Gasparilla Island is enjoying a quick start to its six-month sea turtle season with twice as many nests laid over thee first three weeks compared with last year.
Through May 18, the Coastal Wildlife Club counted 45 nests compared with 22 at the same time a year ago.
"We are off to a great turtle nesting season," said Norma Jean Zvosec of the Boca Grande CWC.
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Loggerhead nesting is up 100 percent on Gasparilla Island through three weeks of the season.
Warm weather and water may have contributed to the early sea turtle nesting flurry.
Florida and Oman on the Arabian Peninsula account for 80 percent of the world loggerhead nesting population with 90 percent of the U.S. loggerhead nests believed to be on Sunshine State beaches.
About 3,000 people, mostly volunteers, monitor 800 miles of Florida's nesting beaches, including ore than 140 volunteers covering the sandy stretches from South Venice to the Boca Grande Pass. The Coastal Wildlife Club covers Boca Grande, Manasota Key and Little Gasparilla Island.
Manasota Key and Gasparilla Island nesting season runs from May through August. Nests incubate 45 to 60 days.
The 2011 total of 2,528 nests at Manasota, Gasparilla and Little Gasparilla fell 628 nests short of the record 1998 season's 3,156 nests - about 81 percent of the all-time best total.
All sea turtle species are considered threatened or endangered under state and federal laws with green turtles particularly rare.
To volunteer for the CVC, contact Grace Harvey at (941) 964-5642.
