Above, a nesting turtle. Below, volunteers walk around
a large hole that was dug in the sand, trying to tamp
the sand down so a turtle won’t be trapped.
42 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE • May/June • 2021
Above left, Boca Grande fi refi ghters carry an ill sea turtle
to safety in a special turtle sling they keep on their truck.
Above right, what a posted nest looks like.
As a result of sea turtles using our
beaches and the lower dunes to nest and
lay their eggs, vegetation is able to grow
and become stronger with the presence
of nutrients from turtle eggs.
Every part of an ecosystem is important
– if you lose one component, the rest will
eventually follow.
Sea turtles, especially green sea turtles,
are one of the very few species of animals
to eat sea grass. Sea grass needs to be
constantly trimmed back to be healthy and
facilitate its growth across the sea fl oor.
Sea turtles and manatees act as grazing
animals that cut the grass short and help
maintain the health of the sea grass beds.
Over the past decades there has been a
steady decline in sea grass beds, and this
decline has been linked to lower numbers
of sea turtles and manatees.
Sea turtles are generally solitary
creatures that remain submerged for
much of the time they are at sea. They
spend their juvenile years feeding and
growing in nearshore habitats, but once
they reach adulthood it is believed that
they migrate to new feeding grounds. It is
in these primary feeding areas that adult
turtles typically remain throughout their
lives. When it is their time to mate and
nest, both males and females leave their
feeding grounds and migrate to a nesting
beach. This is a periodic migration and it
continues throughout their lives. In most
cases, the same baby sea turtles that make
their way from the nest to the water are the
same adult sea turtles who return to that
same beach to nest.
Sea turtles are known to feed and rest
multiple times during a typical day. During
nesting season, research conducted in
the southeast United States revealed
that loggerheads follow regular patterns
between the nesting beach, offshore reefs
and other rocky structures. It is presumed
that mating and/or feeding occurs within
these offshore areas. When it is not nesting
season, sea turtles may migrate hundreds,
even thousands, of miles. Sea turtles sleep
at the surface while in deep water, or on the
bottom wedged under rocks in nearshore
waters. It is very unusual to encounter a sea
turtle on the shore when it is not nesting
season in Florida.
When sea turtles are on land for that brief
period of time, they are very vulnerable.
These creatures who exhibit such grace in
the water are clumsy on land and are unable
to move quickly … or even back up, for
that matter. That means if they are met with
obstacles – such as beach furniture or other
objects left by man – they can be trapped,
and will die.
The late Nancy Lingeman co-founded
the Boca Grande Sea Turtle Association in
2013 to help protect our island’s sea turtle
population, and her love for them continues
to an integral part of the organization’s
current-day success. The association is
managed by a state permit holder, who
assigns zones to volunteers to monitor our
beaches. The permit holder instructs the