Live sea turtle nesting numbers from Keewaydin Island

June 13, 2023

We are excited to introduce our new dashboard for sharing sea turtle nesting data from Keewaydin Island. This dashboard is a presentation of geographic information that allows a viewer to monitor a summary of the data in real time.

With help from our partners at Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, this new system not only allows us to effectively communicate and distribute the valuable information we gather during our sea turtle monitoring efforts but also includes a unique feature that splits the panels into north and south regions of the island. 

The southern region of Keewaydin is an index nesting beach that is used with other such beaches in Florida to monitor trends in sea turtle nesting. Our dashboard updates automatically as staff and interns enter the nesting data in the field and it includes a summary of the number of new nests or false crawls (i.e., non-nesting emergences) and, when the time comes, the emergence of hatchlings from the nests in each region.

Here’s a link to more info on the State’s index nesting beaches https://myfwc.com/research/wildlife/sea-turtles/nesting/monitoring/.