The following information and charts were taken from the 2009 Delray Beach Sea Turtle Monitoring Report, written by John R. Fletemeyer.

INTRODUCTION

The Delray Beach Sea Turtle Monitoring and Conservation Program began in 1984 in response to a beach sand nourishment project.  This program has three primary objectives:

• To determine the long term impact of beach sand nourishment on the local sea turtle nesting population consisting of the loggerhead, leatherback and green sea turtle.

• To conserve and protect from natural and human disturbances the population of sea turtles that select nesting sites on Delray's beach.

• To conduct a daily nesting monitoring program that permits mechanical beach cleaning and various types of recreational activities to occur on the beach concurrently with nesting.

Regarding the first objective, this program has managed to accumulate an impressive amount of scientific data that has helped biologists understand some of the short term and long term effects that beach nourishment has on nesting behavior.  It is important to note that although this study reveals that some of these effects are negative, ultimately sand nourishment must be regarded as being beneficial to sea turtles because it is responsible for creating new nesting habitat that would otherwise not exist.

THE STUDY AREA

The Delray Beach monitoring program is approximately 3.1 miles in length extending between the north city limit and the municipality of Gulf Stream and the south city limit and the municipality of Highland Beach. 

To make valid, long term comparisons about sea turtle nesting behavior from one area of the beach with another, the Delray Beach monitoring area is divided into seventeen, 1,000' nesting zones.  These zones were established 18 years ago and their locations have remained the same over time.

RESULTS

During the 2009 season, sea turtle nesting activity lasted 135 days beginning with a loggerhead nest on April 11th and ending with a green turtle nest of August 23, 2009.  During this period, a total of 293 sea turtle crawls were observed.  From this total, 134 resulted in nests containing eggs.  This represents a nesting success of 54% and means that more than half of the turtles that crawled onto the beach successfully nested.

When nesting is compared over the last 26 years, the 2009 season ranks 4th in regards to the smallest number of nests.  Only the 2003 (nests=132), 2004 (nests=101) and 2005 (nests=77) seasons had fewer nests.  A regression analysis of the data over the last 26 years continues to indicate a trend towards an overall decrease in nesting on Delray Beach.

From this total of 134 nests, 111 (82.84%) belonged to loggerheads turtles, 9 (6.72%) to green turtles and 14 (10.45%) to leatherbacks turtles.

Summary of Nesting Activity by Species of Turtle during the 2009 Season

Species of Turtles        Loggerhead        Green Turtle      Leatherback      

Total # of Nests                  111                        9                       14

Total # of False Crawls      151                        8                       10

Date of First Nest            04/11/09               06/30/09             04/08/09      

Date of Last Nest            08/18/09               08/23/09             05/26/09          

Conclusion

With respect to leatherback turtles, the number of nests significantly exceeded the number of nests for the last ten years.  This suggests that this species is experiencing an increase in regards to its female nesting population size.