Sea turtle nesting season now under way

Sea turtle nesting season began Wednesday, May 1, and St. Johns County officials are asking residents, visitors and businesses to help protect the turtles’ natural habitat by observing all nesting season laws and regulations. The beaches of St. Johns County are home to several species of endangered or threatened sea turtles.

Through Oct. 31, St. Johns County staff will close vehicular beach access gates at 7:30 p.m. and reopen them at 8 a.m. to allow nesting sea turtles to have a safe beach throughout the night.

Beach visitors can have a positive impact on nesting sea turtles by taking the following actions while enjoying the beach:

• Do not use fireworks and open fires; they are illegal.
• Remove ruts and sandcastles at the end of your beach day.
• Do not leave beach chairs or canopies on the beach overnight.
• Flashlights are strongly discouraged as they can harm sea turtles.
• Avoid entering dunes and conservation zones (15 feet seaward of the dune line).
• Do not release balloons, which can fall into the ocean and harm marine life; their release is also illegal.
• Never approach sea turtles emerging from or returning to the sea. Nesting sea turtles are vulnerable, timid and can be easily frightened away.

Never push an injured animal back into the ocean. If you encounter an injured, sick or deceased sea turtle, call the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office nonemergency dispatch line at 904-824-8304.

The continued participation of residents and volunteers in protecting the turtles’ nesting habitat has borne fruit: 2023 saw triple-digit green sea turtle nests along St. Johns County beaches for the first time since data has been collected.

For more information on the county’s conservation efforts and how you can help, call St. Johns County Habitat Conservation and Beach Management at 904-209-3740, or go to sjcfl.us/departments/habitat-conservation or RecycleStJohns.com.

For more general information on St. Johns County Beach services, use the SJC Connect app (go to sjcfl.us/sjc-connect), which is replacing the older Reach the Beach app as the go-to source for beach updates. You can also sign up for the monthly Beach Brief newsletter (go to lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/N3tmmZN/TheBeachBrief) to have the latest beach news sent straight to your inbox.