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First nest signals start of sea turtle season in Pinellas County

 
Dan Larremore, an environmental specialist for the Florida Park Service, walks the north end of Honeymoon Island to checks for sea turtles and nests early Tuesday. Pinellas County’s first nest of the year was found Sunday.
Dan Larremore, an environmental specialist for the Florida Park Service, walks the north end of Honeymoon Island to checks for sea turtles and nests early Tuesday. Pinellas County’s first nest of the year was found Sunday.
Published May 8, 2015

REDINGTON BEACH

Mike Anderson is supervisor of sea turtles and aquatic biology programs for the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, so you'd think finding a sea turtle nest is just another day on the job.

But when he found the season's first nest this week on Redington Beach, there was still a little thrill.

"It's exciting to find the first one, but actually, it's always exciting to find turtle nests,'' Anderson said.

Nesting season on the west coast of Florida runs from May 1 through October 31, but Anderson and other turtle trackers began monitoring the beaches a little earlier this year. Nests were found in April in Charlotte and Sarasota counties, meaning the turtles could easily come ashore here.

And on Saturday night, one hoisted itself from the water and made its way to the area around 15510 Gulf Blvd. Anderson, who started his work day about 6:15 a.m. on Treasure Island, had made his way to Redington Beach by about 7:15 a.m. in his pickup. He slowly drove along the shoreline until he spotted the turtle crawl, the tracks a turtle makes in the sand as it climbs from the water to nest. He followed it to a clutch of eggs and swiftly roped off the nest with emergency tape and placed a "Do Not Disturb'' sign out for beachgoers who might not realize they were in a reptile maternity ward.

"I wasn't completely surprised we found the nest because when I was out there working on Saturday, a beach resident had told us they had seen tracks,'' Anderson said. "But that turned out to be a false crawl, which means the mother turtle must have come out of the water on Friday night and then turned and went back in. There's a big chance that the same turtle came out of the water Saturday night and it was her nest we found.''

Five of the seven species of sea turtles can be found in Florida waters, including the leatherback, the green, the Kemp's ridley and the hawksbill. However, it is the loggerhead, a turtle that has been classified as a threatened species by the federal government since 1978, that arrives here in the greatest numbers to nest.

According to the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute based in St. Petersburg, in 2014, 363 nests were identified along Pinellas County beaches, and with strong activity already under way, many in the turtle world are cautiously optimistic for another good year. This includes Jim Wilson, supervisor for Fort Desoto Park where last year's first nest was discovered.

"Last year was a great year,'' he said. "I've been working with the park for a long time (since 1975), and the beautiful news to me is that we are seeing our past efforts from the early 1990s pay off. From our efforts back then, those hatchlings are now breeders themselves, and we are seeing numbers continue going up. That's an encouraging fact.''

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At the north end of Pinellas County, Dan Larremore, an environmental specialist for the Department of Environmental Protection for the Florida Park Service is based on Honeymoon Island. He and his staff are watching for turtles as far north as Anclote Key.

Although he agrees that the last few years have been positive, Larremore stressed the need to continue to take extra care of the beaches. For example, before nesting season started, he and his staff cleared the area of exotic plants.

"One thing we did to get ready was we removed Australian pines. During storms, that pine's shallow roots are easily ripped up and turtles are unfamiliar with them so the root system is known to tangle up turtles,'' he said. "These big turtles have been here for millions of years and we have a responsibility to respect their nesting''

A loggerhead, which reproduces between age 25 and 30, lays her eggs on the same beach where she was born. She makes her nest at night and immediately heads back to the water. However, that does not mean she returns to the open sea right away.

"The turtle that laid the eggs on Sunday in Redington Beach is most likely at the bottom of the gulf right now,'' said Anderson. "Hopefully, she's making more eggs. There's a strong chance she'll come up again and lay more in the sand, in about two weeks.''

In less than two months, her hatchlings will emerge and follow the moon to the sea where they will spend the next couple of decades traveling the world. And, if luck is with them, in about 25 years they will return to have babies of their own.

Contact Piper Castillo at pcastillo@tampabay.com or (727) 445-4163. Follow @Florida_PBJC on Twitter.