turtle eggs and hatchlings. If they are lucky enough to reach adulthood, sea turtles are immune to predation, except for the occasionally shark attack.
- Human Predation - Though most countries have laws against harvesting sea turtles for food, the laws are not well enforced. Adult turtles are also harvested for meat and their shells are made into jewelry and souvenirs.
- Commercial Fishing - Entanglement in fishing nests is a major contributor to the death toll of juvenile and adult sea turtles. In the past, shrimp nets killed more than 50,000 turtles annually. Now, U.S. shrimpers are required to put Turtle Excluder Devices (TED's) in their trawl nets.
- Ingesting Plastic and Other Litter and Debris - Thousands of sea turtles die each year from eating and becoming entangled in plastic bags and balloons floating in the water. While releasing helium balloons into the air is a common way to celebrate an event, the balloons end up drifting in the oceans where sea turtles mistake them for one of their main food sources, jellyfish.
- Artificial Lighting - Nesting sea turtles look for dark, quiet beaches to lay their eggs. Lights from buildings along the beach distract and confuse the females as well as the hatchlings. When the young turtles emerge from the nest at night, they are drawn toward the lights instead of the water. A single light can cause hundreds of misdirected hatchlings to be killed by automobiles on nearby reads and parking lots, dehydrate in the morning sun and increase their chance of being killed by predators like birds, crabs, and even ants.
- Coastal Armoring - Sea walls, sandbags, and other barriers built to protect beach front property from erosion block female turtles from ideal nesting grounds. The developing coastline is rapidly encroaching on suitable nesting beaches.
- Beach Nourishment - Another way to combat property erosion on beaches is to bring in truckloads of sand or to pump sand up onto the beach from the bottom of the ocean or a river channel. If the sand is of a different consistency or is too compacted, the nesting behaviors of turtles can be drastically altered. If the renourishment is done during nesting season, there is also a possibility nests will be buried too far underground or be run over by trucks.
- Pollution - Everything from oil spills to fertilizer runoff can contaminate the ocean habitat of the sea turtles, killing their food sources and causing terminal diseases.
� When do sea turtles nest?
The main nesting months run from May to October, but there are many exceptions to the rule. Leatherbacks have been known to start as a early as February, and depending on water temperature, hatchlings emerge well into the winter months.
� Who should I call if I find a stranded turtle?
Call the Amelia Island Sea Turtle Watch, Inc. at 583-1913 or call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) Division of Law Enforcement at
1-888-404-FWCC or *FWC from your cell phone.