Sea Turtles

Sea turtles nest on all three beaches in the Talbot Islands group and potentially include all five species nesting in Florida: loggerhead, green, leatherback, Kemp’s ridley, and hawksbill turtles. Sea turtle nests are monitored via the Statewide Nesting Beach Survey (SNBS) program initiated in 1979 under a cooperative agreement between the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The goal of the survey is to document distribution, seasonality, and abundance of sea turtle nests in Florida and the beaches of Talbot Islands State Parks are surveyed as a part of the program. Further details are gathered on Amelia Island and Little Talbot Island State Parks as part of the Index Nesting Beach Survey program that measures trends using a standardized set of metrics.