Good year for sea turtles

This is Paul Janensch with a Treasure Coast Essay about our 2015 sea turtle season, which ran through October 31.  It was good!  Nest numbers were high for leatherbacks, loggerheads and greens on beaches in Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties monitored by Ecological Associates.  In fact, greens scooped out a record number of nests here and statewide.  But Erik Martin, scientific director of Ecological Associates, reminds us that what’s even more important is the number of hatchlings.  Comparisons are still being calculated.  But Martin told me that in the Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge, it was the second highest year for hatchlings of all three species.  So it is possible 2015 will be the second highest year for hatchlings along the entire Treasure Coast.  I’m Paul Janensch.