Sea turtle nests spotted on Sanibel

SANIBEL ISLAND, FL -

One of the first sea turtle nests of the season has popped up early on Sanibel Island.

I'm seeing a little area blocked off. I heard there's some turtle eggs here, but I don't really know much about them, said Charlie Hacker from Minnesota.

It's already attracted a crowd. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but asking questions could help keep the endangered species alive.

I've never seen it before. We're from Minnesota. So we didn't know anything about it. It's very interesting. Fun to hear the facts, said Dana Koshoshek from Minnesota.

The truth is humans play a critical role during the five-month-long nesting season.

Sea Turtle program coordinator Kelly Sloan showed us the second nest so far this season.

You can see the tracks leading up to the nests, but now they've been washed away by the huge waves that are coming in, said Kelly Sloan with the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation.

The nests face a number of challenges during the two-month hatching period from flooding to predators.

New this year, the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation cover every nest with screens to protect a relatively new predator coyotes.

It's a massive amount of work. We patrol the beach every single morning to look for new crawls, but also to look at existing nests for any issues, said Sloan.

In 2014, Sanibel reported a record-breaking number of nests on its beaches more than 400.

Last year I think we had an issue with interior lights, so if people could remember to shut their blinds, said Sloan.

May thru October there is one major rule.

Lights out. You can't have any bright lights on the beach or after dusk because of the sea turtles, said a beach goer.

The artificial lights confuse the baby turtles once they hatch. So it's important to turn them off at night and remove furniture from the beach.

Humans can take a few simple steps that make it a huge difference in the long run of the survival of the species, said Sloan.

It's a good lesson to learn whether you live here or not.

It's a learning thing for me. It's really neat, though, said Koshoshek.

Source: http://www.nbc-2.com/story/28935580/sea-turtle-nests-spotted-on-sanibel