Typically tropical storms impact sea turtle nests by either overwashing and drowning the nest over an extended period, or washing away the nest completely via beach erosion. This nesting season has been a bit different for some of the sea turtle nests at the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (GTMNERR). Though we did lose some nests to erosion, which were laid near the high tide line to washout, we have seen a huge increase in sand deposition on our beaches. This deposition has covered the remaining nests with an extra 2-3 feet of sand, making it difficult, if not impossible for the sea turtle hatchlings to make their way to the surface and thus to the ocean. Unfortunately, such was the case in the above pictured nest. The yellow placard in the picture is typically ~ 2 feet above the sand, as you can see it is at sand level. We automatically dig nests at 70 days if no sign of hatching is observed (maximum gestation period). This nest had a total of 86 Loggerhead (Carretta carretta) eggs, some had attempted to hatch, but due to the weight of the additional sand on top, the hatchlings were unable to emerge, much less make their way to the surface.

Female sea turtles will lay between 2-5 nests per nesting season (females typically lay every 2 years), with each nest containing ~80-120 eggs. Only 1 in every 1000 sea turtle hatchlings make it to sexual maturity (15-25 years of age).

In Florida, Loggerhead turtle populations have been on a 10 year decline. Events such as this seem depressing even though natural. This means we need to be all the more proactive in preventing deaths due to human actions such as beach development, sea wall construction, careless fishing and boating practices.