Sea Turtles Around Tampa Bay

None are recorded: FWC's 2025 Statewide Nesting Beach Survey lists Hillsborough County, home to Tampa, with 0.0 kilometers of surveyed beach and zero sea turtle nests of any species (FWC, 2025 Statewide Nesting Totals).

The zero comes with a survey length of 0.0 kilometers: the Hillsborough County row in the FWC table carries no surveyed beach, so no stretch of the Tampa shoreline is in the statewide nesting survey (FWC). The nearest counties with surveyed nesting beaches in that table are Pinellas and Manatee, which border Hillsborough County and Tampa Bay.

FWC counts two kinds of tracks. A nest, N in the table, is recorded when a turtle comes ashore and lays eggs; a non-nesting emergence, NNE, is recorded when a turtle leaves a track on the beach but changes course and does not lay a clutch (FWC). Both numbers appear for each county near Tampa Bay.

No nesting does not mean no protection. FWC's Wildlife Alert line takes reports of someone disturbing a sea turtle nest or of an injured, dead or harassed sea turtle, in Tampa as anywhere in Florida (FWC Sea Turtle Program).

In 2025 FWC counted 638 loggerhead nests and 2 green turtle nests on 76.7 kilometers of Pinellas County beach, and 1,235 loggerhead nests and 25 green turtle nests on 20.0 kilometers in Manatee County (FWC, 2025 Statewide Nesting Totals).

Source: FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. Loggerheads dominate every Gulf county near Tampa Bay. Pinellas had more beach surveyed than Manatee but about half as many loggerhead nests, and Sarasota County logged far more nests than either, 8,197 loggerhead nests.

The statewide trend picture, which is not broken out for Tampa Bay, comes from a different FWC survey. On Florida's 27 core index beaches, loggerhead nest counts have ranged from a low of 28,876 in 2007 to a high of 71,009 in 2023, and FWC calls 2025 a very successful season with over 50,000 loggerhead nests on those beaches (FWC, Index Nesting Beach Survey Totals). FWC notes that the index figures do not represent Florida's total annual nest counts, unlike the county table above.

Both surveys belong to the same program: FWC's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute coordinates the Statewide Nesting Beach Survey, which produced the Pinellas and Manatee county numbers, and the Index Nesting Beach Survey, which tracks trends (FWC, Sea Turtle Nesting). FWRI also publishes a Statewide Atlas of Sea Turtle Nesting Occurrence and Density summarizing nest occurrence and density across Florida, Pinellas and Manatee beaches included, during the last five years.

One detail in the Pinellas row stands out: its 1,016 loggerhead non-nesting emergences outnumber its 638 nests, so more than half of the loggerhead crawls counted on Pinellas beaches in 2025 ended without eggs (FWC). The only leatherback nest on the whole west coast in 2025 was in Collier County.

Sea turtles near Tampa are protected by the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 and Florida's Marine Turtle Protection Act, section 379.2431 of the Florida Statutes (FWC, Marine Turtle Protection).

FWC summarizes what the Florida statutes restrict: the take, possession, disturbance, mutilation, destruction, selling, transference, molestation and harassment of marine turtles, their nests or eggs, and the law also protects marine turtle habitat (FWC). Five species swim in Florida waters and nest on Florida beaches: loggerhead, green, leatherback, Kemp's ridley and hawksbill, and the Florida statute and the federal act apply to marine turtles in Tampa Bay waters as elsewhere in the state.

Handling turtles is limited to permit holders. Anyone doing scientific, conservation or educational work that directly involves marine turtles, nests or hatchlings in Florida needs specific FWC authorization under the Florida Marine Turtle Permit Rule, Chapter 68E-1 of the Florida Administrative Code, even with a federal permit in hand (FWC). That rule covers nest and hatchling work on the Pinellas and Manatee beaches nearest Tampa as on any Florida beach.

For a beachfront home or condo on the nesting beaches near Tampa Bay, FWC's three golden rules for beachfront lighting are to keep fixtures low, keep the light long wavelength at 560 nanometers or greater, which is amber, orange or red, and keep it shielded so the bulb or glowing lens cannot be seen from the beach (FWC, Sea Turtle Lighting).

FWC's guidelines go further than color: fixtures near Pinellas and Manatee nesting beaches should be mounted as low as their purpose allows, use the lowest wattage or lumens needed, and point completely downward, and FWC keeps a list of Certified Wildlife Lighting fixtures that meet all three rules (FWC).

NOAA Fisheries asks Tampa Bay boaters to stay at least 50 yards from sea turtles, slow to no-wake speed when one is seen, and put the engine in neutral to let it pass (NOAA Fisheries, Guidelines and Distances).

Source: NOAA Fisheries. NOAA gives these guidelines nationally rather than for Tampa Bay alone.

Anglers have a related role. FWC Wildlife Alert takes reports of injured sea turtles on Tampa Bay, and NOAA lists the Florida Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network at the same (888) 404-FWCC number (NOAA Fisheries, Report a Stranded Animal).

Inside Tampa, The Florida Aquarium at 701 Channelside Dr. is on FWC's list of facilities that house sea turtles, phone (813) 273-4000 (FWC, Facilities Housing Sea Turtles).

The same FWC list includes Clearwater Marine Aquarium at 249 Windward Passage in Clearwater, phone (727) 441-1790, across the bay in Pinellas County (FWC). FWC describes these as state-permitted facilities that house or rehabilitate sea turtles, says many conduct educational tours involving captive turtles, and notes that admission fees may be charged.

To watch a nesting turtle or a hatchling release, FWC points people to permitted public turtle walks, hatchling releases and nest hatch success evaluations, all run by FWC Marine Turtle Permit Holders who start with an off-beach talk; turtle walks and releases take place at night (FWC, Sea Turtle Viewing Opportunities). FWC's statewide list is organized by coast, so a Tampa resident looks under the Gulf coast entries.

A nesting turtle met by chance on a Pinellas or Manatee beach calls for the FWC etiquette: keep a distance, stay quiet, keep hands and objects off the turtle, and keep every light off, including phones, flashlights and flash photography (FWC).

FWC asks that a disturbed sea turtle nest or an injured, dead or harassed sea turtle near Tampa be reported to Wildlife Alert at 888-404-FWCC (3922), or by dialing *FWC or #FWC from a cell phone (FWC Sea Turtle Program).

On the beaches near Tampa Bay, as statewide, FWC also asks for a Wildlife Alert call when hatchlings are found in a road, in a parking lot or heading away from the water (FWC, Sea Turtle Viewing Opportunities). FWC's Sea Turtle Program page says reports can also be made online (FWC).

For a stranded turtle on Tampa Bay or the nearby Gulf beaches, NOAA's Florida contact list gives the Florida Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network at (888) 404-FWCC, 888-404-3922, the same FWC line (NOAA Fisheries). Last verified: October 18, 2026, against the FWC 2025 Statewide and Index Nesting Beach Survey tables, FWC marine turtle protection, lighting, viewing and facility pages, and NOAA Fisheries viewing and stranding pages.