ST. AUGUSTINE BEACH, Fla. -- A $12 million beach re-nourishment project in St. Augustine could pose an issue for sea turtle season this May.
The project is scheduled to continue into late May. Sea turtle nesting season starts May 1.
"Every morning we come out," Bob Fraser said. He is part of the sea turtle patrol in St. Augustine Beach. "We monitor 7 miles from Pope Road to Cubbage Road at Crescent Beach."
He and other volunteers look for the newly-made nests that are created under the sand by the dwindling population of sea turtles.
"The original plan was to do (the beach re-nourishment) before turtle nesting season. But other factors like the weather pushed it back," Fraser said.
Jason Hannah is the beach re-nourishment project manager. He said timing can be tricky. The goal is to finish before hurricane season and sea turtle nesting season.
Some environmentalists and sea turtle lovers are concerned that the construction equipment and large re-nourishment project will negatively impact sea turtle nesting season. But Fraser is staying positive.
"If I were to go by last years, numbers, I didn't have nest on this area until June," he said.
And by then, the beach project is expected to be done.
Hannah said there is a plan in place to protect and move sea turtle nests.
If a turtle lays her eggs in an area where the re-nourishment project is taking place, Fraser said the sea turtle patrol will actually relocate the nest further south, where there is less activity.
"It's not ideal to move a nest but there's a 12-hour window you can move them," he said. "After 12 hours, the yolk starts to attach to the shell."
The goal is to save and protect as many sea turtle nests as possible so the baby sea turtles can hatch and scurry off to the waves.
"It never gets old. As many times as you see it, it never gets old," Fraser said.