Sea Turtle Nesting in Cocoa Beach

The City of Cocoa Beach gives sea turtle nesting season as March 1 to October 31, but its lighting ordinances only apply from May 1 to October 31.

The Protect Wildlife section of the Cocoa Beach Beach Guidelines says Cocoa Beach is home to nesting sea turtles and lists nesting season as March 1 to October 31 (Cocoa Beach Beach Guidelines). Brevard County uses the same window, saying nesting season in Brevard County is March 1 to October 31 each year (Brevard County Local Animals and Wildlife). The Cocoa Beach code lighting sections use a shorter window: Sec. 15-44 applies to nighttime hours, dusk to dawn, from May 1 to October 31 (Cocoa Beach Sec. 15-44), and Sec. 6-65 uses the same May 1 start (Cocoa Beach Sec. 6-65).

The Cocoa Beach guidance and the Cocoa Beach lighting code therefore give different start dates, March 1 and May 1, and no official page read for this guide explains the difference. The Brevard County wildlife page asks residents to turn off lights on houses and businesses near the beach during its March 1 to October 31 season (Brevard County Local Animals and Wildlife).

From May 1 to October 31, Cocoa Beach oceanfront owners and occupants may not let direct light from their property reach the beach between dusk and dawn, and dune crosswalk lights must be off after 11:00 p.m.

Sec. 15-44 of the Cocoa Beach code makes it unlawful for owners or occupants of oceanfront property to permit direct lighting from their property to illuminate the ocean beach so as to be a hazard to fledgling sea turtles making their way from nests to the sea. It points to the city's Land Development Code, Chapter IV, Article XI, for lighting standards, and its history note lists Ordinance 854 of July 2, 1987, Ordinance 857 of August 20, 1987 and Ordinance 1387 of June 16, 2005 (Cocoa Beach Sec. 15-44).

Sec. 6-65, the spill-over lighting standard for Cocoa Beach beachfront property, adds three specific rules. Lights illuminating buildings or grounds for decorative or recreation purposes must be shielded or screened under the Land Development Code or turned off from dusk to dawn between May 1 and October 31. Lights on dune crosswalks or any area oceanward of the dune line must be turned off after 11:00 p.m. in the same period. Whenever possible, streetlights shall be located so the bulk of their light travels away from the beach, with shades or shields that make them not visible from the beach (Cocoa Beach Sec. 6-65). The section dates to Ordinance 826 of June 5, 1986.

Brevard County's own advice for the nesting season is simply to turn off lights on houses and businesses near the beach to prevent disorientation of both mothers and nestlings (Brevard County Local Animals and Wildlife).

Every Cocoa Beach vacation rental must give guests a city document on sea turtle and sea turtle lighting rules, both as a lease addendum and posted inside the unit.

Chapter 26.5 of the Cocoa Beach code sets the minimum contents of a vacation rental agreement. Sec. 26.5-54 requires a copy of a city-supplied document with excerpts of ordinance provisions relevant to vacation rentals, including solid waste pick-up rules, regulations related to sea turtles and sea turtle lighting and the City of Cocoa Beach Noise Ordinance, attached as a lease addendum (Cocoa Beach Chapter 26.5 Vacation Rentals). Sec. 26.5-63 requires the same kind of document to be provided in a prominent location in each vacation rental, along with the owner or agent contact and the maximum occupancy.

The city publishes that packet. Its Required Ordinances for Vacation Rental Packets document opens with Sec. 15-44, the oceanfront lighting rule (Required Ordinances for Vacation Rental Packets), and the Vacation Rental Registration page links the City of Cocoa Beach Vacation Rental Lease Addendum alongside the registration ordinance and fees. Owners register after obtaining a business tax receipt, and Development Services answers questions at 321-868-3217 (Cocoa Beach Vacation Rental Registration).

Cocoa Beach asks beachgoers to stay clear of nesting turtles and hatchlings, skip flash photos and bright lights, take all gear home and fill in holes before leaving.

The city's sea turtle list is specific. Never touch, feed, ride or disturb sea turtles or hatchlings; give nesting turtles plenty of space and keep their path to the ocean clear; skip flash photography and bright lights, which can confuse turtles and hatchlings; keep children and pets a safe distance away; remove beach chairs, umbrellas and other gear before leaving; and fill in holes and knock down sandcastles so nesting turtles and hatchlings can reach the ocean (Cocoa Beach Beach Guidelines). The same Cocoa Beach page caps shade tents and canopies at 10 ft by 10 ft and asks that they be kept away from dune lines, turtle nest zones and pathways.

For a stranded marine animal, the Cocoa Beach Beach Guidelines give the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission number, 888-404-3922 (Cocoa Beach Beach Guidelines). The page notes that sea turtles are protected by state and federal law, so disturbing them or their nests is illegal, not just harmful.

Yes: under Florida's Marine Turtle Protection Act, illegally disturbing a sea turtle, hatchling, egg or nest on Cocoa Beach is a third degree felony.

Section 379.2431(1) of the Florida Statutes, which may be cited as the Marine Turtle Protection Act, says a person, firm or corporation may not knowingly possess, take, disturb, mutilate, destroy, molest or harass any marine turtle species or hatchling, or the eggs or nest of any marine turtle species. Illegally taking, disturbing, molesting or harassing a turtle, hatchling, eggs or nest is a third degree felony, and so is illegally possessing more than 11 eggs (Florida Statutes s. 379.2431). The statute defines take to include significant habitat modification that kills or injures marine turtles by significantly impairing essential behavioral patterns, such as breeding, feeding or sheltering.

FWC's 2025 table lists 22,716 loggerhead, 30,431 green turtle and 129 leatherback nests on Brevard County's 115.2 km of surveyed beach, and it does not publish a Cocoa Beach-only figure.

The FWC 2025 Statewide Nesting Totals list Brevard County with 22,716 loggerhead nests, 30,431 green turtle nests and 129 leatherback nests over a survey length of 115.2 km (FWC 2025 Statewide Nesting Totals). The same table lists east coast totals of 83,044 loggerhead and 64,740 green turtle nests. Brevard County describes its beaches as some of the world's most important nesting beaches for sea turtles (Brevard County Local Animals and Wildlife).

The same FWC table also counts non-nesting emergences, when a turtle crawls up and leaves without laying. Brevard recorded 34,447 of those for loggerheads and 65,337 for green turtles, and FWC's own note says a non-nesting emergence is when a turtle emerges but for some reason does not lay a clutch, and the table does not break these counts out for Cocoa Beach. Statewide totals and the broader Florida season are covered in the Digital Towns statewide sea turtle nesting guide.

Brevard County's marine turtle ordinance states that it protects turtles nesting along the unincorporated beaches of the county, and the City of Cocoa Beach has its own lighting rules in code sections 15-44 and 6-65.

Brevard County Code chapter 46, article III, adopted as Ordinance 93-15 on June 22, 1993, states that its purpose is to protect the marine turtles that nest along the unincorporated beaches of the county. It defines nesting season as May 1 through October 31 and nighttime as 9:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m., requires lights at parks and public beach access points to be shielded, shaded or not used during nesting season, and sets a fine not to exceed $500 or up to six months in the county jail (Brevard County Code ch. 46 art. III). The Cocoa Beach rules run from dusk to dawn instead of fixed clock hours (Cocoa Beach Sec. 15-44).

Last verified: October 21, 2026, by re-reading Cocoa Beach Secs. 15-44, 6-65 and Chapter 26.5, the city's beach guideline and rental registration pages, Brevard County's wildlife page and turtle ordinance, FWC's 2025 nesting table and s. 379.2431.