The Sea
Turtles at Risk group has just released its final summary of the 2013 sea
turtle nesting season on St. George Island and while the lack
of storms this year made this a successful season, nesting turtles still face some
problems from humans and predators.
There were 240 loggerhead sea turtle nests on St. George
Island this year – that’s about 40 fewer than last year.
There were 6 green sea turtle nests marked for protection –
that’s 4 more than last year.
More than 17 thousand sea turtles hatched successfully and
made their way to the Gulf – that’s nearly 4 times as many as hatched in 2012
when our beaches were hit by two Tropical storms.
Sea Turtles at Risk said 44 nests were impacted by storm
surge or extreme high tides.
Another 25 nests were scavenged by coyotes before they could
be protected.
Of the nests that hatched successfully, 22 had hatchlings
that were disoriented by house lights.
On the positive side, people are showing a growing interest
in how to protect the turtles.
Over 900 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.
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