December 5, 2011

2011 sea turtle nesting season officially ended on October 31, 2011 In 2011, a total of 522 nests were laid on County beaches.  511 of those have hatched, or have been evaluated for reproductive success and are off the beach.  2 nests are remaining and are still incubating in the sand until they hatch or until they are evaluated.  Despite the official end of the season, these nests will continue to be monitored daily. Sea turtle egg development is dependent on temperature. The warmer the environment, the quicker they develop. The two nests that remain are likely going to hatch, but the development period has been extended well beyond the typical time period due to the lower fall temperatures. The Loggerhead nest count for the season is 488 nests.  We also have a record high count of 13 Leatherback nests and 21 Green sea turtle nests on County managed beaches this year.  These numbers do not include Canaveral National Seashore, just to our south, or North Peninsula State recreation area beaches, to the north, which can have nest counts in the thousands (instead of hundreds)!  Officially, the season for all sea turtle species to nest in our area runs May 1 through Oct. 31.  Each summer on Volusia County beaches, sea turtles will slowly start to lay nests starting in May .  Approximately 48-60 days after the first nest is laid, usually in late June or July, the first nests laid in the season will begin to hatch and the hatching continues into October.  The last nests are usually laid in late August.  Occasionally we’ll get a nest laid in Sept. which will hatch in  October or November.    How did our sea turtle nests do in 2011? The survey teams mark new nests after they are laid and check nests that are due to hatch for hatchling tracks every morning. A few days after observing the first set of emergent tracks, the nest is excavated to collect information about its success. The teams count egg shells to see how many eggs hatched naturally and release any trapped hatchlings that are found in the nest. Any other factors, that may have affected the nest such as tidal inundation, storm-water runoff, or predation by foxes, raccoons, and crabs is also recorded. All this information is used to get a better picture of what circumstances may be influencing nesting success on our beaches.  To date, 520 sea turtle nests have been evaluated for reproductive success!  Of these nests, 33 nests were depredated by fox or raccoons, and 11 were scavenged by a raccoon or foxes after it hatched. The contents of these nests are not able to be accurately counted.  68 nests were washed out or tidally inundated for a long period of time (mostly during the Hurricane Irene high tides), making them completely unsuccessful.  15 clutches could not be located and those eggs were not counted. The remaining 393 nests contained the below contents. Over 32,000 hatched sea turtle eggs counted!!!!! Live Hatchlings Dead Hatchlings Pipped Live Pipped Dead Unhatched Whole Eggs Unhatched Broken Eggs Hatched Eggs 842 1,550 62 624 7,653 682 32,058 This table also indicates there were a lot of eggs which did not hatch or were damaged in the nests.  This is very common and is one reason why one female sea turtle will lay hundreds of eggs each season.  The more eggs that are laid, the more likely that some will develop and  hatch out of the nest.  In some nests, only a portion of the eggs laid hatch, while a portion does not.  When a nest is washed over by tides for an extended time it can also reduce the chances for eggs to develop fully.  What’s next for our hatchling turtles? When all goes well under the surface of the sand and the hatchlings emerge, they have a reserve of energy from their yolk sac that allows them to swim in a frenzy several miles off shore to the floating Sargasso sea weed beds. These beds are havens for many species including a variety of fish, invertebrates, sea horses, and other food sources for the sea turtles. Sea turtles will spend the first 3-6 years of their lives in these floating beds, known as the “lost years”, before embarking on migrations through the open ocean.  During any stormy conditions between August and November, this seaweed often gets washed back on to the beaches.  These small, post-hatchling sea turtles are sometimes pushed onto the beach along with the seaweed.  For this reason we have what we call Washback Season, which starts every year on August 1!   We call the turtles Washbacks as they are young sea turtles that have hatched from nests, swum to the Gulf Stream and into their floating sea weed homes , but are then washed back on to the beach.  These turtles are about the size of the palm of your hand and will have algae or barnacles growing on them making it obvious that they have been in the ocean. In the open ocean it is this algae and barnacles that help keep them camouflaged from predators while  floating in seaweed.  This year we had 100 volunteers participating in our Washback Watcher Program! Washback Watcher volunteers are trained and permitted annually to search and identify washback sea turtles found on Volusia County beaches.  Participants survey the beach on an on-call basis.  Beach Safety staff is also trained to respond to washbacks and conduct seaweed wrackline surveys.  In 2007, with the help of volunteers, Beach Patrol and the public over 4,000 turtles were recovered! See our photo album for pictures. All washbacks are transported to the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet where they are cared for and released off-shore into the open ocean seaweed beds. Close to 50 washback sea turtles have been found on Volusia beaches this season. Most of these were recovered during the month of October, however, in early November, massive amounts of seaweed began coming onto shore and more were recovered. If you find a sea turtle on your beach, please notify a Beach Safety Officer (386-239-6414). These turtles and other washed ashore animals should NOT be placed back into the ocean.  When an animal, including a washback sea turtle, washes in, they are likely too weak or sick to make it on their own and need to get to medical help for proper care. Other nesting season conservation efforts The International Coastal Clean-up, held on Sept. 17, 2011, was a great success!  Thank you to everyone who participated!  