Sea Turtle Nesting Season

If you've taken a sunrise walk on Lido or Siesta lately, you've probably noticed the new yellow stakes and pink flagging tape going up along the dunes. Sea turtle nesting season is officially open. The first nest of 2026 was logged on Venice Beach on April 27 — a few days ahead of the May 1 start — and from now through the end of October, our beaches turn into the busiest loggerhead nursery in the Gulf of Mexico.

The folks marking those nests are Mote Marine Laboratory's Sea Turtle Patrol, now in their 45th year. Around 300 volunteers and biologists walk roughly 35 miles of coastline — Longboat Key down through Venice — at civil twilight every single morning, April 15 through October 31. They read the prior night's tracks in the sand, find the nest, mark it with a coded stake, and log everything. Longboat Key's volunteer group has been tracking nests since 1969, which means our stretch of coast has one of the longest continuous sea turtle datasets in the country.

Most of what they're finding is loggerhead — 5,384 of last year's record-breaking 5,736 nests were loggerheads, with green sea turtles a fast-growing second. Casey Key alone accounted for 2,419 of those nests, roughly 42 percent of the region's total on one narrow barrier island. That's part of why Sarasota County averages over 200 nests per mile, the highest loggerhead density in the Gulf.

The hatchlings start emerging in late June and peak through July, August, and September. Until then, locals get the easy part of the job: turn off or shield any outdoor lights visible from the beach after dark, fill in any holes you've dug before you leave, knock down sandcastles, stack your chairs at the dune line, and skip the flashlights and fireworks. If you do see a nesting turtle or hatchlings making their run for the water, hang back and let them go — no flash photos, no helping hand toward the Gulf. They've got it.

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