Florida’s 2023 Sea Turtle Nesting Totals

2023 was a record-setting year for sea turtle nesting and now we have the official numbers from Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) who has compiled the 2023 sea turtle nesting totals from their Statewide Nesting Beach Survey (SNBS). The SNBS program started in 1979 and is a collaboration between FWC and U.S. Fish & Wildlife to study the distribution, abundance and seasonality of Florida’s sea turtle nests. The nesting data is collected by Florida Marine Turtle Permit (MTP) holders — including STPS — from over 200 beaches across the state.

2023 Brevard and Indian River Nest Totals Compared to 2022

The following tables show the number of nests actually laid (i.e., when a turtle emerges from the ocean and lays eggs) in 2023. Only the nesting totals for Brevard and Indian River counties are shown below and compared to 2022.

2023 SEA TURTLE NESTING TOTALS – BREVARD AND INDIAN RIVER

County	Loggerhead	Green	Leatherback
Brevard	33,435	37,927	88
Indian River	8,815	4,190	27

2023 VERSUS 2022 NESTING TOTALS – BREVARD AND INDIAN RIVER

	Loggerhead	Green	Leatherback
Brevard County: Difference From 2022	+1,812	+20,463	-55
Indian River County: Difference From 2022	+1,268	+2,364	-79

2023 State Totals Compared to 2022

The following table shows only the number of nests actually laid (i.e., when a turtle emerges and lays eggs) in 2023 for the entire state and compares them to 2022.

2023 VERSUS 2022 STATEWIDE NESTING TOTALS

	Loggerhead	Green	Leatherback
2023 State Totals	134,932	77,040	1,648
Difference from 2022	+18,167	+40,012	-200

To learn more about Florida FWC’s SNBS program, visit their Sea Turtle Monitoring website.

UCF’s 2023 Nest Totals from Archie Carr Refuge

STPS members got a preview of these nest counts from Dean Bagley at our November 2023 membership meeting. She described the 2023 nest numbers as “extraordinary,” especially for green sea turtles. Bagley and her team at UCF’s Marine Turtle Research Group (MTRG) surveyed Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge and counted 23,220 green nests which was an increase of more than 8,000 from 2022. They also recorded 15,174 loggerhead, and 34 leatherback nests in 2023. While loggerhead nest numbers increased from 2022, the leatherback nest count was lower than 2022, but similar to 2021’s count.