Sea Turtle Nesting on the Florida Coast

In the 2025 season, Florida's Statewide Nesting Beach Survey recorded 100,951 loggerhead nests, 66,476 green turtle nests and 2,012 leatherback nests (FWC FWRI, 2025 Statewide Nesting Totals).

FWC counts a nest when a female comes ashore and lays eggs, and a non-nesting emergence when she leaves a crawl but returns to the sea without laying (FWC FWRI). The 2025 Florida survey covered 1,322.6 kilometers of beach, 637.2 in FWC's east coast region and 685.4 in its west coast region. Added together, the three species left 169,439 nests on surveyed Florida beaches in 2025, above the 2019 to 2023 average of 158,861 nests a year that FWC reports for all species combined (FWC FWRI monitoring).

Florida matters globally for loggerheads. FWC calls the Northwest Atlantic loggerhead aggregation the largest in the world and says Florida hosts approximately 90 percent of its nests (FWC FWRI). FWC's nesting page calls the state's green turtle aggregation the second largest in the Western Atlantic Hemisphere, while its monitoring page says it has become one of the largest in the western Atlantic, and Florida is the only state in the continental U.S. where leatherbacks nest regularly (FWC FWRI, Sea Turtle Nesting).

Five sea turtle species use Florida beaches: loggerheads, green turtles and leatherbacks nest regularly, while hawksbills and Kemp's ridleys nest only now and then (FWC FWRI).

All five are listed as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act (FWC FWRI). For the loggerhead, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recognizes nine distinct population segments worldwide; the Northwest Atlantic segment nests mainly on the Atlantic coast of Florida, South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina and on the Florida and Alabama Gulf coasts (USFWS loggerhead profile). FWC notes that Florida Panhandle beaches host the bulk of clutches laid by the small, genetically distinct Northern Gulf of Mexico Recovery Unit (FWC FWRI index survey).

A Florida loggerhead lays several clutches a season. USFWS gives a range of one to seven nests per female, about 4.1 on average, roughly 14 days apart, with incubation of about 42 to 75 days depending on incubation temperatures and an average of 55 to 60 days for most Florida clutches (USFWS). USFWS puts the age at sexual maturity at about 32 to 35 years, and says remigration intervals of 2 to 3 years are most common in nesting loggerheads.

Loggerhead nesting in the United States runs from April through September, peaking in June and July (USFWS), and FWC treats October 31 as the end of the Florida nesting season in its lighting guidance (FWC).

Nesting happens mainly at night, and hatchlings generally emerge at night as well (USFWS). FWC's lighting page tells Florida beachfront owners that decorative lights such as uplights and string lights should stay off until nesting season ends on October 31 (FWC Sea Turtles and Lights). Beachfront lighting ordinances are adopted county by county and city by city, and the FWC ordinance list gives the adoption dates, code sections and code enforcement contacts (FWC ordinance list).

Trend counts use a fixed window. FWC's Index Nesting Beach Survey checks core Florida index zones every day for a 109-day season from May 15 through August 31, so the index leatherback counts do not include nesting before May 15 (FWC FWRI index survey).

Brevard, Palm Beach and Martin counties on the Atlantic coast recorded the most sea turtle nests in Florida in 2025 (FWC FWRI, 2025 Statewide Nesting Totals).

Palm Beach County's 25,614 loggerhead nests were the most of any Florida county in 2025. Brevard County led Florida in green turtle nests with 30,431, more than its loggerhead count, while Martin County held the most leatherback nests at 915 (FWC FWRI). Sarasota County was the top Gulf Coast county with 8,197 loggerhead nests, and Panhandle counties from Franklin to Escambia each recorded fewer than 800 loggerhead nests. Hillsborough County shows 0 kilometers surveyed, and the FWC ordinance list shows it with no sea turtle lighting ordinance (FWC).

One caution when comparing Florida figures: FWC's monitoring page describes the statewide survey as about 228 beaches and about 835 miles (FWC FWRI monitoring), while the index survey page speaks of 27 core beaches out of 225 (FWC FWRI index survey). The index counts, which reached over 50,000 loggerhead nests and nearly 50,000 green turtle nests in 2025, track trends and are not totals; the loggerhead index ranged from 28,876 nests in 2007 to a record 71,009 in 2023.

Florida sea turtles, nests and eggs are protected by the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 and the state Marine Turtle Protection Act, section 379.2431 of the Florida Statutes (FWC Marine Turtle Protection).

The Florida law restricts taking, possessing, disturbing, mutilating, destroying, selling, transferring, molesting or harassing turtles, nests or eggs, and also protects their habitat (FWC). Any scientific, conservation or educational work that touches turtles needs specific FWC authorization under Chapter 68E-1 of the Florida Administrative Code, and DEP and FWC jointly review coastal construction permits under Chapter 62B that affect nesting beaches.

Light is the everyday issue on developed Florida beaches. Section 161.163 of the Florida Statutes directs DEP to designate nesting areas and set guidelines for local lighting rules, and Chapter 62B-55 is the model lighting ordinance written to guide local governments (FWC Sea Turtle Protection Ordinances). FWC's three golden rules for beachfront fixtures are to keep lights low, keep them long (amber, orange or red sources of 560 nanometers or greater) and keep them shielded, completely downward-directed with the bulb, lamp or glowing lens shielded from the beach (FWC Sea Turtles and Lights).

FWC also recommends window tint with 45 percent or less inside to outside light transmittance, motion sensors on the shortest setting, native dune plants such as sea grapes as light buffers, and pool lights locked on amber or red during the Florida nesting season (FWC). Lights needed for safety should be modified rather than switched off. Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service websites.

FWC points people who want to see Florida sea turtles to permitted public turtle walks, hatchling releases and hatch success evaluations run by FWC Marine Turtle Permit Holders (FWC Sea Turtle Viewing Opportunities).

FWC explains that these Florida programs start with a talk on turtle biology away from the beach, then lead participants onto the beach at night to watch a nesting loggerhead or a hatchling release; public hatch success evaluations inventory a marked nest after it has hatched (FWC). Admission fees may apply at facilities that house or rehabilitate turtles.

On any Florida beach at night, FWC asks people who come across a nesting turtle or hatchlings to keep their distance, stay quiet, keep hands and objects off the animals and keep every light off, including phones, flashlights and flash photography (FWC). Hatchlings found on a road, in a parking lot or heading away from the water, and anyone disturbing a nest or an injured, dead or harassed turtle, should be reported to FWC Wildlife Alert at 888-404-FWCC (3922), or *FWC or #FWC from a cell phone (FWC Sea Turtle Program).