Sea Turtles of Jacksonville Beaches — Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville's Atlantic-facing barrier island beaches — fronting the communities of Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, and Jacksonville Beach — constitute documented sea turtle nesting habitat within Duval County. The nesting season runs annually from May 1 through October 31, during which female sea turtles come ashore at night to lay clutches of eggs above the tide line. Jacksonville Today reports that between 80 and 100 nests are laid across all of Duval County's beaches in a typical year.

All sea turtle species that nest in Florida are listed as either threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act, as documented by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI). Three species — loggerhead, green, and leatherback — nest with regularity on Duval County beaches, while Kemp's ridley nests have been documented in the county in recent years. The Beaches Sea Turtle Patrol (BSTP), an FWC-permitted volunteer organization, conducts systematic monitoring of nesting activity from May through October along the Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, and Jacksonville Beach shorelines, recording nest locations, evaluating hatch success, and reporting findings to the FWC.

The loggerhead (Caretta caretta) is the predominant nesting species on Duval County beaches. In 2024, the BSTP recorded 60 loggerhead nests on the Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, and Jacksonville Beach shorelines. The loggerhead is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) also nests on Duval County beaches. In 2024, the BSTP documented 1 green turtle nest on its patrol area. In 2023, Jacksonville Today reported 7 green turtle nests recorded in Duval County as a whole. The FWC notes that Florida supports the second-largest green turtle nesting aggregation in the Western Atlantic. Green turtles are listed as endangered.

The leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), the largest living sea turtle, nests on Duval County beaches in smaller numbers. The BSTP recorded 3 leatherback nests in its 2024 patrol area. The FWC documents that leatherback nesting in the continental United States occurs exclusively in Florida. Leatherbacks are listed as endangered.

The Kemp's ridley (Lepidochelys kempii), the world's most endangered sea turtle, has been documented nesting in Duval County in recent years. Jacksonville Today reported in November 2024 that at least two Kemp's ridley nests were confirmed in Duval County during the 2024 season — a species described by FWC environmental supervisor Ashley Raybould as rarely appearing on county beaches. Statewide FWC counts show 8 Kemp's ridley nests in 2022, 10 in 2023, and 24 in 2024, reflecting an upward trend at the state level. The first documented Kemp's ridley nest in neighboring St. Johns County was recorded only in 2015.

The Beaches Sea Turtle Patrol is the only FWC-permitted sea turtle patrol operating in Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, and Jacksonville Beach. Operating under a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission permit, the BSTP mobilizes trained volunteers each nesting season to walk designated beach sections before sunrise, identifying the distinctive crawl tracks left by nesting females and locating nest sites. The organization documents nest locations, marks them for protection, and reports data to the FWC as part of the statewide monitoring network.

As described by Jacksonville Today in April 2025, each identified nest is evaluated over a three-day window to confirm its status before FWC data are submitted. Nests that successfully hatch are then excavated to count emerged and unhatched eggs, allowing researchers to calculate hatch success rates. In 2024, 55 of the nests monitored by the BSTP produced hatchlings, with 3,696 hatchlings recorded at an overall hatch success rate of 63.2%.

Beyond nest documentation, the BSTP conducts outreach on beach lighting compliance. The organization's published guidance states that beachfront lighting should be turned off or shielded after 9 p.m. during nesting season, because — as the FWC documents — artificial light can disorient hatchlings as they navigate from the nest toward the ocean. This lighting guidance applies throughout the May 1 through October 31 nesting season.

The FWC's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute coordinates two statewide monitoring programs relevant to Duval County nesting: the Index Nesting Beach Survey and the Statewide Nesting Beach Survey. The Statewide Nesting Beach Survey was initiated in 1979 under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and tracks nesting distribution and abundance across Florida beaches, including those in Duval County. The FWC uses the program's long-term dataset to classify nesting beaches by density and occurrence.

