Fauna, Scuba News, Underwater Environment

Hurricanes don't scare sea turtles - a nesting record in Florida!

Hurricanes over the past year have devastated large parts of the Florida Keys and the Caribbean coast. Environmentalists feared that climate change and such tragic events as hurricanes would have a negative impact on sea turtle nesting in the area. Nothing could be further from the truth. More than seventy percent of sea turtle nests

ByGosia Harasimowicz

Published: December 6, 2017 - 16:15

Updated: July 22, 2023 - 16:04

Hurricanes don’t scare sea turtles – a nesting record in Florida!

Hurricanes over the past year have devastated large parts of the Florida Keys and the Caribbean coast. Environmentalists feared that climate change and such tragic events as hurricanes would have a negative impact on sea turtle nesting in the area. Nothing could be further from the truth.

More than seventy percent of sea turtle nests were destroyed by violent weather events in September. However, the turtles rose to the challenge and even managed to break last year’s records with over 39,000 nests counted in Florida alone.

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Green sea turtles, as well as other species of sea turtles, have been under the magnifying glass of environmental organisations across the state over the past few years. The nesting season runs from March to October, so, fortunately, most of the turtles had time to give birth and jump into the water before the arrival of Hurricane Irma. Those that did not make it were not so lucky, but surprisingly, some of them also managed to escape with their lives. It was counted that after Irma had passed, some of the turtles still managed to make their nests – over 110 of them.

Confident about the nesting numbers will be made public in early 2018 when the big count, called the Statewide Nesting Beach Survey, which covers more than 200 Florida beaches, is completed.

Source: scubadiving.com Photo: Wikimedia Commons