46 C. Kenneth Dodd, Jr. 



number of green turtle nests reported in Florida is increasing, and that a 

 rudimentary cyclical pattern may be emerging. 



Of particular interest is the grouping of nestings from Merritt 

 Island south to Key Biscayne. Early accounts, principally those of 

 Audubon (1926) and Brice (1896), do not record nesting from these 

 beaches, and there are no reliable modern reports of nesting in the Keys 

 and the Cape Sable area. Since green turtle nesting is now confined to 

 the southeast Atlantic coast, this area should receive major concern for 

 sea turtle protection and education projects. 



The outlier nestings recorded in Georgia and North Carolina in 

 1980 are noteworthy in that they constitute the first reliable reports of 

 nestings outside Florida. While green turtles have long been known to 

 occasionally occur in coastal waters as far north as New England, only 

 loggerheads nest occasionally as far north as New Jersey. In the North 

 Carolina report (Schwartz et al. 1981), one turtle is known to have 

 made all the nests; in the Georgia instance, only one nest was reported 

 (Litwin 1981) and it is unknown if this female nested elsewhere in the 

 vicinity. Since there are no beach patrols from Merritt Island north to 

 the Georgia barrier islands, perhaps she deposited additional nests in 

 this area. 



In 1979, personnel of the National Park Service (NPS) visited Log- 

 gerhead Key in the Tortugas (Fig. 1). During their stay, one nest of 

 what was believed to be a green turtle was located high up in the beach 

 grass (R. Dawson, pers. comm.). Since the green turtle digs a character- 

 istic body pit quite distinctive from that of the loggerhead, experienced 

 personnel can distinguish the two types of nests. However, no way of 

 verifying this record now exists, so nesting in the Tortugas should at 

 best be considered only a possibility. No green turtle nests could be 

 determined elsewhere during NPS surveys, although many juvenile 

 green turtles were seen in waters off the Tortugas. 



HUMAN IMPACT ON FLORIDA NESTING BEACHES 



To illustrate potential problems facing green turtle nesting in Flor- 

 ida, human use of selected important beaches is reviewed below. 



Merritt Island 



Ownership: U.S. Government 



Use: Recreational (day only); restricted access to military and 

 National Aeronautics and Space Administration lands; no commercial 

 activities or development. 



This area is entirely under the jurisdiction of various Federal agen- 

 cies. The island is largely under the administrative auspices of Merritt 

 Island National Wildlife Refuge, which is administratively superim- 

 posed on the lands of Kennedy Space Center. Public access to the Cen- 



