Its Turtle Season! And Time for the Annual Turtle Krawl 5K
Every year, from March to October, special visitors throng to Brevard County as they have for many years. They are not here, though, to bask in the sun or visit Kennedy Space Center or head to theme parks. They make the journey to ensure their species will survive.
Late at night for thousands of years, leatherbacks, loggerheads, green turtles and the occasional Kemps Ridley turtles have slowly crawled their way up the Space Coast’s 72 miles of coastline to lay their clutches of eggs in holes they dig in the sand. Brevard is the largest nesting area in the world for loggerheads and the largest in the Northern Hemisphere for green sea turtles.
“We have the most nests pers square mile,” said Sea Turtle Preservation Society president Roger Pszonowsky.
About two months after moms lay the eggs and lumber back to sea, the tiny but resolute hatchlings emerge, again in the dark, and embark on a perilous journey into the crashing waves, guided by the light of the moon. Their chances of surviving to adulthood are astronomically dismal. Out of 1,000 of the miniscule voyagers, 999 are snapped by predators or become disoriented by residential lights and perish under the wheel of a car or from dehydration after wandering to the hot asphalt of parking lots.
The few of these ancient mariners that make it to breeding age travel thousands of miles to return home, year after year, to create the newest generation. But they don’t have it easy. Pollution, poaching, coastal development, habitat destruction and climate change threaten their survival, as does becoming entangled in lines as bycatch in commercial and recreational fisheries. Many meander to the Indian River Lagoon, where they become victims to boat propellers.
All turtle species that nest in Brevard are threatened and endangered. Why does it matter what happens to them? Sea turtles have existed for 100 million years, maintaining the health of seagrass beds that benefit commercially valuable species like shrimp, lobster and tuna. They also are amazing creatures.
Pszonowsky fell under the spell of sea turtles watching the hatchlings while vacationing along North Carolina’s beaches.
“When I started, I didn’t know anything about sea turtles,” he said.
He soon learned after he moved here in 2004 and promptly volunteered for the Sea Turtle Preservation Society, a stalwart advocate and defender of the reptiles. Now the all-volunteer group’s president, Psznowsky has participated in about all of the group’s initiatives to raise awareness about the turtles’ plight and to help hatchlings and injured turtles make it back to the sea.
Sea Turtle Preservation Society educates thousands of people through public presentations and through the extremely popular turtle walks held in June and July.
“We schedule five walks a week during nesting season,” Pszonowsky said. “It gives the public an idea of the challenges facing sea turtles.”
The Society is not the only group operating turtle walks. Sebastian Inlet State Park, the Sea Turtle Conservancy through the Barrier Island Center, the Archie Carr Refuge, Merritt Island National Seashore and the newest group, Stella Maris Environmental Research, will conduct the unforgettable walks. Even with so many organizations involved, tours sell out.
“We opened registration in May, and I expect that by the end of the month, we will have no spaces left,” said Society volunteer Donna Simons.
The group also conducts surveys of nests and transports injured or stranded turtles to rehabilitation facilities such as Sea World in Orlando and Brevard Zoo’s Sea Turtle Healing Center — which they helped to establish through proceeds from the popular Turtle Krawl 5K race. Pre-COVID, the beachside race attracted more than 2,000 runners and added as much as $60,000 for turtle-saving efforts. Pszonowsky hopes this year will see the runners return in record numbers.
Society volunteers believe keeping sea turtles in the public eye, whether through walks, presentations and even the Turtle Krawl 5K, can help the creatures survive.
“The more people know about the turtles, the better stewards they will be for them,” Simons said.
Turtle Walks
Registration is open for turtle walks, but these fill up rapidly. Visit the following sites to register.
Turtle Krawl
The Turtle Krawl 5k Run/Walk will be Saturday, Sept. 9, from Nance Park in Indialantic.
Every year, local artist Michael “Nemo” Nemnich donates his talents for the artwork that graces the back of the race shirts.
For more race information and registration, visit turtlekrawl.com.
Volunteer opportunities
As an all-volunteer organization, the Sea Turtle Preservation Society always welcomes volunteers, who are needed for the Turtle Krawl 5K, strandings and emergency response, events, nesting survey, beach cleanups, turtle walks and more.
For more information, visit seaturtlespacecoast.org.
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