provided to The Santiva Chronicle
The first sea turtle hatchlings have emerged on Sanibel and Captiva. The Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation reports the first nest hatched last week (June 21), and several more have hatched since, for a total of 387 hatchlings starting their journey into the Gulf of Mexico.
This season is on track to be record breaking with more than 855 nests on both islands so far this season, including 18 green sea turtle nests.
“Our volunteers have been incredibly busy this year, and we are so grateful for the long hours they’re spending on the beach to protect our sea turtles,” said SCCF Sea Turtle Biologist Jack Brzoza.
The SCCF sea turtle team recently put a call out to the community for a supply of towels to help cover buckets which hold and protect hatchlings.
“We’ve received an outpour of responses to this request and have enough towels for the foreseeable future during this busy season,” Brzoza said. “Thank you to those who donated these crucial supplies.”
Sea turtle nesting season starts on May 1 and ends Oct. 31 each year.
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