Wildlife groups in Florida are celebrating record numbers of sea turtle nests this season, but experts warn Donald Trump’s recent gutting of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) could reverse decades of their recovery from the edge of extinction. With more than two months of the summer nesting season still to run, loggerhead turtles have already laid 13,770 nests, hundreds more than recorded in any previous year, along an 8.5-mile stretch of shoreline monitored by the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, on Florida’s Atlantic coast. The same record has fallen on Sanibel island, on the Gulf coast, where loggerheads have laid 922 nests so far this year, surpassing the 2023 total of 878, according to the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation.
The numbers reflect the ongoing revival of sea turtles since the 1970s, when overhunting, poaching and habitat loss pushed several species to the brink, including the loss of about 95% of the Caribbean’s population of green turtles. The ESA, passed in 1973, enshrined protections that are paying dividends now because sea turtle hatchlings take years to decades to reach reproductive age. The loss of those safeguards, from Trump’s “death sentence” repeal last month of sections of the law to favor oil drilling, mining, logging and development interests, have some experts fearful that the recovery might have reached the high-water mark.
An alliance of environmental and wildlife groups is suing the Trump administration in part over a rule giving outsized deference to “economic considerations” when determining protections for endangered species and critical habitat. Godfrey said: “The detractors of the ESA sometimes say, ‘Oh, this thing is a failure. Look at all these animals that are still on the list.
We haven’t removed a lot from the list.’ And I come right back and say, yeah, but look at all these animals that are on the list that we haven’t lost. We’re still cautiously optimistic about saying that they’ve recovered, but we can say stability.” His center, a marine life hospital that treats and rehabilitates sick and injured turtles, has partnered with numerous groups and organizations around the country to share research data and collaborate on education efforts. One of its most successful projects has been the Responsible Pier Initiative, in which anglers in particular are equipped with knowledge and tools to rescue stranded or injured turtles, or those entangled in fishing lines.
To date, 79 piers around the country, including in Virginia, Texas, North Carolina and Puerto Rico, have signed up, and more than 1,200 turtles have been rescued. Valerie Tovar, the center’s conservation manager, said the program had saved the lives of multiple species of sea turtle. We’re getting into the world of water quality, habitat restoration, and outreach and advocacy, to really find the connections between water quality, human health and sea turtle health,” she said.
Perrault said that, as a conservation organization, Marinelife does not comment on politics or policies. But he said: “We support the Endangered Species Act here, and we believe in the Endangered Species Act.
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