Record-Breaking Sea Turtle Nesting Season

>> WILDLIFE EXPERTS SAY IT'S BEEN A RECORD YEAR FOR SEA TURTLE NESTING ON SOME SOUTHWEST FLORIDA BEACHES. >> WGCU SENIOR ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTER TOM BAYLISS IS HERE WITH DETAILS ON WHAT APPEARS TO BE VERY POSITIVE NEWS FOR SEA TURTLES IN OUR AREA AS IF IT'S TRUE. >> THIS HAS BEEN A REMARKABLE YEAR FOR SEA TURTLE NESTING AROUND FLORIDA. EVEN THOUGH SEA TURTLES AND DINOSAURS ONCE ROAMED THE EARTH TOGETHER, THE SPECIES THAT HAS SURVIVED MORE THAN 100 MILLION YEARS APPEARS TO FAVOR THOSE YEARS WITHOUT HURRICANES TO DEAL WITH. AND THIS YEAR, SANIBEL AND CAPTIVA ISLANDS ARE RIGHT IN THE THICK OF IT. SANIBEL HAS ALREADY SHATTERED ITS LOGGERHEAD NESTING RECORD AND SANIBEL AND CAPTIVA TOGETHER HAVE RECORDED NEARLY 1200 SEA TURTLE NEST THIS SEASON. MORE THAN 920 LOGGERHEAD NESTS BEEN DOCUMENTED ON THE ISLAND. SURPASSING THE RECORD SET 3 YEARS AGO. AND THE SANIBEL CAPTIVA CONSERVATION FOUNDATION SAYS THE NUMBER CONTINUES TO RISE AS NESTING WINDS DOWN COMBINED SANIBEL AND CAPTIVA ARE NOW JUST SHORT OF THEIR RECORD FOR LOGGERHEAD NESTS. ELSEWHERE IN LEE COUNTY TURTLE TIME, VOLUNTEERS ARE MONITORING HUNDREDS OF NESTS FROM FORT MYERS BEACH TO THE COLLIER COUNTY LINE. FORT MYERS BEACH HAS MORE THAN 100 NES THIS SEASON. WHILE BONITA BEACH HAS EVEN MORE HATCHLINGS ARE ALREADY EMERGING FROM NESTS ON BOTH BEACHES. Q A NILAND IN COLLIER COUNTY IS ALSO HAVING A STRONG NESTING SEASON. SEA TURTLES HAVE BEEN SWIMMING IN THE WORLD'S OCEANS FOR MORE THAN 100 MILLION YEARS. HATCHLINGS LEAVING FLORIDA BEACHES HAD OFFSHORE WHERE MANY SPEND THE EARLY YEARS LIVING AMONGST FLOATING SARGASSUM THAT PROVIDES FOOD AND PROTECTION FROM PREDATORS AS ADULTS. SEA TURTLES CAN MIGRATE HUNDREDS OR EVEN THOUSANDS OF MILES BETWEEN FEEDING GROUNDS AND NESTING BEACHES. FEMALES ARE REMARKABLE. NAVIGATORS USING QUEUES AND INCLUDE THE EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD TO RETURN TO THE SAME BEACHES WHERE THEY WERE HATCHED DECADES EARLIER. THEY TYPICALLY RETURN EVERY 2 OR 3 YEARS AND CRAWLED ASHORE SEVERAL TIMES DURING NESTING SEASON. LAYING ROUGHLY 100 EGGS AND A CLUTCH EACH TIME. THIS YEAR'S SUCCESS ALONG SOUTHWEST FLORIDA'S BEACHES COMES DURING AN UNUSUALLY ACTIVE YEAR STATEWIDE. A PRELIMINARY STATE FIGURES SHOW THROUGH THE END OF JULY. MORE THAN 130,000 LOGGERHEAD NESTS HAVE BEEN LAYING ACROSS FLORIDA. GREEN SEA TURTLES HAVE ADDED MORE THAN 33,000 NESTS AND MORE THAN 2000 LEATHERBACK NESTS HAVE BEEN COUNTED, WHICH WOULD MAKE THIS ANOTHER RECORD YEAR FOR THE VERY LARGE ENDANGERED SPECIES. >> MOTE MARINE HAS BEEN OUR CONTRACTOR. THEY DO ALL THE TURTLE MONITORING AND RELOCATIONS OVER 500 TURTLE NESTS HAVE BEEN RELOCATED OUT OF THE PROJECT AREA SO THAT THE CONTRACTOR COMES BELIEVE THE RENOURISHMENT THAT IS GREATLY HAS GREATLY EXCEEDED WHAT MOTE WAS ANTICIPATING. SO IT'S BEEN A BIG YEAR FOR THE SEE TURTLES. >> BEACHES THROUGHOUT SOUTHWEST FLORIDA HAVE BEEN A HOT BED FOR SEA TURTLE NESTS THIS SEASON. NEW RECORDS HAVE BEEN SET ON SANIBEL AND KEY WADE AND RIGHT HERE ON VENICE BEACH, WHERE EVERY NURSE MONT WAS HAPPENING DURING MOST OF THE SEASON. MORE THAN 500 NESTS HAD TO BE RELOCATED BY THE EXPERTS AT MOTE MARINE AND THEY HATCHED SENDING 10'S OF THOUSANDS OF LAGER HEADS INTO THE WATER HERE IN VENICE. THIS YEAR. HE'S GOING TO SET RECORDS THAT EVEN LAST YEAR'S RECORD-SETTING SEASON WILL BE. ON VENICE BEACH. WGCU NEWS. I'M TOM BAYLISS.