BSTP data from 2024 illustrate typical season outcomes for the Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, and Jacksonville Beach stretch: 60 loggerhead nests, 3 leatherback nests, and 1 green turtle nest, totaling 64 nests in the BSTP patrol area. Of those, 55 produced hatchlings, yielding 3,696 hatchlings at a 63.2% hatch success rate. Jacksonville Today's April 2025 reporting places the countywide total — which includes beaches beyond the BSTP patrol zone — at 80 to 100 nests per year. The 2023 season produced just over 200 total nests in Duval County, according to Jacksonville Today, a figure that represented an above-average year for the county.

The 2025 nesting season brought a statewide leatherback milestone. As of June 30, 2025, Florida had recorded 1,960 leatherback nests — the highest total ever documented in the state, surpassing the previous record set in 2022, according to Jacksonville Today. Because the leatherback nests in the continental United States only in Florida, this statewide figure reflects the condition of the species' entire U.S. mainland nesting population. The record occurred during a season when north Florida nesting — including Duval County beaches — was already underway.

In 2024, Duval County documented at least two Kemp's ridley nests, described by Jacksonville Today as a notably rare occurrence for county beaches. FWC environmental supervisor Ashley Raybould characterized Kemp's ridley appearances in northeast Florida as uncommon; statewide counts have risen from 8 nests in 2022 to 24 in 2024, indicating an expanding nesting range.

In March 2026, News4Jax reported that the FWC issued guidance in advance of the 2026 nesting season, noting that north Florida nesting generally begins in April or May. The FWC's 2026 guidance urged beachgoers to remove beach furniture and gear before sunset, fill holes dug in the sand, and dispose of fishing line through monofilament recycling stations at documented locations along the coast.

Several categories of human activity on Jacksonville's beaches are documented as hazards to nesting sea turtles and their hatchlings. Artificial lighting is among the most extensively documented concerns: the FWC notes that light from beachfront structures can disorient hatchlings moving from their nests toward the ocean, causing them to travel inland rather than toward the water. The BSTP's published guidance specifies that beachfront lighting should be turned off or shielded after 9 p.m. throughout the May through October nesting season.

Physical hazards on the beach surface also pose documented risks. The FWC's 2026 guidance, as reported by News4Jax, identifies beach furniture left overnight, holes dug in the sand and not filled, and discarded fishing monofilament as specific hazards. Nesting females can become trapped in holes or entangled in debris; hatchlings moving across the beach surface face similar entanglement risks from monofilament line. The FWC's guidance identifies monofilament recycling stations as the appropriate disposal infrastructure, and the City of Jacksonville's coastal areas include documented monofilament recycling infrastructure, as reported by News4Jax.

The federal Endangered Species Act prohibits harassment, harm, pursuit, hunting, shooting, wounding, killing, trapping, capturing, or collection of any listed sea turtle species without a permit. All five species that nest in Florida carry this protection, as documented by the FWC FWRI.

Duval County's sea turtle nesting activity is situated within a statewide framework administered by the FWC's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. Florida hosts the largest loggerhead nesting aggregation in the Atlantic basin, and the second-largest green turtle nesting aggregation in the Western Atlantic, as documented by the FWC. The FWRI's Statewide Nesting Beach Survey, operating continuously since 1979 under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, provides the long-term data infrastructure within which BSTP observations in Duval County are integrated.

Geographically, Duval County's beaches sit between Nassau County to the north and St. Johns County to the south, both of which also document sea turtle nesting activity. The first confirmed Kemp's ridley nest in St. Johns County was recorded in 2015, according to Jacksonville Today, placing Duval County's more recent Kemp's ridley documentation within a regional pattern of expansion along the northeast Florida coast.

Within Jacksonville's consolidated city-county boundary, the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve encompasses tidal marshes, barrier islands, and upland forests in the city's northern sections, providing additional coastal and estuarine habitat contiguous with the barrier island beach communities where BSTP monitoring occurs. The consolidated government structure — which merged the former City of Jacksonville and Duval County on October 1, 1968, as reported by News4Jax — means that beach communities including Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, and Jacksonville Beach retain independent municipal incorporation while falling within the county's shared ecological and regulatory context for sea turtle nesting management.