Sea turtle nesting season is on a record-breaking pace. That's the word from Gulf Islands National Seashore officials who had been concerned there might be a decrease in nests in the wake the BP oil spill last year.
The 68 nests counted this year on Santa Rosa Island and Perdido Key top the previous record of 58 nests in 2000, said Andrew Diller, marine biologist with Sea Grant of Escambia County. The recording of sea turtle nests on weekly basis goes back to 1991.
Diller goes on turtle patrol before dawn, counting nests from Johnson Beach to the end of the seashore on Perdido Key. The undeveloped areas of the seashore see the most nests, Diller said.
"The darkness and remoteness will always mean better numbers," he said.
All but one of the nests recorded are loggerhead sea turtles; there is one Kemp's ridley turtle nest, Diller said. Kemp's ridley turtles are one of the most rare species of sea turtles, which typically nest along the Mexican and Texas coasts, Diller said.
Mark Nicholas, park biologist with the seashore, says light pollution and boaters remain the biggest — and most immediate — threat to turtles.
"When an adult female turtle is killed by a boater, that is a big deal to the future population," Nicholas said. "That female's only job is to produce as many eggs as she can."
Joyce Williams, 49, of Ocean Springs, Miss., doesn't like to think about boaters or oil harming the sea turtles she loves so much.
"I just love them so much, but they're hard to see. You don't want to shine a flashlight on them but I would love to see a nest up close," Williams said. "If we stay out of their way, the sea turtles will be fine I believe."
