Green Sea Turtles Nesting on Marco’s Beach

Attachments

Sea Turtle Activity Update September 6.pdf

Florida hosts one of the largest groupings of green turtle nests in the western Atlantic, according to FWC, and they are state and federally endangered species.

It has been reported by the Sea Turtle monitors that two “Greenies” came ashore and nested and they can’t wait for the nest to hatch. Every two to three years, a female will return to the nesting beach - often the same one she visited before - and lay an average of 3.6 clutches in a season. Usually, they will deposit a clutch of about 128 eggs.

Where do green turtles get their name? It is not from the color of its shell, which is olive-brown with dark streaks and spots. It is from the greenish color of its body fat.

The green sea turtle faces many threats both on land and in the water and according to sea turtle experts, the main threat to green sea turtles at sea is entanglement in fishing gear such as longlines, monofilament fishing line, nets, and crab trap lines. When entangled in marine debris, the green sea turtle cannot escape and usually drowns. In some countries, they are harvested illegally for their meat and eggs.