Fewer sea turtles nested on st. George Island this year

The Sea Turtles patrol on St. George Island has just released its final summary for the 2014 Sea turtle nesting season and said overall we saw a lot fewer turtle nests this year than last.

There were 123 loggerhead sea turtle nests on St. George Island this year – that’s down from 240 last year.

There were also 4 Leatherback turtle nests on the island this year.

102 of the nests produced hatchlings and more than 7200 sea turtles successfully and made their way to the Gulf of Mexico– last year more than 17 thousand baby turtles successfully hatched on the island.

None of the leatherback nests hatched.

The Sea Turtle patrol said 32 nests were negatively affected by high tides and south winds and 8 Nests washed away.

Of the 102 nests that successfully hatched, 16 were affected by man-made lights – disorienting 760 Hatchlings.

That’s actually down a little from 22 disorientations in 2013.

On the positive side, people are showing a growing interest in how to protect the turtles.

Over 1000 people turned out for one of the free sea turtle presentations offered at the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve during this year’s nesting season.

http://live.oysterradio.com/