Collier County is pleased to help protect the Sea Turtles. The Sea Turtle Protection Program screens homes and helps safeguard stranded ocean turtles. This program likewise helps with removing perished Sea Turtles. A key piece of this program is a government funded education program for locals and guests to know about this extraordinary species and how they can help in the preservation endeavors. Sea Turtles are an endangered species and are very strictly protected by law.
Sea turtle nesting season begins in May, commencing in late spring of sea turtles slithering out of the Gulf of Mexico under the murkiness and laying eggs in the sand, and after that baby sea turtles go forth and rush into the surf in the moonlight. The season goes through October.
Collier County as of now has its first ocean turtle breeding ground, laid on Keewaydin Island south of Naples. The most widely recognized sea turtles in Southwest Florida are loggerheads, in spite of the fact that greens and Kemp’s Ridleys additionally wander onto the shorelines. A year ago sea turtles in Collier and south Lee broke records, with 1,144 turtle homes in Collier and 270 on Fort Myers Beach, Bonita Beach, Bunch Beach and Big Hickory Island. This is a proud and historic moment indeed.
This was the greatest number of nests that have been recorded ever since 2001; in south Lee, turtles had not laid this many nests since 2012, when they laid 203 nests. That means approximately 80,000 eggs and more than 50,000 hatchlings. The program facilitators of the endeavor found this achievement incredible. They very much hope that all their efforts in the preservation efforts will pay off very soon.
Sea turtles take 30 years to achieve sexual maturity, so turtles conceived three decades prior have had the advantage of sea turtle protection laws. Sea turtles are a treasure to any coastal community and should be protected with utmost vigor. Shoreline lights must be avoided so as not to disturb or confuse nesting or incubating turtles; large-scale fisheries must utilize special snares to abstain from capturing ocean turtles; and shrimpers must utilize nets with gadgets to enable turtles to get away.
Conservationists, who run the helpful non-profit organizations that protect shorelines in south Lee County, believe that they’re on the upward trend of nests for loggerheads. Thus they will continue to be in the lookout. The enormous nesting numbers in 2016 came in spite of two hurricanes, Colin and Hermine, which washed out or overflowed more than 500 homes in Collier County; right around 8,300 turtle eggs were taken by predators, for the most part raccoons, in 2016.
From tempests to shoreline light pollution, the conservationists can never tell what’s in store for the next turtle season. Although they are always ready to give out their efforts in case another big year will happen. This recent development is a proud moment for any of the people who live in Florida. Sea turtles are essential in maintaining the eco-balance of the state and the future looks bright.
