Palm Beach County has already shattered the record for the number of turtle nests recorded during a single nesting season on Juno Beach, with three months of counting still to come.
By Sunday, the 9.5-mile Juno Beach in the northern part of the county had seen 21,872 mostly-loggerhead sea turtle nests, compared to an end-season total of 18,132 nests last October.
“We are so excited to break this all-time nesting record and can’t wait to see if each sea turtle species breaks its individual record,” Dr. Justin Perrault, vice president of research at Loggerhead Marinelife Center, said in the news release.
The overwhelming majority, around 15,000 of the nests, belong to the loggerhead species, but green and leatherback sea turtles also nest there. All of these species are considered vulnerable or endangered.
“Ocean conservation efforts that have been practiced for decades are finally coming to fruition, and we need to make sure that we continue to protect these animals and their ecosystems,” he said.
The counting was done by the Center on Juno Beach, Jupiter-Carlin Park, and Tequesta.
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