provided to The Santiva Chronicle
Tropical Storm Debby brought four to six inches of rain, high winds, and a storm surge to Sanibel and Captiva from Aug. 3 to Aug. 5.
Biologists from the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation are still assessing the impacts on sea turtle nests using GPS coordinates with less than 3-centimeter accuracy to search for nests where stakes have washed away.
“Data from our moisture and temperature loggers indicate that some nests experienced a significant drop in temperature and increased moisture as the tide influenced the clutch,” said SCCF Coastal Wildlife Director Kelly Sloan.
Sloan said the storm’s timing was earlier than Idalia and Ian in recent years, which means more than 500 nests were still incubating on the beaches, and there will likely be more washed-out nests from Debby.
Late last August, Hurricane Idalia led to more than 100 sea turtle nest losses on Sanibel and Captiva. Hurricane Ian in September 2022 occurred when sea turtle season was already beginning to wind down, so most nests had already hatched and been inventoried. There were 17 remaining nests when Ian hit, only one of which, a green sea turtle nest, survived (but did not hatch).
“It’s important to remember that storm season directly overlaps with sea turtle nesting season and is a natural part of their life cycle,” Sloan said.
“Females have a nesting strategy that accommodates storms—they lay multiple nests per season every 10-14 days so that even if one nest washes away, there’s a high likelihood that another one of her nests will produce hatchlings,” she said.
While prolonged inundation can drown developing embryos or wash out eggs, brief washovers can sometimes have a beneficial cooling effect.
Sanibel and Captiva have had 832 loggerhead nests, three green turtle nests, and one leatherback nest this year. So far, 12,856 hatchlings have emerged, including 12,816 loggerheads and 40 leatherbacks.
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