(MENAFN- Gulf Times) The number of endangered green sea turtle nests built in an important Florida refuge is making an impressive comeback 37 years after the reptile was declared in danger of extinction, experts said.
The total number of nests found since nesting season began on May 1 broke 12,000 this summer for the first time since the annual count began in the 1980s, according to the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando which keeps the turtle database.
With 60-80 new nests being built every night, scientists are predicting the number could exceed 13,000 by the time the season ends on Oct 1.
"This is really a comeback story," said UCF biologist Kate Mansfield, who leads the university's 35-year Marine Turtle Research Group project.
The annual count occurs on a 13-mile (21-km) stretch of beach in the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge on Florida's east coast, the most significant area for green turtle nesting in North America where 25-35% of all nests on the continent are found, according to the refuge website.
The refuge also is home to one of the largest nesting beaches for loggerhead turtles in the Western Hemisphere, according to UCF.
Green sea turtles typically grow to 5ft (1.52m) in length and 700lb (317.5kg), or about the size of a motorcycle, and have an average lifespan in the wild of 80 years. At about 20 years old, they return to the beach where they were born to reproduce.
The record number of nests comes at a time the government is considering downgrading the green sea turtle on the US Endangered Species list to threatened from endangered.
Green sea turtle populations have rebounded in part due to 37 years of endangered species protections, improvements in commercial fishing gear to avoid accidental by-catch, and preservation of habitat such as the Archie Carr reserve, Mansfield said.
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