SCCF updates CEPD on ongoing sea turtle study
The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation provided an update regarding sea turtle research at the Captiva Erosion Prevention District meeting on Sept. 13, as it provided a grant to the foundation.
As part of the CEPD’s beach nourishment project, the SCCF has moved sea turtle nests, all while conducting a research study on hatching success, to avoid negative impacts during the project.
SCCF Chief Executive Officer Ryan Orgera said due to a change in how the staffing occurred from project contractor Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, the SCCF is now required to do night monitoring for 30 days just for the staff change.
“It has changed the workload fairly considerably,” he said.
Orgera said that as of the meeting, 127 nests had been relocated, 48 of which were relocated from the southern half to the northern half of the island. Those nests contained 7,351 eggs. Seventy-nine nests were relocated from Captiva to Sanibel and included 7,351 eggs, which required additional nightwork.
He explained that it is a rare thing allowing nests to be relocated from one island to another island. Orgera said they have Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission permits to allow for it and they are moving nests in the correct time frame and monitoring them, which is required by the state.
Orgera said the nests have monitors, which will provide straight forward results.
“Time is certainly one of the most important factors and certainly what can be the most detrimental,” he said from such things as jarring the eggs while moving them, as well as the weight and texture of the sand can be different.
SCCF Coastal Wildlife Director Kelly Sloan said the project that the CEPD funded requires staff to put data loggers in each of the nests, which includes temperature, moisture and water level loggers, throughout incubation. Data is collected every 15 minutes.
She said once the nest hatches they take all the unviable eggs and stage them to see when the embryo died, reflecting sand samples, sand compaction and beach measurement, in order to see how those factors play into the embryo mortality.
“We can also look at how relocation affects the mortality as well to see how all these puzzle pieces piece together to see the hatch success,” Sloan said. “We have 56 nests that are part of this study and the majority of them are on Sanibel, with some on Captiva, just because more nests are laid on Sanibel than Captiva.”
She said the end goal is to figure out why the hatch rate is lower on Captiva.
“How relocation is impacting hatch and sand quality hatch success,” Sloan said, adding that there was a “big effort to get as many loggers in before having to move the nest off the island.”
Orgera said the general success rate on Captiva is lower statistically, which is the basis for the project.
“Why does Captiva have a lower success rate than Sanibel generally? You couldn’t study Captiva in a vacuum because you have nothing to compare it to,” he said.
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