Turtle nesting season look OK

  This is Paul Janensch with a Treasure Coast Essay about this year’s turtle nesting season.  Looks pretty good.  The season runs each year from March 1 through October 31.   In 2013, the season was a blockbuster.  First leatherbacks, then loggerheads, then greens scooped out almost 70,000 nests on the beaches in Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties.  Because turtles do not lay eggs every year, researchers were not surprised when the number of nests dropped to just under 50,000 in 2014.  They expect the number to be about the same this year.  Over the past decade or so, the trend has been up – partly because of mild weather and partly because we humans are more careful.  We have learned not to disturb a nesting turtle or touch hatchlings or eggs.  No flashlights.  They confuse the hatchlings.  And no dogs!  I’m Paul Janensch.