Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch has ended its weekly reporting with an exclamation point announcing “major accomplishments!”
“This year has been an excellent year for green turtle nests — with a record 16 green turtle nests documented, the previous record was 12 nests,” said AMITW executive director Kristen Mazzarella. “It has also been the second-highest year for loggerhead nests — second only to 2024, which had 685 loggerhead nests.”
The 2025 season also yielded the third-highest year for hatchlings on AMI, in part due to the lack of major storms, according to Mazzarella.
However, the 2025 season produced another record — the most sea turtle disorientations.
“We had a total of 181 disorientations documented in 2025, including 30 adults and 151 hatching nests,” Mazzarella said. “Of these disorientations, a minimum of 3,951 — and a maximum of over 9,000 — hatchlings disoriented, including 217 that were found dead.”
AMITW found 400 disoriented live hatchlings in swimming pools and storm drains.
“Much of these disorientations can be attributed to the lack of dunes and vegetation — destroyed by hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024 — allowing lights which had been shielded by these dunes and vegetation to reach the beach,” Mazzarella said.
AMITW is working with AMI cities, as well as the state, to address lighting issues before the 2026 nesting season, which will officially begin May 1.
Also in the off-season, AMITW will staff a booth at the Anna Maria Community Farmers Market on Tuesdays outside Roser Church, 512 Pine Ave., Anna Maria.
And they’re already making plans for a 2026 celebration. Save the date, May 1, for Suzi Fox Day.
By the numbers
AMITW, for the season, reports 544 nests, 827 false crawls, 424 hatched nests, 30,899 hatchlings, 30 adult disorientations and 151 hatchling disorientations.
