Green sea turtles had an exceptional nesting season on Florida’s beaches in 2023, with volunteers counting more than 74,300 nests, according to preliminary data. That beats the previous record, from 2017, by a staggering 40 percent. “The increase is an explosion” and a welcome surprise, said Simona Ceriani, a research scientist who coordinated the annual survey for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the state agency that regulates and manages wildlife. Sea turtles don’t reach sexual maturity until their twenties or thirties, so what Florida is seeing now is very likely the result of conservation measures put in place after green sea turtles were listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1978, Dr. Ceriani said. Those impressive nesting numbers are just “half the story,” according to Jeanette Wyneken, a professor at Florida Atlantic University who has studied nesting sea turtles for more than three decades.

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Persons: Simona Ceriani, Ceriani, Jeanette Wyneken Organizations: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Atlantic University Locations: Florida