May 12: Celebrate sea turtle nesting season with a “Fiesta de Tortugas”
Longboat Key Turtle Watch is celebrating sea turtle nesting season, which began on the Gulf Coast of Florida began May 1 and ends Oct. 31, with a “Fiesta de Tortugas” event. Enjoy beer, wine and music all for a great cause!
The event will support Mote Marine Laboratory’s Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program, which monitors sea turtle nesting along 35 miles of beaches from Longboat Key through Venice, and Longboat Key Turtle Watch education programs.
The festival is from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., May 12, at Cedars Café and Tiki Bar, 645 Cedars Ct, Longboat Key, FL 34228.
Tickets are $20.
- To purchase your ticket and for more information, call 941-383-6428.
Sea turtle tips for the public: boating, beach lighting and more
During nesting season, Mote likes to remind the public to keep local waters and beaches sea-turtle friendly.
Sea turtles are swimming just offshore to mate before the females come ashore to nest, juvenile turtles are feeding along the Gulf Coast, and by early summer the first hatchlings will venture into Gulf waters.
On the nesting beaches, light from waterfront properties can disorient nesting female turtles and their young, which emerge at night and use dim natural light to find the sea. Also, beach furniture and other beach equipment, toys or trash left on the beach overnight during sea turtle nesting season can pose a serious entanglement hazard and obstacle for sea turtles and their hatchlings.
Temporary structures, including but not limited to beach chairs, umbrellas and cabanas that have the potential for entrapment of marine turtles, should be removed from the beach from sunset to sunrise during each night of sea turtle nesting season, May 1 – Oct. 31.
Beachgoers should also wait until at least sunrise to set up furniture or other equipment. This will allow any new turtle crawls and nests to be documented by Mote scientists. If you see turtle tracks not yet documented by Mote (documented tracks are crossed out with an ‘X’), please avoid placing furniture on them and call Mote's Turtle Patrol at 941-388-4331 to report their location.
Emergency Contacts
If you see a sick, injured or stranded sea turtle in Sarasota or Manatee county waters, contact Mote Marine Laboratory’s Stranding Investigations Program at 888-345-2335. Outside of Sarasota or Manatee counties, please call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) at 888-404-FWCC (3922).
If you suspect that someone is tampering with a sea turtle nest, harassing a sea turtle or has possession of a sea turtle or any of its parts, please call FWC, call your local sheriff’s department and/or call Mote's Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program at 941-388-4331.