U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the FWC reviews, issues, and administers permits for both and management activities conducted with marine turtles within the state. Staff also monitors marine turtles held in captive/holding facilities. Sea turtles face new perils as nesting season begins June 06, 2011 02:22:21 PM By DEBORAH WHEELER / Florida Freedom Newspapers SEASIDE Turtle season 2011 is in full swing. — The season kicks off in late May and continues through the end of October. This year is right on schedule, said Sharon Maxwell, director of South Walton Turtle Watch. In just the few days since the season kicked off, three loggerhead nests already have been found. There also have been five false crawls, in which a turtle comes ashore to lay eggs but for some reason turns around and crawls back into the Gulf of Mexico. used to never have false crawls, but “We now we do,” Maxwell said. Maxwell attributes that to the number of people going to the beach at night carrying flashlights. Sea turtles prefer total darkness when coming ashore to lay their eggs. may come ashore and try two or three times before laying her eggs if she doesn't feel things are said “She right,” to Maxwell. “It's really distressing us.” As the number of false crawls increase, the numbers of actual nests are diminishing. went from 58 nests in 2000 down to 25 to 30 in recent Maxwell said. has really dropped “We years,” “It off.” Another problem has arisen for the Turtle Watch volunteers to deal with. the dates the nests are found or their she said. “We can’t publish exact locations,” The problem is that some people are too eager to see hatchlings unearthing themselves from the sand. They figure out the due date and try to make a party out of the event. have people going and sitting at the nest waiting for the eggs to hatch and it becomes a big party with lots of “We alcohol and gets out of an exasperated Maxwell said. we want dates hand,” “So, don’t published any more.” Last year during the height of the oil spill, all turtle eggs were dug up along the Gulf Coast and taken to Florida’s Atlantic coast. So what to expect this season?
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the FWC reviews, issues, and administers permits for both and management activities conducted with marine turtles within the state. Staff also monitors marine turtles held in captive/holding facilities. Sea turtles face new perils as nesting season begins June 06, 2011 02:22:21 PM By DEBORAH WHEELER / Florida Freedom Newspapers SEASIDE — Turtle season 2011 is in full swing. The season kicks off in late May and continues through the end of October. This year is right on schedule, said Sharon Maxwell, director of South Walton Turtle Watch. In just the few days since the season kicked off, three loggerhead nests already have been found. There also have been five false crawls, in which a turtle comes ashore to lay eggs but for some reason turns around and crawls back into the Gulf of Mexico. “We used to never have false crawls, but now we do,” Maxwell said. Maxwell attributes that to the number of people going to the beach at night carrying flashlights. Sea turtles prefer total darkness when coming ashore to lay their eggs. “She may come ashore and try two or three times before laying her eggs if she doesn't feel things are right,” said Maxwell. “It's really distressing to us.” As the number of false crawls increase, the numbers of actual nests are diminishing. “We went from 58 nests in 2000 down to 25 to 30 in recent years,” Maxwell said. “It has really dropped off.” Another problem has arisen for the Turtle Watch volunteers to deal with. “We can’t publish the dates the nests are found or their exact locations,” she said. The problem is that some people are too eager to see hatchlings unearthing themselves from the sand. They figure out the due date and try to make a party out of the event. “We have people going and sitting at the nest waiting for the eggs to hatch and it becomes a big party with lots of alcohol and gets out of hand,” an exasperated Maxwell said. “So, we don’t want dates published any more.” Last year during the height of the oil spill, all turtle eggs were dug up along the Gulf Coast and taken to Florida’s Atlantic coast. So what to expect this season?
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