48 C. Kenneth Dodd, Jr. 



of the renourishment project, the Corps of Engineers has been required 

 by the Florida Department of Natural Resources to relocate nests. For 

 this they have contracted with Fletemeyer to patrol the beach every 

 morning. Since this beach has no night use, nest relocation probably 

 involves no serious detriment to the turtles. 



Highland Beach 



Ownership: Private, 4.5 km 



Use: Recreation, restricted access. 



The only potential for public access to this beach is at a motel on 

 the northern section. Like the other areas in private ownership, the resi- 

 dents here are protective of the turtles and have taken measures to 

 insure their continued survival. The measures include funding and par- 

 ticipating in sea turtle beach patrols. 



Perhaps the main feature that accounts for green turtle nesting on 

 the beaches indicated in Table 1 is restricted night use. Merritt Island, 

 Hobe Sound, John U. Lloyd State Park, and Key Biscayne allow no 

 night activities; Highland Beach and Hillsboro Beach have restricted 

 public access and owners who are aware of the turtles and the impor- 

 tance of protecting them from disturbance; Sebastian Inlet North, Juno 

 Beach, N. Melbourne Beach, and Ft. Pierce-Sebastian are all presently 

 little disturbed at night. Only at Hutchinson Island is development 

 rather extensive, and here turtles often select what undeveloped beaches 

 remain between high-rise buildings. Many buildings on Hutchinson 

 Island lack bright outdoor lighting facing the ocean, lighting that may 

 inhibit nesting females (R. Witham, pers. comm.). While disturbance 

 may be a primary inhibiting factor to nesting, development of areas 

 behind dunes may lead to increased night use of beaches, regardless of 

 lighting or other building restrictions imposed as mitigation measures. 

 Relatively undisturbed nesting beaches, especially those of Sebastian 

 Inlet North, should remain undeveloped to insure the protection of 

 green turtles. Where development has occurred, planting of trees behind 

 beaches to obscure buildings, such as has been done at John U. Lloyd 

 State Park, may aid in reducing factors disturbing to nesting turtles. 

 Other mitigating measures are provided by Shabica (in press). 



The survival of Florida's nesting colony also depends on the survi- 

 val of hatchlings from Florida nests. Since the hatchlings become diso- 

 riented by bright night lights, development of nesting beaches becomes a 

 severe problem, leading to mortality from desiccation and increased 

 exposure to predators (Mann 1977). On developed beaches where green 

 turtles (and loggerheads) are known to nest, it may be necessary to 

 patrol just before sunrise to look for misdirected hatchlings. While this 

 may prove difficult, the alternative is to ignore a potentially serious loss 



