islander will share AME questions and AMITW answers.
Nicole Ditzel’s third-grade class: How long does it take for the turtle eggs to hatch?
AMITW: It takes approximately two months for sea turtle eggs to hatch but it depends on the temperature of the sand, the color of the sand and whether or not the nest was rained on or washed over by the tide.
The hotter and dryer the sand is, the faster the nest hatches and the cooler the sand is, the longer it takes to hatch.
On Anna Maria Island, we have white sand, so it takes longer to hatch than on a beach that has dark sand like in Venice.
Talking turtles
The city of Holmes Beach will host Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring for weekly talks about sea turtle and shorebird nesting.
Sea Turtle Tracks and Shorebird Facts talks continue most Mondays at 10 a.m. through August at city hall, 5801 Marina Drive.
For more information, call turtle watch at 941-301-8434 or go to www.islandturtlewatch.com.
As of June 6, AMITW reported a total of 164 nests, 248 false crawls and 15 adult disorientations.