Titusville Sea Turtle Festival Sea Turtle Conservation Programs Loggerhead Green Leatherback Kemps Ridley

2023 was the 40th year of the nest screening program at Canaveral National Seashore (CANA) and included well over 30,000 volunteer hours. It is the only program of this scope in the entire National Park Service. The program would not be possible without volunteer help. Thank you all. We did it! 2023 now holds the record for most turtle nests ever recorded in CANA in a single season!! It is also the first time over 8000 greens have nested in a single year! -- Friends of Canaveral Facebook

During the Covid-19 pandemic the Turtle Nesting programs were cancelled. We provided this 11 to 12 minute video to serve as a preview for in person programs.

2024 Sea Turtle Nest Counts Canaveral National Seashore: 9/13/2024 Loggerhead: Apollo ( 2,412 ) ........Playalinda ( 3,158) Green Turtle: Apollo ( 752 ) .........Playalinda ( 995 ) Leatherback: Apollo ( 11 ) .........Playalinda ( 19 ) Kemps Ridley: Apollo ( 0 ) .......Playalinda ( 2 ): (unconfirmed until genetics tested) Total nest counts: 7,359

Adopt a Sea Turtle Nest CLICK to Enlarge, Print & Share.

Canaveral National Seashore Sea Turtle Nest Totals 1984-2023
Year	Loggerhead	Green	Leatherback	Kemp's Ridley	Unknown	Total
2023	5,674	11,090	28	1	0	16,793
2022	6,153	5,907	27	1	0	12,088
2021	3,708	4,303	31	2	0	8,044
2020	4,187	3,67	26	5	0	7,888
2019	5,750	7,600	33	0	0	13,383
2018	4,223	301	15	0	0	4,539
2017	4,556	7,736	23	0	0	12,315
2016	3,027	159	4	0	0	5,345
2015	3,905	3,531	34	0	0	7,470
2014	3,322	405	20	0	0	3,747
2013	3,758	4,152	23	0	0	7,933
2012	5,154	816	27	1	0	5,998
2011	3,742	1374	24	0	0	5,140
2010	4,250	1,343	26	0	0	5,619
2009	2729	301	26	0	0	3,056
2008	3,637	899	5	2	0	4,543
2007	2,356	1,249	21	0	0	3,627
2006	2,470	396	1	1	0	2,868
2005	2,547	1,040	13	0	0	3,600
2004	2,281	255	6	0	0	2,542
2003	3,229	74	16	1	0	3,320
2002	3,161	856	8	0	0	4,025
2001	3,257	7	10	0	0	3,274
2000	3,892	662	9	0	0	4,563
1999	4,501	5	9	0	0	4,515
1998	3,976	427	5	0	0	4,408
1997	2,702	21	4	0	0	2,727
1996	3,260	222	3	0	0	3,485
1995	4,121	47	1	0	0	4,169
1994	3,886	364	2	0	0	4,252
1993	3,140	28	0	0	0	3,168
1992	3,279	298	0	0	0	3,577
1991	4,074	25	1	0	0	4,100
1990	3,922	185	1	0	0	4,108
1989	3,091	41	1	0	0	3,133
1988	2,203	43	0	0	4	2,250
1987	1,670	90	1	0	15	1,776
1986	3,349	22	3	0	0	3,374
1985	2,389	94	0	0	25	2,508
1984	*	*	*	*	*	2,125

LEARN THE RULES OF THE BEACH

Whether you live along a sea turtle nesting beach or are just visiting one, follow these easy tips to minimize your impact on sea turtles:

While inside your home or room at night, close your drapes and turn off all unnecessary lights.

Make minimal use of your flashlight while walking on the beach at night.

If you encounter a sea turtle, do not touch, shine a light on, or take flash photographs of it; remain quiet, watch from a distance, and enjoy the moment.

During your beach visit, keep all trash together and secure, and make sure to bring it and all other belongings with you when you leave. After playing in the sand, fill in all holes to make sea turtle pathways between surf and sand as smooth as possible.

Keep your pets leashed at all times to prevent them from harming eggs and hatchlings.

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SEA TURTLE FACTS:

Unlike other turtles, sea turtles cannot retract their legs and head into their shells.

Turtles do not have teeth, but the jaws are shaped to provide crushing, biting or tearing surfaces appropriate for their diet.

Like all reptiles, sea turtles lack external ears and the eardrum is covered with skin.

Growth rates vary, but most sea turtle species mature slowly and all have a long life span.

Temperatures of the sand where the turtles nest determine the sex of the turtle: below 85 degrees Fahrenheit is predominately male; above 85 degrees Fahrenheit is predominately female.

