Based on a study presented by the marine life researchers in Florida, the COVID-19 restrictions that keep both humans and destructive waste off the beaches have a beneficial impact on the quantities "of the endangered leatherback sea turtles in the state."

With the so-called "summer nesting period" just about 14 days, the Loggerhead MarineLife Center staff in Juno Beach have discovered and marked roughly 76 nests on the nine-and-a-half mile area they monitor, a considerable increase compared to the same stage in 2019.

These high numbers have raised anticipations of bountiful nesting season for the leatherbacks, and the weak loggerhead turtles too, that start arriving to lay eggs before the end of May.

Sarah Hirsch, senior manager of research and data of the center, said they are excited to see the turtles flourish in this environment.

Meanwhile, Sea Turtle Conservatory executive director David Godfrey said, the "world has changed, but the said reptiles have been doing this for ages already," and it is just uplifting and giving anticipation that the world still goes on.


COVID-19 Lockdown Advantageous to Turtles

Godfrey also said that the lockdown this pandemic has brought the world is beneficial to turtles in many ways.

He explained that the chances these animals are going to be unintentionally killed and struck would become lower.

Relatively, all of this lessened presence of human beings may also mean that there are also less plastic and other wastes that enter the marine setting.

Additionally, the conservatory's executive director added that entanglement and ingestion in marine debris and plastic are the leading causes of sea turtle injuries.

Moreover, the Florida fish and wildlife (FWC) conservation commission recorded nearly 400,000 nests of sea turtles along more than 800 miles of Florida's coastline during the nesting season last year.

Only around one in every 1000 hatchlings are surviving, as presented by the MarineLife center, with deaths higher on prominent tourist beaches. In these places, there is a higher chance of nest disruption.

"We anticipate that thousands of hatchlings that typically, would be bewildered by lights in this year's nesting season," according to Godfrey, won't be, and are more possibly to "survive to reach the sea."

Even though Ron DeSantis, Florida governor, has just reopened some of the beaches in the state recently despite the growing number of COVID-19 cases, the stay-at-home restrictions in several areas of the country are benefiting the other marine species, including the turtles, according to the FWC.


Sea Turtles

Sea turtles are said to be ectothermic, air-breathing reptiles that have already adjusted in the sea for life.

Physically, they have paddle-shaped flippers, salt glands, streamlined bodies and can't retract into their shell similar to that of the land turtle.

In addition, these creatures have ancestors that are predated during the time of the dinosaurs more than 240 million years ago. What makes them different is their size. Sea turtles today are a lot smaller at present.

Primarily, seven sea turtles species have been able to survive to the modern eras, and all of them are now regarded as endangered and threatened.

Three of the species include green or the Chelonia mydas, the loggerhead or the Caretta caretta, and the leatherbacks or Dermochelys coriacea sea turtles that nest on the beaches of Boward County.

Meanwhile, two of the species, kemp's Ridley or Lepidochelys kempi and the hawksbill or Eretmochelys imbricate, are currently seen offshore.


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