Sea turtle nests in southwest Florida become after Tropical Storm Elsa. washed away

Tropical Storm Elsa swept southwest Florida after the weekend of July 4th without doing much more than dropping inches of rain across the region, but it did affect nesting sea turtles.

After combing the beaches in the days after the storm, Collier County’s environmental specialist Maura Kraus was able to determine the damage to the nests.

Of the 1365 documented nests on the beaches of the district, 144 were completely washed away and another 394 were washed over by the tides, Kraus wrote in an email.

“So we will be watching the flooded nests, which may have little effect on hatching or drown the nest completely,” she wrote. “That depends on how well the sand drains and how often the waves have washed over the nests.”

The breeding season begins:Gentle giants are coming soon: Loggerhead turtles, other turtles will soon begin to nest on the beaches of the area

Apropos:Concerns about sea turtle deaths rise as the number of red tides increases in Bonita, north Naples

Did you know already? Bonita Beach has the first turtle nest of the season

Sea turtles regularly grapple with hurricanes and tropical storms, and a staggered nesting season allows for a more successful breeding season.

“This is all part of the strategy of a sea turtle that lays throughout the season,” wrote Kraus. “We just hope we hatch well and stay away from storms for the remainder of the hatching / hatching season.”

Maia McGuire, of the University of Florida’s Department of Food and Agricultural Sciences, said in a press release that turtles lay their eggs high on beaches to avoid flooding, but major storms are still problems.

“Storms can drive seawater higher than normal on the beach, which can flood sea turtle nests and cause embryos to drown in the eggs,” she said.

More coverage:Tropical Storm Elsa drops 1 foot of rain on parts of SW Florida

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There is an overlap between Florida hurricane season and sea turtle nesting season, but the turtles nest in large areas and make up for losses that can occur during a storm.

In Lee County, the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation discovered that 45 sea turtle nests had been completely washed away according to Elsa, said Kelly Sloan, director of coastal animals.

The group identified about 125 nests with missing piles, but using a high-precision GPS device called Trimble, they reduced the number to 85 nests. A team then had to dig into these nests and found that 40 still had the eggs and the remaining 45 were washed away.

Sloan reaffirmed the ability of sea turtles to overcome these losses.

“Sea turtles have been around for a million years and have adapted to storms because each and every turtle lays around four or six nests at a time,” she said. “That’s one every two weeks.”

In case you missed it:Tropical storm Elsa drenched Naples

Once it was safe to go out and look for nests, Sloan said that about 10 people at the SCCF looked for the nests.

There is some optimism for sea turtles this year. Sloan said the islands are well on their way to having the second best breeding season ever. And there could be more good news.

“Some nests that we think have disappeared because they were so flooded will sometimes surprise us and hatch,” she said.

Karl Schneider is an environmental reporter. You can reach him at kschneider@gannett.com. Follow @karlstartswithk on Twitter

See similar https://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/environment/2021/07/15/southwest-florida-sea-turtle-nests-wash-away-after-tropical-storm-elsa/7968058002/

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