The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF) has officially closed the book on the 2025 sea turtle nesting season. Following a monitoring period that spanned from April 15 through October 31, the SCCF reported that 2025 resulted in the fourth-highest nest counts documented since they began their monitoring program in 1992.
Nesting Numbers by the Species After six and a half months of daily patrols, the team documented a total of 889 nests across the islands.
The breakdown of the season includes:
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868 Loggerhead nests
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21 Green turtle nests
The count for Green turtles represents a significant jump from the previous year, which saw only three nests. According to SCCF sea turtle biologist Amanda Manrique, this increase was anticipated, following the species’ natural biennial pattern known as a “green year,” where these turtles nest on average every two years.
Hatchling Success and Challenges While nest counts were high, the journey from sand to sea presented challenges. A total of 26,562 Loggerhead and 607 Green hatchlings successfully made it to the Gulf of Mexico in 2025.
Unlike the previous year, where hatch success was impacted by storm activity—specifically Tropical Storm Debby—2025 offered a break from severe weather events. However, predation remains a significant hurdle.
“Unfortunately, this is the second lowest hatchling count we’ve documented since 2016,” Manrique noted. “Predators continue to have a major negative impact on our sea turtle nests that decrease hatch success.”
Looking Toward Future Conservation To combat these issues, the SCCF team installed 255 protective cages on nests located in areas with historically high depredation rates. Despite these mitigation efforts, 39.8% of nests still experienced a depredation event. Staff members are currently in discussions with partners to develop new strategies to address predation rates for upcoming seasons.
The SCCF emphasized that the extensive monitoring required for such a busy season relies heavily on the local community.
“This busy season would not have been successful without the support of the Sanibel and Captiva communities,” Manrique stated. “From volunteers to donors, we are forever grateful to have so many helpful hands working to protect sea turtles on our islands.”
