Sea Turtle Nests Top Record Count in Northern Palm Beach County

JUNO BEACH — It’s official: Researchers at Loggerhead Marinelife Center have spotted a record sea turtle nests this season.

There were 19,580 nests on the 9.5 miles of Palm Beach County beaches that Loggerhead watches as of Tuesday, the Juno Beach facility said. That tops the previous record of 19,085 set in 2017.

A record-breaking season wasn’t altogether a surprise at Loggerhead Marinelife. This summer, it predicted there would be 25,000 sea turtle nests.

The current nest total translates to more than 1.3 million estimated sea turtle hatchlings, the facility said.

Loggerhead Marinelife provided a breakdown of the number of nests by variety of turtle on its Facebook page. There have been 186 leatherback nests, 13,111 loggerhead nests and 6,283 green sea turtle nests counted.

The center’s director of research, Justin Perrault, said in a statement he expects to tally a few thousand more nests by the season’s end.

Nesting season ends Oct. 31 in Palm Beach County. Last year, a bit more than 11,900 sea turtles nests were counted, Loggerhead Marinelife said.

The spike in nests is probably because of protective measures that Perrault said have been on the books for decades. He’s focused on the bigger picture.

“We have to remind ourselves that there is still much work to be done to combat existing threats to sea turtles, including reducing plastic pollution, assessing habitat loss, and improving water quality,” Perrault said.

As seen in Palm Beach Post

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@SamuelHHoward