Of course, we would prefer that you not go on the beach at night during turtle season but we know that is probably too much to ask so:
IF YOU HAPPEN TO SEE A NESTING SEA TURTLE:
l. Please stay behind her at a distance so that she cannot see you. Keep your distance, remain quiet, and keep lights off. Noise and any light can cause the turtle to abandon her nest and return to the gulf.
2. Please keep hands and other objects off and away from the turtle. (After nesting, she may appear slow and hesitant.) Touching, prodding, shining light, or causing commotion may frighten her, disorient her, and cause her to spend less time covering and camouflaging her nest.
IF YOU HAPPEN TO SEE SEA TURTLE HATCHLINGS:
1. Please watch them from a distance.
2. Please allow hatchlings to crawl to the water on their own, as the journey from the nest to the water allows them to imprint on their home beach. That imprint, Scientists believe, helps hatchlings remember where they came from, so they can return and lay their own nests 20 to 30 years later.
3. Please leave hatchling sea turtles in their nest; they will exit when they are ready and will have a much better chance of surviving.
4. Please keep all lights off. If hatchling turtles see artificial lights they become confused, crawling in circles and heading away from the ocean causing them to be eaten by other animals or to die of dehydration.
AND NOW FOR THE OBVIOUS, (WE HOPE):
Leave nests and signs undisturbed!
Shield or turn off all lights that shine on the beach!
Remove beach furniture, toys, and equipment from the beach every night.
Keep pets off the beach!
Remember that motorized vehicles and campfires are prohibited!
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They watch over the nests and care for them as needed. As the season grows to a close, they document the number of babies hatched and unhatched, the number of babies destroyed, and the number of dead and alive babies in the nests and count the total of all the eggs in the nests.
In 2001 the patrol documented 267 nests and 282 false crawls but many of the eggs and hatchings were destroyed by high tides and sand covering the nests. To bring you up to date in 2002, 95 nests and 153 false crawls were documented in May and June.
All species of sea turtles in Florida are listed as either threatened or endangered by the federal Endangered Species Act. In addition, sea turtles are protected by Florida Statute 370.12, the Marine Turtle Protection Act. Anyone found harassing a sea turtle or interfering with the nesting process faces criminal and civil penalties.
