Photo by Shane Antalick

The 2025 sea turtle nesting season in Southwest Florida officially came to an end on Oct. 31. Our nest counts on Sanibel and Captiva Islands were the fourth highest we’ve documented since 1992 when SCCF took over the sea turtle monitoring program.

Total Nests

Following six and a half months of monitoring that started April 15, a total of 889 nests were documented on the islands. This includes 868 loggerhead (Caretta caretta) nests and 21 green turtle (Chelonia mydas) nests, a jump from only 3 green nests in 2024, a pattern that follows the biennial return of the “green year.”

“This is expected due to green sea turtles nesting every 2 years on average,” said SCCF Sea Turtle Biologist Amanda Manrique.  

Florida saw a break from storm activity in 2025, leading to an increase in hatch success from last year when numerous storm events, especially Tropical Storm Debby, impacted sea turtle nest success.

Total Hatchlings

A total of 26,562 loggerhead and 607 green hatchlings successfully made it to the Gulf from Sanibel and Captiva’s beaches in 2025.

“Unfortunately, this is the second lowest hatchling count we’ve documented since 2016. Predators continue to have a major negative impact on our sea turtle nests that decrease hatch success,” Manrique said.

This year, in an effort to mitigate depredations, 255 cages were installed on sea turtle nests identified to be in areas with higher depredation rates in previous years.

“Despite these efforts, 39.8% of nests still experienced a depredation event,” Manrique said.

Staff are continuing discussions with our partners on ways to successfully address predation rates in future seasons.

“This busy season would not have been successful without the support of the Sanibel and Captiva communities,” Manrique said. “From volunteers to donors, we are forever grateful to have so many helpful hands working to protect sea turtles on our islands.”

Adopt a Sea Turtle to support our work >>