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INFORMATIONAL INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, FLORIDA MEMORANDUM TO: Board of County Commissioners THROUGH: John A. Titkanich, Jr., County Administrator THROUGH: Eric Charest, Interim Natural Resources Director FROM: Quintin Bergman, Coastal Resource Manager SUBJECT: Results from the 2023 Sea Turtle Nesting Season DATE: November 21, 2023 This is an update to inform the Board of County Commissioners (Board), residents of Indian River County (IRC), and visitors of the record-breaking results from the 2023 sea turtle nesting season on the beaches within IRC. Additional information relative to the County's sea turtle Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) and annual nesting information can be found on the County Coastal Division Facebook page: @IRCcoastal and on the County website: httos://indianriver.L-ov/services/public works/coastal engineerine/sea turtle conservation rogram.ph DESCRIPTION AND CONDITIONS Background Information - IRC beaches are the ideal nesting habitat for three species of sea turtles. Numerous leatherback, loggerhead, and green sea turtles return to our beaches to lay nests during the summer months. Sea turtles are a long-lived reptile species that can take between 20-30 years to become mature adults, and are able to live up to 100 years or more. Adult female turtles lay up to 6 nests or more per nesting season which runs annually from March 1St through October 311t here in IRC. Female sea turtles typically nest every other season and normally return the same beach they hatched from to lay their nests. Long-term monitoring is vital to the understanding of sea turtle populations. The County's efforts were formalized in 2004 with the implementation of the Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP), the document that established a framework for the County's sea turtle conservation efforts. Qualified County Staff, along with its consultants, maintain permits issued by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to perform conservation activities with sea turtles. Nest Monitoring— Annually, during sea turtle nesting season, daily surveys are conducted by permitted individuals along all 22.4 miles of the coastline. During the daily survey only a small subsample of nests are marked with wooden stakes and flagging tape, with the majority of the nests incubating unmarked. The marked nests are then monitored each day until they hatch. Once hatched, permitted individuals then conduct an inventory of the nest to determine its success. This measure of success includes metrics on the total number of eggs laid as well as the percentage of hatched eggs. This data collected over many years not only 7