Sea Turtles

Sea Turtle Research and Monitoring

	Sea Turtle Nesting Stats As of September 16, 2011
		Nests	False Crawls	Hatches
	Sanibel East End	37	81	29
	Sanibel West End	240* **	361	158* **
	Captiva	77	54	59
	TOTAL	354	496	246

Click here for PDF with statistics for the nests that have hatched this year on Sanibel (Captiva numbers will not be available until the end of nesting season).

Most nests on the islands are Loggerhead.  However, this year we have one Kemps Ridley** and five Greens * included in the totals above.  Read about the Kemp's Ridley.

Please do not disturb nesting sea turtles.  There have been reports of several nesting attempts disturbed by onlookers.  If a turtle fails after several nesting attempts, she will eject her eggs into the Gulf, so failed attempts -- false crawls -- are serious. 
Click here for more info.


Keep up with our Sea Turtle blog by clicking here.
Video of hatchlings swimming from 2010   
Video from 2010 winter cold stun of green sea turtles from Sanibel being released near Naples. 
Read about Sanibel's rare 2009 Leatherback Sea Turtle nest.
To learn more about the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill, click here.

Sea turtles are among the world’s oldest creatures. These ancient reptiles have long fascinated people around the world. On Sanibel and Captiva, where the beaches provide a subtropical nesting area for threatened loggerhead and endangered green turtles, more than 100 island residents volunteer each summer as part of the Conservation Foundation’s Sea Turtle Research and Monitoring Program. The program operates under a permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Each day during nesting season, May to October, the 18 miles of Gulf beaches from the Sanibel Lighthouse to the tip of Captiva are checked beginning at dawn.In some areas, volunteers walk designated zones of beach. On other stretches, the patrol is done by beach vehicle. Nests are identified and marked for monitoring and protection. Later in the season new hatches are evaluated and recorded. The statewide collection of data helps promote programs that improve the chances for sea turtles to survive. Among other components of SCCF’s sea turtle program are projects ensuring that beach habitat is suitable for nesting and the co-ordination of data collection on local sea turtle strandings. You can contact the Sea Turtle office by e-mail: seaturtle@sccf.org

A loggerhead burying her nest	A rare daytime hatch.  Note the hatchling crawling to the right	Nests are dug 3 days after they hatch by an SCCF permittee, who counts the shells and rescues any stragglers.