Taking a Final Look at the 2025 Sea Turtle Nesting Season

By Jimi Sadle

Biologist, Canaveral National Seashore

Miles of backcountry beach in Canaveral provide perfect conditions for high-density sea turtle nesting. Photo by Jimi Sadle, National Park Service 

With 13,271 total sea turtle nests in Canaveral National Seashore this year, the 2025 nesting season was the third highest recorded since annual monitoring began in 1984!

In addition to the high total number of nests, we also documented 42 leatherback nests (new season record) and five endangered Kemps ridley turtle nests (tied season record).

The busy nesting season at the Seashore ended abruptly -- as is frequently does -- with wind, high tides and coastal erosion in early October. At that time, approximately 2,600 nests were still incubating, many of which were likely impacted by erosion.

Over the course of the season, nest predators, such as feral hogs and raccoons, damaged or destroyed 719 nests, representing about 5.4 percent of the total. Despite these impacts, we estimate that more than 1 million hatchling sea turtles began their journey to adulthood last season from the Seashore.

In addition to nest monitoring, resource management staff recovered numerous stranded juvenile and adult sea turtles and removed fishing nets, lines and other ocean-going debris that present a hazard to wildlife and visitors. Overall, the 2025 season was great news for all four sea turtle species that nest on Canaveral’s high-quality, protected beaches.

Sea turtle nest monitoring has been an ongoing priority for Canaveral for more than 40 years. For some perspective, resource management staff recorded just 94 green sea turtle nests in the Seashore in 1985. This year, there were 8,774. This staggering increase highlights the importance of Canaveral as a relatively undisturbed, natural nest beach in the recovery of this species.



We look forward to seeing continued productive seasons on our 24 miles of beaches with Canaveral National Seashore remaining as a critical location for the continued recovery of sea turtles in Florida.