Washed Away – Sea Turtle Nests on Florida’s East Coast Hit Hard by This Year’s Storms

by · November 14, 2025

A sea turtle egg sits among the Sargassum on the beach after strong waves eroded the sand dune, destroyed the nest, and scattered the eggs (August 2025). Unfortunately, once exposed to the elements (even for a short time), the egg is no longer viable. STPS Photo.

Florida’s East Coast Battered by Offshore Storms

The 2025 storm season caused major beach erosion up and down Florida’s east coast. First, in August, Hurricane Erin remained offshore but still created dangerous surf, rip currents, and coastal flooding. Then, in late September, Hurricanes Humberto and Imelda also stayed far out in the Atlantic, but their strong winds and currents pushed large mats of Sargassum along with sea turtle hatchlings and post-hatchlings onto our beaches. In addition, the strong waves from both storms eroded many beaches and impacted incubating sea turtle nests which were either exposed to the elements, flooded (which drowned the hatchlings), or completely washed away.

Local news reports from around the state describe the beach erosion and impact on sea turtle nests in their areas after these storms:

During the October storms, some beaches in Brevard County were eroded 10-12 feet (see Spectrum News 13 report). South Patrick Shores and Satellite Beach were hit especially hard. Luckily, beach renourishment projects in the Mid and North Reach regions were just completed in early 2025 by Brevard’s Beach Management Program. Both South Patrick Shores and Satellite Beach are in the Mid Reach, and although a lot of newly added sand got washed away, a lot of it remained (see NEWS6 report).

Per STPS Nesting Survey Permit Holder Sherrie Williams, eight of the Cocoa Beach nests marked by our Nesting Survey volunteers were impacted by strong surf in October and the stakes they placed around the nests were washed away. Despite the loss of these nests and their hatchlings, all the data that our volunteers collected about them – including the fact that they were damaged by storms – gets submitted to Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and will be used as part of their Statewide Nesting Beach Survey (SNBS) program.

Florida FWC’s Preliminary Sea Turtle Nest Counts (October 31, 2025)

Despite the damage caused by all of these storms, Florida FWC’s preliminary sea turtle nest counts for this year are encouraging (see below). So far, leatherbacks are having a record-breaking year, and green sea turtles are having their second highest year ever. The current loggerhead nest count is just a bit lower than all of 2024 (which was 110,128), and Kemp’s ridleys are also below their total from last year (which was 34).

Florida FWC’s Preliminary Sea Turtle Nest Counts as of October 31st.
Image courtesy of Florida FWC.

Sea Turtles Have Adapted to Mitigate the Impact of Storms

Because female sea turtles lay multiple nests each season with each nest containing 80 to 120 eggs, they increase the odds that some of their offspring will hatch successfully. Furthermore, when nests are damaged by storms, all the nutrients from the eggs enrich the nutrient-poor beach environment. This promotes the growth of plants and their roots stabilize the sand dunes so that nesting sea turtles will have a healthy beach habitat to return to in the future.

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