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Residents and tourists want to help sea turtles during their nesting season.
STATES CHRONICLE – Residents are trying to help nesting sea turtles to get to the sea. At this time of the year, sea turtles breed and a nesting period will follow. The month of March represents the beginning of sea turtle nesting season in Florida. Turtles swim to the shore, dig a nest and then lay their eggs in the sand. Over the years, the increased human activities in the area have affected and decreased the survival rates of these animals.
Approximately all sea turtle species are known to be threatened with extinction because their eggs never reach to hatch, being destroyed by visitors. What is more, they are hunted for their shells, skin, and meat, too. If you are one of the people who is bound to help these creatures survive, then you should find out some useful ways to protect them and help them take care of the eggs.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission stated that all visitors who go to the beach should keep in mind the idea that they need to take boats, furniture, and canopies off the beach at night to not block the sea turtles which come here to nest their eggs. When the beach day is over, locals and tourists are required to fill the holes which were dug in the sand during the day so that hatching and nesting turtles won’t be trapped there.
Visitors should not take flash photos of them or refrain bright lights on them. Residents should also take away the garbage which could be consumed by turtles, causing them injuries of even death. During this hatching season, The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has authorized marine turtle permit holders.
In the meantime, volunteers have begun their usual annual ritual. The team of volunteers walks on the beaches every day to check whether the turtles have crawled out of their nests or if new turtles have already nested there the previous night. The crawls look just like tire trucks.
Depending on the location of people in Florida, the nesting sea turtles season has begun. On the Atlantic Coast, the breeding season starts in March, and it ends up in late spring on the Gulf Coast. Florida is known to host about 90% of all loggerhead sea turtle species situated within the northern Atlantic population.
Image source: flickr
