Green Turtle Nesting in Florida 51 



1959:317), little hard evidence supports this position. What is known is 

 that green turtles have long used coastal waters and lagoons as devel- 

 opmental habitat, and that such populations were appreciably larger 

 than at present. Overharvest, perhaps in conjunction with occasional 

 winter kills (Wilcox 1896; Ehrhart 1977; Ehrhart and Lee 1981), deci- 

 mated these largely juvenile and subadult populations. Overharvest is 

 also implicated in the demise of what may have been a substantial nest- 

 ing population in the Keys and Cape Sable region. There can be little 

 doubt, however, that green turtles are increasingly encountered on east 

 Florida beaches. Due to variances in the amount of time spent in survey 

 and the length of beach covered, it is difficult to estimate a population 

 size; surely many individuals have been unnoticed. Therefore, the fig- 

 ures in Table 1 are minimum numbers and cannot be used compara- 

 tively (except very generally) or to indicate concrete trends. It should be 

 noted that there do appear to be "good" years and "bad" years, a cycle 

 that has been observed in Australian green turtle populations (Limpus 

 1980) and is very poorly understood. Only systematic, well coordinated, 

 long term research, involving beach patrols, tagging, and correlation 

 with environmental variables, can ultimately shed light on the status of 

 the green turtle in Florida. 



The question remains as to whether the Florida nesting population 

 is actually increasing. Better surveillance and greater publicity undoubt- 

 edly account for some of our awareness of green turtle nesting. It is 

 possible that this trend is not as new as Table 1 would make it appear. 

 However, I believe the facts argue that the population is increasing, 

 although I am skeptical that Florida ever had "great nesting assemb- 

 lages" (Carr and Ingle 1959). Instead, I hypothesize that there at one 

 time was a small but stable nesting population, perhaps only a few 

 thousand breeding females, that was decimated by overharvest. Such a 

 population could easily have been exploited, and the dearth of natural- 

 ists in this area could account for the lack of definite records prior to 

 more modern times. Green turtles still frequented offshore waters, but 

 even there they were reduced. By the late 1890s, all nesting may have 

 ceased. However, beginning in the mid-twentieth century, laws were 

 enacted to at least partly protect turtles and their nests. With poaching 

 pressure reduced, early head-starting could have increased the popula- 

 tion somewhat and made it possible for some individuals to exploit a 

 still largely undeveloped coastline. At the same time, immigrant turtles 

 may have provided some new genetic input to the small population. 

 Scientific research, and public awareness of turtles that perhaps resulted 

 from legislation, in turn revealed more turtles nesting. No single explan- 

 tion is deemed adequate, and the long term future of Chelonia mydas in 

 Florida is yet to be determined. 



