Sea Turtles Able To Nest In Peace As COVID-19 Empties Broward Beaches

Orders to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic mean people aren’t allowed on the beaches in Broward County. Derek Burkholder, Ph.D., Halmos College Research Scientist and director of the Broward County Sea Turtle Conservation Program, explains there’s an upside to that for marine life:

“One of the things that we’re experiencing with having our beaches closed to the public, is that it does kind of open up opportunities for our sea turtles,” Burkholder said.

Three different types of sea turtles come to lay their eggs on Broward beaches: leatherbacks come first. There are about a dozen nests so far, Burkholder said. Any day now the loggerheads should start laying their eggs — they make up the most nests in Broward. Later in the season, green sea turtles will make some nest, too. Loggerheads that come ashore in Broward County usually leave about 50 percent of the time, Burkholder said.

“For whatever reason, maybe they don’t like the conditions, maybe there’s not enough sand or maybe there’s too bright a light, or somebody running down the beach with a camera taking their picture … something might spook them back into the water without laying a nest. That’s what we call a ‘false crawl,’ he said. “For me it’ll be interesting to see what the loggerheads do and if we get a higher nest ratio to the false crawls, without a lot of people out there … If you don’t have quite as much trash on the beach, if you don’t have as many beach chairs on the beach and things like that they’re running into, then we might see more favorable conditions for these animals.”

Even though the beaches are closed to the public, the Broward County Sea Turtle Conservation Program will continue to monitor the 24 miles of beach every day.