JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Sea turtles are already at risk, and without even realizing it, thousands of beachgoers are making it even harder for them to survive. Every time someone digs a hole in the sand and doesn't fill it in or builds a sand castle and leaves it behind, they are putting sea turtle lives in danger.
It may not sound like much, but digging wide and deep holes at the beach during sea turtle nesting season can expose a buried nest that has not yet been marked with stakes, putting those eggs in jeopardy. Marine researchers have reported a steep increase in the number of man-made holes across our beaches this summer.
Kevin Brown works with the local Beaches Sea Turtle Patrol and is a biology teacher. He's been trying to spread the word about the danger of digging holes.
"Nobody needs to be digging a hole 8 feet by 4 feet," said Brown.
He says the bigger and deeper the hole, the bigger the threat.
"If a nesting female gets caught in one of these holes, she’s done," he said. "I don’t think it’s as much our young adults as it is our older adults, we see them building things like a beach couch."
He says as long as you return the sand to normal before you leave you can build in the sand, because they can obstruct the path for hatchlings trying to make it to sea.
"When those little guys take off out of the nest they would never get out of a hole that’s two to four feet deep and wide."
It’s not just beachgoers, construction crews and private beach homeowners are guilty too. As they work to build sea walls, they are leaving holes and equipment out on the sand, as demonstrated by pictures posted to the Micklers Landing Turtle Patrol Facebook Group.
Brown has been taking his students to the beach to help fill in the holes. He says a recent grant has allowed new signs to go up too with a reminder to, "leave the beach like you see it."
On average only one in 5,000 hatchlings actually make it to adulthood, according to the Marine Life organization, that's why protecting them as much as possible is so important.