Sea turtles like to nest on Anna Maria Island. Beach benches keep getting in their way

Another sea turtle that has laid her eggs beneath a Holmes Beach bench has Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch volunteers frustrated.

Suzi Fox, the group's executive director, said beachgoers who were in Holmes Beach around 11 p.m. July 4 saw a sea turtle "collide and struggle" with a city bench near 66th Street.

This is the third time this year, and seventh in two years, that a sea turtle has nested under a bench, she said, and believes it goes against the city's sea turtle ordinance.

The ordinance, approved by city commissioners in 2014, addresses sea turtle friendly lighting as well as the removal of "items and temporary structures" like beach furniture the public uses on a regular outing.

Fox thinks city benches should be treated the same.

"It's the same thing," she said. "It's an obstacle."

The benches are bought by people who want to memorialize a loved one. Tokajer said he went out with Fox last year to scout out which benches needed to be moved closer to the dunes. Ten benches were removed, and about 20 remain.

When turtles have nested beneath city benches this year, he said public works employees moved the benches for the safety of the hatchlings.

"I don't want them completely taken off the beach," Tokajer said. "There are so many people who use those benches every single night for watching sunsets."

He equated the the presence of the benches to a sea turtle being "redirected" by a sand dune or tree.

"We are not going to remove every tree, every shrub, every dune that misdirects (a sea turtle)," he said.

Tokajer noted they would revisit the situation when he spoke with turtle watch officials.

Fox said she didn't want to make it about the turtle watch, but about the endangered species.

"As a city, I think we're doing something right for the turtles to keep coming back," Tokajer said.

This story was originally published July 5, 2018 at 11:14 AM.