On the 35.6 miles of Volusia County managed beaches, 23 sites (both public check in and private) hosted 798 volunteers who removed 2,173 pounds of trash! Every year, the number of stranded (or washed ashore) turtles found on the beach is being tracked. Stranded turtles are always either weak, sick, injured, or dead sea turtles that get washed onto shore.   To date in 2011, we have received reports of 86 stranded sea turtles.  Sea turtles that stranded alive are taken to the rehabilitation facility at the Marine Science Center to receive treatment from the staff.  If they are successfully brought back to health, they are released back into the wild as soon as possible.   2010 highlights We wrapped up the 2010 nesting season with a higher than average number of 615 nests. We had 594 Loggerhead nests, 15 Green sea turtles nests, 5 Leatherback nests and 1 Kemps Ridley nest. Overall it was a great year! Reports from around the state concluded that 2010 was also a high nesting year for most areas.  In general, nesting numbers in Volusia County are around a 450 total average with our highest count for Loggerheads nesting in one season at 626 (1999), Greens follow with a high of 54 in one season (2007) and the most active Leatherback year resulted in 13 (2011) nests deposited on county beaches.  This ratio gives a better perspective of the amount of activity recorded on our beaches.  Greens and Leatherbacks have larger nesting colonies in other parts of the world but Florida is a very important nesting area for Loggerheads, second only to an island off of Europe. To learn more about sea turtles and the groups that survey Volusia County beaches for them you can now visit their websites: *South of the Inlet: Volusia Sea Turtle Society  http://www.vstsinc.org/ http://www.ecological-associates.com *North of the Inlet: Volusia Turtle Patrol  http://turtlepatrol.com Sea turtle nests are available for adoption through both the Volusia Sea Turtle Society (for South of Ponce Inlet) and the Volusia Turtle Patrol (for North of Ponce Inlet). You may contact these groups through their websites for more information on sponsoring your very own sea turtle nest! Long-term sea turtle nesting trends At the end of every season, nesting data is reevaluated for nesting trends by for each different species in Florida.  All sea turtle species populations in the world are either endangered or threatened. Understanding nesting numbers and trends is important for sea turtle survival. Interestingly enough, the Loggerhead sea turtle which is the most common species of sea turtle to nest on Florida beaches, shows a static trend in Volusia County.  Over the entire time that we have collected data, the overall trend is not showing a significant upward or downward trend.  Despite Volusia County counts, Loggerhead nesting is still showing a decline throughout Florida’s beaches.  According to FWC marine biologists, since 1998, there has been a 25% decline in all populations of the Loggerhead sea turtles nesting in Florida.  2007 was the lowest nesting year on record with only 45,084 nests laid in the state.  2008 was a little higher with 61,467 nests, 2009 went back down to only 52,374 nests counted.  Finally, in 2010, the statewide number went up to over 73,000 nests! For more info, please visit http://myfwc.com/research/wildlife/sea-turtles/nesting/loggerhead/ and http://myfwc.com/research/wildlife/sea-turtles/nesting/2010/ For some upbeat news, Green sea turtle nests are on the rise statewide and 2010 had a new record high count of 13,225 nests! 2007 was the next highest with 12,751 nests counted. 2008 was also a good year with 9,228 nests. In 2009 there were only 4,462 nests. Green turtles have historically shown a biannual pattern of nesting in which their numbers fluctuate from high to low every other year. Scientists are still trying to figure out why recent years have fluctuated so much, but the good news is that in Volusia County and throughout the state, their nesting numbers appear to be on significant increase. For more info, please visit http://myfwc.com/research/wildlife/sea-turtles/nesting/green-turtle/ Leatherbacks are showing upward signs in nesting numbers and the state had a total of 1,442 nests counted in 2007, 837 in 2008 and the highest ever on record in 2009 with 1,747 nests and finally in 2010, 1,334 nests were recorded!  Volusia County nest numbers are still static with no significant upward or downward trend.  For more info regarding state wide counts, please visit  http://myfwc.com/research/wildlife/sea-turtles/nesting/leatherback/ Other Beach News Volusia County beaches are looking great!  Most areas have gained in elevation and width which is most suitable for sea turtle nests to incubate successfully.  Sea turtle eggs are air-permeable and they will not survive if inundated in water for extended periods of time.  Often times when nests are laid too close to the area of high tides or near water runoff locations, the eggs are relocated to an area that is higher and dryer.  The dry beach habitat is critical to the survivorship of all species of nesting sea turtles that come here.  The Conservation Zones are also filling up with natural plants recruiting in on their own.  Not only does it look beautiful, but plants help our dunes get stronger.  These vegetated dunes are the first line of protection during storms.    Outside of sea turtle nesting season, the beach is opened to public driving from sunrise to sunset.  However from May 1 –Oct. 31 the beach opening and closing times are from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.  This allows time for sea turtle monitoring crews to clearly mark all the nests and perform tasks before the beach is open to driving for the public.    Please remember and be understanding that vehicular access to the beach may be delayed or prohibited when environmental conditions such as high tides warrant.   Also remember that driving and parking are never allowed within the Conservation Zone.  The beach will reopen to driving as soon as conditions permit.  Please check back to this site regularly, as we will have updates to the nesting season and data posted as numbers change.  We will let you know how many nests have been laid, their success and failure stories and any other pertinent and exciting information about the program we can think of!  Hope to see you at the beach!

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