Sea turtle nesting season 2023 is entering prime time!

Written by Emily Finlay, Photo by Kevin C. Charpentier, Edited by Joel Cohen

Between May 1st and October 31st, we officially share our beaches with nesting sea turtles. Brevard County and the four counties south have some of the densest nesting numbers in the world. Brevard County already has over 4,000 nests this year, and the season is just beginning.

As we welcome these hard-working mamas, it’s our job to keep the beach clean, flat, and dark. We can make our beaches safe and comfortable places for nesting. In doing so, we can encourage even more sea turtles to come ashore to lay their eggs.

Help protect the future of Florida’s sea turtles with the simple actions included below.

How can you help nesting sea turtles?

Clean up after yourself at the beach.

Items left on the beach don’t just disappear. When you leave toys, umbrellas, and trash on the sand, nesting turtles must navigate over or around them to nest.

Sometimes, these items can stress or frighten the sea turtles. They may then return to the sea without laying their eggs.

Any trash on the beach will eventually enter the ocean or a critter’s stomach. Plastic kills and harms thousands of marine animals, including sea turtles, every year.

Leaving food behind is also a problem. Predators may find a nest and eat the eggs while they look for your scraps. Every sea turtle species is endangered or threatened, so each egg and nest is essential to survival. 

To help protect our sea turtles, clean up after yourself before leaving the beach. You can help even more by throwing away any trash or items others have left behind.

Our monthly beach clean-ups are another great way to care for our beaches. Learn more here. 

Keep the beach flat (level).

Sea turtle females crawl up the beach to lay their eggs, but they are heavy and not well-suited for moving on land. It’s a difficult journey that takes a lot of energy. 

Most importantly, they must preserve their energy to dig the nest, lay their eggs, and return to the sea.

Large holes, sandcastles, and mounds of sand can make this journey more difficult. Sea turtles have to navigate these obstacles, which tires them out faster. 

Some turtles may even return to the ocean without laying eggs if they struggle to move up the sand.

You can help by filling in holes and smoothing mounds before you leave. You can enjoy your creations as long as you’re at the beach, but be sure to level the sand on your way home.

Please turn off the lights to avoid penalties and protect our sea turtles.

Female sea turtles nest in the dark for a reason. When artificial light reaches the beach, it can stress or disorient them. In the worst cases, females will lay their eggs on the sand or into the ocean rather than safely in a nest.

Help our sea turtles feel comfortable and safe enough to lay their eggs properly. Keep the beach dark during nesting season.

If you live on the beach, your residence should use turtle-friendly outdoor lights (which are long, low, and shielded) or turn off beach-facing lights completely. Use drapes and blinds to keep indoor lights from showing outside.

When walking on the beach at night, don’t use flashlights or phones to see. It’s best to avoid using any lights, including “turtle-safe” flashlights. You should never use a phone or camera flash to take pictures.

Local law forbids all artificial light on the beach. Anyone who violates the marine turtle lighting ordinance in Brevard County may face penalties, including up to six months in jail and as much as $500 in fines. 

Give nesting turtles space.

She puts herself at risk when climbing onto the beach to lay her eggs. She knows she can’t move quickly on land. To her, strange lights, movements, and noises signal danger.

So, if she’s disturbed, she may not finish nesting before returning to the ocean.

If you have the unique privilege of seeing a nesting sea turtle, give her at least 50 feet of space. Remain quiet and still until she is back in the sea. Don’t disturb the nest or touch any of the eggs.

Allow nature to take its course without interfering.

Call the hotline at 321-206-0646.

Hundreds of sea turtles will nest every night in Brevard over the next few months. These turtles know best, so we don’t interfere with natural nesting behaviors.

If, however, you see a sea turtle nesting during the day, we want to know about it! The Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle is a rare visitor to our beaches. It’s also the only local species that nests during the day. Since these visits are so uncommon, we want to know about them.

We also need to know about any sick or injured sea turtles you may see. Please call our hotline if you see a sea turtle in distress, or dead. If you see someone disturbing a nesting turtle or a nest, please call us or FWC immediately at 888-404-3922.

It is best to add the phone numbers to your phone contacts now, so you don’t have to scramble to find it with a sick injured or dead turtle. Here is an example:

Hotline-Sea-Turtle-Brevard – 321-206-0646 (All Brevard County Sea Turtle Issues)

Hotline-Sea-Turtle-FWC – 888-404-3922 (For situations outside of Brevard)

Hotline-Right-Whales – 888-979-4253 (All right whale sightings, typically in Brevard December thru March)

Hotline-Wild-Florida-Rescue – 321-821-7881 (All other injured or displaced wildlife issues in Brevard County)

Hotline-FWC – 888-404-3922 (if not sure who to call or no one able to respond)

Want to see a nesting turtle? Join our Turtle Night Walks for a chance to see this incredible event!