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> Building Back Brevard's Beaches > Turtle Nesting Information

TURTLE NESTING INFORMATION

Marine turtle nesting season along Brevard’s coasts—from the mother turtles’ nocturnal crawls to lay their eggs through the hatchings’ mad dash toward the waves—occurs each year primarily from May 1st through October 31st. During this time, construction activities are avoided on the beach in order to protect habitat for nesting and hatching sea turtles. Mother turtles come ashore in the dark, dig a hole using their flippers, and lay 100-150 eggs at a time in these “nests”. During the course of a season, a single female lays multiple nests, usually 3-8. After a 45–70 day gestation period, hatchlings emerge from the nest under the cover of darkness and follow the light of the moon reflecting off the ocean. If beach construction is underway or anticipated during the nesting season, daily surveys are performed during the pre-dawn and early morning hours between March 1 and April 30 in search of any early nests. Once turtle nesting season begins on May 1st, the entire Brevard County coast from Port Canaveral to Sebastian Inlet is monitored daily until turtle nesting season ends on October 31st. Under normal circumstances, no beach construction activities are permitted during this time. To protect late-season nests, any beach construction planned for the period after nesting season but before November 15th requires daily monitoring beginning 65 days prior to the onset of construction activities.

TURTLE PROTECTION EFFORT

Why is protection needed?

On some properties, nearly all of the dune vegetation was lost during the last hurricane season. Vegetation not only protects the dune, but it also indicates the top of the dune to nesting marine turtles. If a bare dune is close to the road, a turtle may continue climbing over the dune and onto the road where it may encounter vehicular traffic.

What are we doing?

Brevard County is placing a silt fence near the

top of the newly constructed dune along some

properties to prevent marine turtles from

climbing over the dunes and onto the roadway.

What can I do?

If you own property where a silt fence was placed, please leave the fence up through the entire nesting season, May 1st through October 31st.

In addition, plant native coastal vegetation on the dunes. To plant or trim vegetation on the dunes, a permit is required by the State. Please contact the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Offices of Beaches and Coastal Systems at their toll-free paging service 1-877-314-1329 (ask for Ryan Murray) or call 1-850-487-4475. Dune planting permits are usually issued within a few days, at no charge. For additional information regarding planting dune vegetation refer to our brochure, Stabilizing Our Beach Dunes.

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Visit these web sites for more information:

Turtle Nesting

Neighbors Ensuring Sea Turtle Survival, www.nests-certified.org

Caribbean Conservation Corporation, www.cccturtle.org

Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, www.fws.gov/archiecarr

Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, www.floridamarine.org

Canaveral National Seashore, www.nps.gov/cana/pphtml/subanimals9.html

Sea Turtle Preservation Society, www.seaturtlespacecoast.org

Dune Vegetation

Stabilizing our Beach Dunes Brochure, ww3.brevardcounty.us/environmental_management/assets/documents/pdf/dunebrochure.pdf

Association of Florida Native Nurseries, www.afnn.org

This list represents some of the major programs in Brevard County. It is for informational purposes only and is not meant to be all-inclusive.

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