Reserve staff, volunteers, and interns monitor Little St. George Island’s 9.5 miles of Gulf beach each season for nesting activity following FWC nesting protocols. All data is submitted to FWC’s sea turtle nesting database. Staff work to educate the public about nesting beach best practices and other issues through a variety of means including weekly summer Turtle Talks at ANERR’s Nature Center, educational displays, outreach, and working with local government and non-profit groups to further public education and engagement.

The beaches of northwest Florida provide excellent habitat for nesting sea turtles and nest numbers have increased since the mid-1990's. The barrier island beaches in the Apalachicola area support some of the densest concentrations of nesting loggerhead sea turtles in northwest Florida. The loggerhead is the most common turtle to nest in this area, though green nesting is increasingly common, and leatherback and Kemp's sea turtles also nest occasionally in northwest Florida.

The beaches of Franklin County have been monitored for sea turtle nesting activity since 1979, when the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI) implemented a statewide monitoring program. Permit holders monitor a specific segment of beach for sea turtle nesting activity and report the data to FWRI via annual summary forms. The following are active sea turtle nest monitoring groups in Franklin County: St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge monitors 9 miles of St. Vincent Island, St. George Island State Park monitors 9 miles on the eastern end of St. George Island, St. George Island Sea Turtle Patrol monitors 11 miles of St. George Island outside of the state park, Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve (ANERR) monitors 9 miles on Little St. George Island and 7 miles of mainland between Eastpoint and Carrabelle, the Alligator Point Sea Turtle Patrol monitors the Alligator Point Beach, and citizens monitor Dog Island Gulf beach.


Protecting our Beaches
Sea turtles spend most of their lives at sea, emerging only to lay their eggs in a nest they excavate in the sand. During the late spring and summer months, female sea turtles migrate from the open Gulf to nest on the relatively undeveloped beaches of the Florida Panhandle.

The data for both areas shows a significant increase in the total number of crawls from 1990-1999. The downward trend seen after 1999 may be a result of less turtles nesting in the area. The downward trend seen with hatch success began as a result of beach conditions and has continued due to tropical storms, high tides and erosion. Increased developmental pressures and light pollution have proved to be detrimental to sea turtle populations and conservation efforts are needed more today than ever before. The liberal use of lectures, newspaper articles, radio spots, flyers, brochures and onsite interpretive efforts, provide many of the contacts that the Reserve depends on for reporting crawls, nests, strandings and hatchling disorientations. Informing the public on these issues is a critical resource tool in the monitoring of endangered and threatened species and is essential to their recovery.

Last Modified: Wednesday, Oct 14, 2026 - 01:36pm