Sea turtle nesting season technically doesn’t start until May, but workers at Mote Marine Laboratory are getting a jump on it.
Their Sea Turtle Patrol will start this Saturday. Workers will monitor the turtles and their new babies on 35 miles of coastline from Longboat Key to Venice.
The 2016 nesting season saw more than 4,500 nests in that 35 mile stretch- more than double the number found in 2015. This year marks Mote’s 35th anniversary of monitoring and protecting turtles along Sarasota County’s beaches.