We are reaching that time of year when the leatherbacks have begun to move north in search of foraging grounds and the nest numbers have dropped off pretty dramatically. We’ve seen just 4 turtles in the last five days. We will likely continue to survey through this weekend and then call that the end of our 2016 research season. It’s been a fantastic year. Most of our efforts were focused on a 12-mile stretch of Martin County with a few additional surveys added after the addition of new ATVs. We had just over 200 encounters which is slightly lower than our average year but leatherback nests numbers have always cycled up and down. Next year will be even bigger for us now that we have the equipment to cover additional beaches. We thought you might enjoy this animation of our nesting “hot spots” over the course of the last 3 months.
