Sea Turtles

Naomi Haynam is making earrings to raise money to donate to nonprofit sea protection programs, and she is her own best spokesperson, jewelry maker, inventory supervisor, graphic artist, advertising executive, speadsheet sales analyst, fulfillment officer, charity coordinator, CEO, and, in this case, product marketing photographer.

The art is her deal: She sells earrings to save sea turtles at the seashore

Tom Bayles

It’s the first week of sea turtle nesting season in Southwest Florida, and this year the thousands of loggerheads and greens that nest on our beaches have a new ally in nine-year-old entrepreneur Naomi Haynam. The Cape Coral pre-teen so loves sea turtles she’s making beach-themed earrings and selling them at home, online, and in parks to raise money to donate to volunteer sea turtle protection groups.

Environment

Fort Myers Beach working to turn around sea turtle hatchling 'disorientations'

Tom Bayles

When hatchlings go the wrong way, it's almost kindly called a "disorientation." But the fact is, nearly every time they perish headed in the wrong direction, it's a preventable death sentence. Nowhere in Southwest Florida is it worse than on Fort Myers Beach. Even town officials admit it, working hard for that to change.

One last touch. Bette Zirkelbach, manager of The Turtle Hospital in Marathon, Florida Keys, sends "Nutella" off at Sombrero Beach on Earth Day, April 22, 2026, as more than 200 spectators look on. The juvenile green sea turtle spent more than four months in treatment before her return to the waters of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Environment

Nutella: The long-shot sea turtle who made it home on Earth Day

Florida Keys News Bureau

Four months ago, a sweet sea turtle named Nutella arrived at the Turtle Hospital in the Florida Keys barely alive. The doctors weren't sure she'd make it. This Earth Day more than 200 people gathered on a beach in the Florida Keys to watch her beat the odds.

Environment

Keewaydin Island's sea turtle nesting improves without tropical storms

Tom Bayles

Sea turtles had a much better nesting season this year on Keewaydin Island than in 2024. The Conservancy of Southwest Florida’s sea turtle research team counted 558 nests all loggerhead nests except three from green turtles. This year, more than 38,000 hatchlings made it.

An endangered green sea turtle hatchling moves through the sand on Sanibel Island to the relative safety of Gulf waters

Environment

Green sea turtle nest hatches on Sanibel Island; 49 tiny turtles crawl to Gulf and swim away

Tom Bayles

On Sanibel and Captiva islands this year, there were 14 green turtle nests — but the loggerhead turtle rules

Loggerheads MumSea and Queen Tutt, two satellite-tagged turtles that are viewable on the new SCCF site. MumSea was named by her sponsor and longtime SCCF supporter, Linda Linsmayer, while Queen Tutt was named by her sponsor and dedicated SCCF sea turtle volunteer, Frances Tutt, and her husband Simon. MumSea was seen nesting again on Sanibel on Friday, June 20.

Environment

New website offers way to track sea turtles tagged by SCCF

WGCU Staff

Help from the Sanibel-based Hammerhead Technology has enabled the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation to launch a website that tracks satellite-tagged sea turtles.

A loggerhead sea turtle dug the first nest of the season this year and it was on Keeywaydin Island in Collier County.

Environment

Tripping the light? Fantastic! But, there's more you can do to protect sea turtles in Southwest Florida

Kate Cronin

It’s sea turtle nesting season, and everyone knows what that means — turn off your lights at night. Flipping your light switch is an easy way to feel like an environmental superstar, but what else can you do to support these little turtles?

A sea turtle hatchling made it into Gulf waters last year, which is the first hurdle to clear in a long journey filled with danger as the sand-dollar-sized hatchling grows to weigh 200 pounds or more over the next several decades; baby sea turtles often head to huge piles of sargassum seaweed in the southern Atlantic Ocean where there is plenty for them to eat and a lot of nooks and crannies to hide from predators

Environment

Sea turtles set to crawl onto Florida's shores to nest again this summer; conservationists hope hurricanes, predators stay away

Tom Bayles

It's sea turtle nesting season. Dont forget to turn out your lights at night on the beach and stay away from momma sea turtles when they are nesting

All of the sampling sites where Gulf waters were tested for red tide during the last ten days are grey, meaning the recent bloom that stretched from Tampa Bay to Key West has left Southwest Florida's coastal waters

Environment

Beach advisories cancelled as red tide from Tampa Bay to Key West fades

Tom Bayles

The Florida Department of Health in Lee County lifted nearly a dozen health alerts due to red tide

Environment

Sea turtle nest counts for 2024: lower numbers for some species, solid, record numbers for others

WGCU Staff

The Florida Fish and Wildlife's Research Bulletin for February reports that 2024 nesting numbers for sea turtles were no surprise, recording lower numbers for some species but also posting solid and record-breaking counts for other species.The counts are the result of the Florida Index Nesting Beach Survey which records sea turtle nest counts on a standardized set of index beaches. Researchers use the annual survey to determine nesting trends.