This a community based, non-profit organization. The Sea Turtle Watch was formed to integrate a variety of activities focused on the conservation of Amelia Island's nesting sea turtle population. The group is motivated by concern over the decline in nesting sea turtles brought on by commercial, developmental and recreational pressures and a sense of responsibility to moderate the adverse impact of human activities along our shore. Their conservation efforts are consistent with the imperatives of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. All of their intervention activity is conducted according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) guidelines and regulated and monitored by both FDEP and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
The organization's primary function is to survey Amelia Island 's beaches during May through October, the months of sea turtle nesting and hatching, to collect accurate data on nesting activity and to enhance nesting success wherever possible. In May of each year survey areas are assigned to volunteers trained in survey procedures. Volunteers locate nests of crawls and report to coordinators. In a few areas where vehicular traffic/recreational activities, excessive development with severe artificial beachfront lighting, and beach renourishment activities impact the viability of nests, clutches are relocated to a safer natural beach site in the vicinity. After an incubation period of approximately 50-55 days, hatchlings emerge and crawl to the sea.
turtle crawl and nest
Licensed volunteer surveys nest after hatchlings have left
Each summer, Florida beaches host the largest gathering of nesting sea turtles in the United States. Female sea turtles emerge from the surf to deposit eggs in sand nests and later, tiny hatchlings struggle from their nests and scramble to the ocean. Nearly all of this activity takes place under the cover of darkness and relies upon a natural light environment too often disrupted by the addition of artificial lighting. Beach residents and visitors must be informed about the adverse effects of beach lighting on sea turtles and offered solutions that will aid in conserving sea turtles that nest on developed beaches.
Fifty to sixty days after eggs were placed in the nest, hatchling sea turtles tear themselves free of their papery eggshells beneath the sand and with periodic bouts of thrashing, make their way to the surface. At nightfall, as many as 100 hatchlings burst together from the sand and immediately scramble toward the ocean. Moving quickly from nest to sea is critical for the survival of hatchling sea turtles.
On beaches where artificial lighting is visible, the hatchlings' important journey to the sea is disrupted. Hatchling sea turtles emerging from nests at night are strongly attracted to light sources along the beach. Consequently, hatchlings move toward street lights, porch lights, or interior lighting visible through windows, and away from the relative sanctuary of the ocean. Hatchlings so misled fail to find their way to the sea, having succumbed to attacks by predators, exhaustion, drying in the morning sun, or strikes by automobiles on nearby parking lots and roads. Quite literally, a single light left on near a sea turtle nesting beach can misdirect and kill hundreds of hatchlings. Cases where hatchlings have been led to their death into the flames of unattended fires are testimony to the strong attraction hatchlings have for light.