Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch excited about new sea turtle nesting season

ANNA MARIA ISLAND -- Suzi Fox stood in her Bradenton Beach home Thursday surrounded by boxes of items -- bright yellow shirts and medium-sized signs that called for the protection of sea turtles. In the corner of the room was a stack of Florida's sea turtle license plates by the Sea Turtle Conservancy, with an illustrated hatchling making its way toward the sea.

These are all tools to be used for the 2016 sea turtle nesting season, which kicks off Sunday. That's when female sea turtles are expected to begin arriving to the

beaches of Anna Maria Island to lay their eggs. Fox, executive director of the Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring, leads local efforts to protect the turtles and their process which is prone to many threats on the 7-mile barrier island.

"I don't have any concerns. I'm excited," she said of the new season. "We are so much further ahead than we've ever been."

One of the biggest changes this year, Fox said, is that people whose properties can be seen from the beaches will no longer have to turn their lights off at night.

"We have turtle friendly fixtures and bulbs, so it's no longer really 'lights out for sea turtles,'" she said. "It's 'put in Florida certified friendly sea turtle fixtures.'"

Lights that shine onto a nesting beach can draw turtle hatchlings away from the ocean and off the beach, where they have a slim chance of survival, according to the Sea Turtle Conservancy. Beach lights can also scare away female sea turtles crawling ashore to nest. Another threat to sea turtles are people leaving behind chairs and beach furniture at the beaches, which can become obstacles for the turtles trying to lay eggs and for the hatchlings trying to reach the sea to start their lives.

Fox said she had a meeting two weeks ago with Bradenton Beach code enforcement officers about the turtle friendly lights.

"They have all the information, they're setting up lighting inspections," she said. "I'm more ahead of the game because we met together and we have never done that."

As the end of the 2015 sea turtle nesting season approached Oct. 31, Fox said the season yielded 356 nests, 441 false crawls and 12,570 hatchlings.

"It is the sixth-highest year since we've started, since our data has been collected," Fox said at the time. "That speaks volumes."

One challenge Fox and fellow advocates face this year surrounds the work on the $4.41 million Bradenton Beach groins construction project, meant to replace three groins to correct erosion of sand along Cortez Beach.

"We have to send one person into the construction zone every morning at 6 o'clock and he has to go through the whole construction zone," Fox said. "And the walkers have to go around the whole fence, so that's a challenge this year. The only challenge, really."

John Schimkaitis, 68, said he looks forward to the new sea turtle nesting season. The Holmes Beach resident is a coordinator for AMITW volunteers in the city of Anna Maria from the Sandbar Restaurant to the Rod & Reel Pier and Restaurant.

"We started off last year with a lot of nests but, if you recall, we had a lot of washouts. If you've ever walked in the north end, the dynamic of the north end of the island is pretty interesting," the retiree said. "I enjoy being out there in the morning. It's amazing how many people have an interest in what's going on with the island, not only with the turtles but also the shorebirds."

For more information on the new sea turtle nesting season or light fixtures that are turtle friendly, visit islandturtlewatch.com or call Fox at 941-778-5638.

Amaris Castillo, law enforcement/island reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7051. Follow her on Twitter @AmarisCastillo.

This story was originally published April 29, 2016 at 11:56 PM with the headline "Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch excited about new sea turtle nesting season ."