news release

The 2023 nesting season is turning out to be better than expected in Indian River County (IRC). During the 2022 nesting season loggerhead sea turtles, listed as threatened by the State & Federal governments, set a new nesting record in the County with 7,431 nests laid. 

Because individual sea turtles typically return to their nesting beach every other year or every third year, it was expected that the 2023 season would be an “OK” year. This past week however, loggerhead sea turtles blew past the 2022 record with over 7,600 nests laid to date! Loggerhead sea turtles start nesting regularly each year in April. We can expect to see their nesting numbers continue to increase until the end of the 2023 nesting season on October 31^st.

As of July 20, 2023, the nest counts within the County are:

• 7,664 loggerhead nests
• 2,296 green turtle nests
• 27 leatherback nests

*preliminary data, nesting season still on-going

The green sea turtle, also listed as endangered by the State & Federal governments, set their nesting record in the 2017 season with 2,634 nests laid within IRC.  The 2019 season came close to that record with 2,378 nests. Green sea turtles typically start nesting in late May and continue through October.

Leatherback sea turtles, are also listed as endangered by the State & Federal governments and primarily nest in larger numbers in the counties south of Indian River. However, during the 2022 season these turtles set a new Indian River County record with 101 nests. The 16-year average shows that Indian River receives approximately 55 nests annually.

The year 2023 also marks the 50^th anniversary for the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973. It was this law that has protected sea turtles within the United States. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service along with the National Marine Fishers Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are the branches of the U.S. Government responsible for overseeing the ESA in reference to sea turtles. These two branches work collaboratively to suggest which animal populations are deemed threatened or endangered. Knowing that an individual sea turtle takes between 25 to 35 years to mature, it’s possible that 2 new generations of sea turtles have contributed to the higher nesting numbers since sea turtles became protected 50 years ago.

Important Sea Turtle Protection Topics

• Sea turtle nesting season begins on March 1 and runs through October 31 each year. This is the same time local nighttime lighting ordinances are in effect.  
• Artificial light, like outdoor landscape lights, can deter adult turtles from laying a nest and can potentially cause confusion for hatchlings, causing them to crawl the wrong direction away from the ocean. 
• All species of sea turtles are protected.  Only those with a valid permit issued by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) are allowed to handle sea turtles.
• If someone sees a sick, injured, or dead sea turtle, please report it to the FWC Wildlife Hotline 1-888-404-3922.
• If beachgoers happen to come across healthy adult sea turtles on the beach, keep a distance of 50 feet or more away.  The presence of a person can scare the turtle into returning to the ocean before laying a nest.
• Beachgoers should remove furniture from the beach after each day, take your garbage with you, and fill in holes and knock down sand castles. If you visit the beach, please leave it clean, flat and dark.

General Sea Turtle Biology

Three distinct species of sea turtles generally nest within Indian River County. Each individual turtle is capable of laying up to six nests during one season with each nest containing 80-120 eggs.

Sea turtles are unique species to protect, when compared to other species that are afforded protection under the ESA. These marine reptiles leave feeding grounds to migrate thousands of miles through international waters returning to the same sandy beaches they hatched from to lay their eggs. It can take one individual turtle between 20-30 years before its mature enough to lay eggs. Its estimated that 1 out of 1,000 hatchlings will reach adulthood.

Indian River County maintains a comprehensive Habitat Conservation Plan for the protection and monitoring of nesting sea turtles along the County’s coastline. This county-wide effort began in 2005.

For more information on the County’s Sea Turtle Conservation Program, please contact Quintin Bergman, Indian River County’s Sea Turtle Environmental Specialist, at qbergman@ircgov.com or check out our data dashboard at https://www.ircgov.com/publicworks/coastal/turtles.htm