The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF) is celebrating a major milestone, completing its 10th year of nighttime sea turtle research efforts! This season, the dedicated sea turtle team successfully documented 167 unique sea turtles during their beach patrols.
From May 1 through July 31, the team conducted nightly patrols on Sanibel, intercepting and monitoring nesting females to tag and collect vital data.
Tracking Individuals to Understand Behavior
Each time a turtle is encountered, she is checked for existing tags. If she’s a newcomer, she receives new tags—a tiny but mighty investment in her long-term tracking.
“Our efforts allow us to track individual turtles’ nesting and movement patterns over time, providing valuable insight into their reproductive behavior,” explains SCCF sea turtle biologist Savannah Weber.
In the 2025 season alone, the team recorded 320 sea turtle encounters with 167 distinct individuals:
- 163 were Loggerhead turtles.
- 4 were Green turtles.
Notably, 100 turtles—or 60% of all individuals—were new to the program and encountered for the very first time. Since the nighttime tagging program began in 2016, the SCCF has documented a cumulative total of 1,293 sea turtles.
“Those are just the turtles we encounter,” Weber notes. “There are many others that we don’t see.”
A “Space” Theme for New Turtles
To manage the extensive data and identify individuals quickly, every turtle encountered for the first time receives an honorary name based on the season’s theme. This year, the theme was “Space,” inspiring names like Neptune, Big Dipper, Supernova, and Galileo.
The team also welcomed back 67 returning females previously documented, which accounts for 40% of all individuals. This marks a significant increase from the previous year, when returning females made up only 27%.
A special shout-out goes to “fan favorite” Oregano, first tagged in 2018.
“Oregano has now nested on Sanibel for four consecutive years—2022, 2023, 2024 and now 2025,” says Weber.
Observed laying a nest on Sanibel’s west end in July, Oregano is also one of the largest females documented, with a shell measuring just over 3.2 feet long.
Sharing Data for Regional Conservation
The SCCF’s research extends beyond Sanibel by sharing its data with regional partners like the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, Mote Marine Laboratory, and Sarasota County.
“It makes all of our efforts more valuable to share data,” emphasizes Weber. This collaboration helps paint a comprehensive picture of sea turtle nesting and movement across the region.
| Year |
Unique Individuals Documented |
| 2025 |
167 |
| 2024 |
187 |
| 2023 |
222 (A record-breaking year) |
| 2022 |
125 |
