Panama City Beach had ‘near record’ sea turtle nesting season, but long-term concerns persist

PANAMA CITY BEACH — The 2022 sea turtle nesting season is over, and it brought a significant uptick in nests and hatchlings to Panama City Beach.

According to Kennard Watson, director of Panama City Beach Turtle Watch, members of his group tagged 44 nests during the season, which spans from the beginning of May until the end of October.

That is 17 more nests and about 2,400 more hatchlings than in 2021.

"It was a much more active season, both for nesting and hatching," Watson said. "That was a near-record season for us for hatchling production."

PCB welcomes sea turtles: Panama City Beach records over 2,000 sea turtle hatchlings. Most are disoriented by light.

More on sea turtles: Sea turtle nests rise in PCB, but 'nearly 100%' of hatchlings disoriented by lighting

Of nests tagged this season, 42 were from loggerhead sea turtles and two were from green sea turtles.

Watson said a main reason for the surge in hatchlings was because very few storms this season were strong enough to flood nests. Only one nest was completely washed out, meaning its eggs were destroyed by water.

"This was one of the first years I can remember where we weren't hit by some sort of (major) storm in the Gulf that flooded the beach," he said.

Watson has directed the nonprofit organization since it was created 1991. It works to identify and protect sea turtle nests along 18 miles of beaches from St. Andrews State Park to Camp Helen State Park.

He said 44 nests in one season is well above the area's annual average of about 20 to 30 nests. It also is only 13 less than the local record of 57, which was set in 2017.

"It's not a record, but it's above average, and it reverses a declining trend that we've seen in recent years," Watson said. "It's good to see the uptick."

Bad news: 80% of sea turtle hatchlings disoriented by beach lights

While the 2022 nesting season was successful in terms of nests and hatchlings, it also reinforced some major concerns about the "long-term protection of turtles" in Panama City Beach, Watson said.

A staggering 80% of hatchlings this season were disoriented by beachfront lighting after emerging from their nests. Watson said this proves more needs to be done by local officials to help.

He noted one way of doing this would be to allow only amber colored lights in shielded fixtures along the coast.

"The single most important thing we could do is get the lighting problem under control through better local regulations, and also ensure the redevelopment efforts that are underway on the beach don't exacerbate the problem," Watson said.

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Sea turtle nesting season: Panama City Beach sees near record in 2022