07/16/2025
We continue to be grateful for the weekly work of Arlene Hall, and also the stats from the Gasparilla Island State Park, to count turtle nesting as part of the BG Sea Turtle Association. The full story is in the paper this week but here are some highlights:
"So far, we have a total of 1,511 crawls (including both nests and false crawls of all species) and when compared to last year’s 1,351 total crawls from the same period, you can see the turtles are busier this year. When we break that down, however, we see that this year’s actual loggerhead nests are down by 18 (446 this year vs 464 last year). That’s only about a four percent drop and will certainly change as the season goes on.
"Our loggerhead false crawls is quite a different story. This year, we’ve documented 1,036 false crawls compared to only 884 from last year. That’s a 17 percent increase. We don’t know why there is such a surge in false crawls this season, but we all have our unscientific opinions ranging from changes in the Gulf’s near-shore currents to changes on the beaches left by last summer’s unwelcome visitors Helene and Milton.
From Florida State Parks:
Gasparilla Island: 28 Loggerhead - 2 Green
Cayo Costa: 434 Loggerhead - 10 Green - 1061 hatchlings
Don Pedro: 99 Loggerhead - 24 Green - 85 hatchlings
Stump Pass: 52 Loggerhead - 1 Green