Sea turtles also have a special adaptation process wherein they extract water from the food they intake and by metabolizing saltwater; as such they can survive in the ocean without the requirement of freshwater or a freshwater source.

In addition to solving the problems of swimming and breathing, sea turtles have also come up with an ingenious way to rid their bodies of the salts they accumulate from the saltwater in which they live. Just behind each eye is a salt gland. The salt glands help sea turtles to maintain a healthy water balance by shedding large "tears" of excess salt. If a sea turtle appears to be "crying" it is usually not cause for alarm, as the turtles are merely keeping their physiology in check.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Take all the items you brought to the beach with you when you go.

Do not leave litter on the beach which may disorient nesting females as they crawl out of the ocean.

Fill in any holes you may have dug on the beach which may trap nesting turtles and hatchlings.

If you see a turtle on the beach - do not touch or disturb the turtle.

Turn off all lights at night on the beach - it's the law.

Do not take flash photos of turtles.

Never throw trash into the water.

Volunteer for beach cleanups.

Participate in organized turtle watches.

Never buy products made from endangered species.

Say NO! to plastic. Use recyclable shopping bags and drinking bottles. The ocean is littered with 47,000 pieces of plastic per square mile.

Pick up discarded fishing line - it takes 600 years to bio-degrade.

Buy a Sea Turtle Specialty License Plate for your vehicle. Revenue from the sale of sea turtle license plates goes to support sea turtle research, conservation and education in Florida.

If you find an injured or dead turtle in Florida, call the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Law Enforcement at (1-888-404-FWCC).

Artificial Lighting: A THREAT TO SEA TURTLES

Nesting turtles depend on dark, quite beaches to reproduce successfully. Today, these turtles are endangered, in part, because they must compete with tourists, businesses and coastal residents to use the beach. This man-made, coastal development results in artificial lighting on the beach that discourages female sea turtles from nesting. Instead, turtles will choose a less-than-optimal nesting spot, which affects the chances of producing a successful nest. Also, near-shore lighting can cause sea turtle hatchlings to become disoriented when they are born. Instead, they will wander inland where they often die of dehydration, predation, or even from being run over on busy coastal streets.

Solutions:
Reducing the amount of artificial light that is visible from nesting beaches is the first step to reducing light pollution that affects sea turtles. Coastal communities around the world have passed ordinances that require residents turn off beachfront lights during turtle nesting season. Unfortunately, these ordinances are not always enforced and don't address the larger problem of sky glow that occurs near cities.

Turn off lights visible on nesting beaches or use special fixtures to shield the lights from the beach;

Use low-pressure sodium-vapor lighting (LPS) instead of normal lights;

Use Turtle Safe Lighting - these red lights emit a very narrow portion of the visible light spectrum, which is less intrusive to nesting sea turtles and hatchlings;

If disoriented hatchlings are found away from the sea, call local law enforcement;

Tint windows that face the beach;

Close opaque curtains or blinds after dark to cover windows visible from the beach.

Threats from Invasive Species Predation

Around the globe, sea turtles and their hatchlings fall victim to natural predators. Crabs, raccoons, boars, birds, coyotes and sharks all play their role in the natural food chain as sea turtle predators. However, the threats of predation increase when human development reaches nesting beaches. People who leave trash near the shore, for example, unwittingly call raccoons and other non-native species to the beaches to look for food.

Nest predation can be a very serious threat. In certain "predation hot spots" on nesting beaches in the United States predation can exceed 50% of all nests laid.

Sea Turtles are not fast enough, or agile enough to escape predators. Unable to retract their heads and flippers into their shell, like land tortoises, sea turtles are very vulnerable to these invasive predators.

Don't feed wildlife ­ animals will make a habit of returning to coastal areas in search for food, creating a threat to turtles;

Don't leave your dogs and cats unattended;

Do not leave any trash, especially garbage containing food, outside of your home;

Support spay and neuter programs near coastal areas to decrease feral invasive species predation;

Contact your local law enforcement if you witness any predation on sea turtle nests or hatchlings.

Friends of Canaveral Newsletter, August, 2018

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SEA TURTLE CLASSIFICATIONS Critically Endangered: Species is considered to be facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. Hawksbills Kemp's Ridleys Endangered: Species is considered to be facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild.  Greens Loggerheads Vulnerable: Species is considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild. Leatherbacks Olive Ridleys Data Deficient: Species that cannot be evaluated because of insufficient information. Flatbacks
Hawksbills	Kemp's Ridley	Green
Loggerhead	Leatherback	Olive Ridley
From the Friends of Canaveral Newsletter - June 1, 2018

Share the beach with Nesting Shorebirds

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