Nesting season comes to a close

It’s countdown time for the 2011 sea-turtle nesting season!

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), all species of sea turtles that nest on Florida beaches had nesting counts above the average for the previous 10 years. That’s wonderful news considering the low numbers early in the season due to extreme cold weather followed by the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In Sarasota, nesting, which is monitored by Mote Marine scientists and many wonderful volunteers, appears to follow a positive trend on beaches from Longboat Key to Venice. Preliminary nesting totals on these beaches increased from 918 last year to 1,222 this year. In Sarasota County, loggerheads laid about 2,500 nests this year, said Tony Tucker, program manager for Mote Marine’s Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program. The numbers, although positive, were preliminary, he said. It was a record year for green sea-turtle nests at 35 countywide, compared to 28 in 2007.

At this point, a big round of applause is deserved for all the many dedicated Turtle Watchers for all of their effort throughout the season. Another way for readers to help out is with the purchase of a sea-turtle license plate.

And one more round of “Happy Birthday” should be sung to one of our favorite resident sea turtles at Mote, Edgar, who celebrated 18 years just a short time ago.

Virginia Sanders is the spokesperson for the Longboat Key Turtle Conservation Program, serves on the Citizens Advisory Board of the National Estuary Program and is a Mote Marine volunteer.