Franklin county to increase protections for nesting sea turtles

            Franklin county commissioners have agreed to amend the counties sea turtle ordinance to make local beaches more turtle friendly.

The county sea turtle ordinance currently deals only with exterior lights that can disorient nesting turtles and hatchlings, but this week the board agreed to add removing beach equipment from the beaches at night to the rule.

Commissioners said they have seen a growing problem of people leaving their belongings on the beaches overnight.

People leave chairs and tents and other items become obstacles to sea turtles that have to crawl around the items to reach the dune line where they tend to lay their eggs.

The county now plans to amend the ordinance to make it illegal to leave items on the beach at night.

Initially they would provide a warning to people who break the rule, but over time the county would confiscate the items and either take them to the landfill or donate them to local churches.

The county said a similar rule is already in effect in Bay County and they will use the Bay county rule as a basis for the local ordinance.

It could take weeks to amend the rule, so until then the county plans to send a letter to local home rental companies and to vendors who rent beach equipment asking that they try to educate their customers about the impacts of leaving items on the beach overnight.

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