First Green Sea Turtle Nest in Boca Raton

On June 4, the first Green sea turtle nest in Boca Raton was found on the beach just a little north of Gumbo Limbo.  Last year we recorded record high nesting for Green sea turtles as their numbers continue to increase Statewide.  This year the number should be lower if our on year-off-year trend continues (this is the off-year or lower nesting year).  Even so we expect the nesting numbers for this year will be higher than 2 years ago and 4 years ago.  Green sea turtles are vegetarians so they have little to do with long line fishing boats which are causing a decline in our loggerhead numbers nationwide.  Green sea turtles were functionally extinct in Florida in the early 1970’s.  From 1959 to 1988 Ross Witham with the then Florida Department of Natural Resources imported Green hatchlings from Costa Rica and raised them for a year and the released them.  Many of these hatchlings were released right here at Gumbo Limbo in the late 1980’s.  Now enough time has passed for these turtles to mature and we are seeing them in ever-increasing numbers.