Tens of thousands of sea turtle hatchlings have made it to the Gulf of Mexico, and only a few nests remain to hatch as the Gulfcoast season comes to a close.
Sea turtle nesting season begins in May with nesting activity that results in hatching that often concludes in October.
However, Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring volunteer Glenn Wiseman said almost all of the sea turtles on Anna Maria Island have hatched, with the exception of three nests expected to emerge in October.
Wiseman said some volunteers are finding unmarked nests that have hatched, which may have been missed or accidently labeled as false crawls.
Wiseman said at this time in the season AMITW is able to identify and record non-viable nests. Non-viable nests are those that have not hatched because either they were sterile eggs, or the eggs became water damaged during incubation.
He said some are getting close to the 70-75 days of incubation, which he would typically consider a non-viable nest. In some cases, only half of the eggs hatch, which is typically due to water collecting in the bottom of the nest.
“Everything is in better than normal ranges this year. We have a lot of nests that made it because we didn’t have many storms this year,” Wiseman said.
He also said this is the third best year on record since the AMITW began monitoring sea turtle nesting. It’s a close third to the second best year in 2012, which had 100 more nests than this year, but Tropical Storm Debby destroyed many of the nests, lowering the number of hatchlings.
This year’s “hatchlings’ to the Gulf” number rivals 2012 in spite of fewer nests.
Wiseman said the past three years have been the highest recorded years in both amount of nests and hatchlings to the Gulf.
“It’s encouraging, but it doesn’t mean anything yet. It’s only been three years. You have to get at least 10 years under your belt until you can see a trend,” he said.
Many AMITW volunteers have been relieved of their duties, as the nests from their assigned sections have hatched, but Wiseman said permit requirements this year stipulate regular monitoring until Oct. 31.
The regular monitoring will continue throughout the end of the season and taper into monthly beach surveys through the winter.
Wiseman said tours are over for the season because of the few nests left, but he encouraged beachgoers to stop, watch and ask questions if they spot sea turtle volunteers on the beach.