SUN-HERALD (Englewood, Florida) 26 December 05 Nature, humans harm turtles in 2005 (Gavin Off)
Englewood: Sea turtles took another wallop in 2005, with red tide, hurricanes, humans and even a coyote preying on the gentle giants.
For the seventh straight year, nesting numbers on Manasota Key decreased.
This year's 1,403 key nests was down 94 from last year's total, "and that was pretty low," said Zoe Bass of the Coastal Wildlife Club.
2005's total was down 1,753 from 1998's recent high, and was the lowest in 13 years for the area.
"It seemed that every stretch of beach had it's own battle it was dealing with," said Kenya Leonard, of Sarasota County's Environmental Services. "We had the whole gamut of things this summer."
Leonard noted, however, Sarasota County saw a slight increase in nests this year.
Wilma Katz, permit holder with the CWC, said storms, beginning with Hurricane Dennis in the summer, and predators, like armadillos, wiped out nests from many area beaches.
Dennis, which brushed Englewood during the peak of sea turtle season, in fact destroyed as much as half of the already low number of nests on Manasota Key, Bass said.
"2005 has been an extremely difficult year for sea turtles, and it's been the worst year I've experienced in nearly 20 years in this work," Katz said.
Beaches that previously saw 100 to 150 sea turtle nests, failed to produce a single hatchling this year.
Beach renourishment projects in Venice (which accounted for at least one turtle death), a Caspersen Beach coyote (which destroyed about 12 nests) and red tide throughout the Gulf took their toll on both adult and baby turtles.
Mote Marine Laboratory reported more than 130 red tide-related sea turtle deaths this summer. Biologists said that scientists recover only a fraction of the dead turtles.
"You just don't know if they have a chance," Leonard said.
Meanwhile, a beach rebuilding project on Stump Pass Beach State Park that used geo-textile tubes complicated nesting, while an adult turtle was run over on Long Boat Key this summer after it became disoriented and wandered into the road.
Street lights and other artificial lights can disorient sea turtles, causing them to wander away from the water and into harm's way.
"We had a really bad year with a lot of dead and dying turtles," Bass said.
Little Gasparilla Island had problems of its own.
The bridgeless barrier island, welcomed 83 nests in 2005, 11 fewer than 2004.
Linda Soderquist, who oversees the island's sea turtle nests, said high tides and predation caused 68 percent of the island's nests to fail to produce hatchlings.
Little Gasparilla Island also had seven stranded turtles (all of which died), and two disoriented turtles.
"The outlook for sea turtles on Little Gasparilla does not seem very promising when looking at these numbers," Soderquist said. "Each year we hope for a better nesting season, but have fewer nests."
Environmentalists said the continuing nesting troubles is why residents should help look after sea turtles.
County codes prohibit dogs and vehicles from being on the beach, and require beach-goers remove furniture and turn off nearby lights at night during turtle season.
Sea turtle season runs from May 1 to Oct. 31.
"On the upside, there is increasing interest in and awareness about sea turtles," Katz said. "An excellent example is the new street light project along Englewood Beach."
Manasota Key's advisory committee helped erect sea turtle-friendly street lights on portions of Gulf Boulevard and Beach and North Beach roads.
The lights, specially made to prevent disorienting light from reaching the beach, were the first of their kind in the area.
Florida wildlife officials, meanwhile, said they'd tabulate the state's nesting numbers in the coming months.
Nature, humans harm turtles in 2005