"It's possible that the stake has just washed away or surveyors removed them to get rid of projectiles and the eggs are still there," said Carly DeMay, an environmental program supervisor with Palm Beach County's Dept. of Environmental Resources.

Sue Schaf, the east coast stranding coordinator for Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, fielded calls on Tuesday about turtle nest on Fay-ravaged beaches but the exact number won't be known for several days, she said.

Beaches along Palm Beach county are seeing a better than average number of nests this year. Because each nest is marked with the stake and recorded with GPS, officials who survey the beaches on Wednesday will still be able to pinpoint nests that are no longer marked, DeMaye said.

Fay claimed 30 nests on the five-mile stretch of Boca Raton's beaches, according to Kirk Rusenko, a marine conservationist at Gumbo Limbo Park in Boca Raton. Rusenko finished surveying Boca Raton's beaches late Tuesday morning. Twenty-nine of the washed out nests were loggerheads and one was a green turtle nest.

Turtle monitors have marked 436 Loggerhead nests this year on Boca Raton's beaches, compared to 398 loggerhead nests last year, Rusenko said. In a typical year storms, poachers and vandals claim 50-60 nests.

As for the extra layer of sand that Fay dumped on the nests, the baby turtles should still be able to dig their way out and scramble to the ocean, Rusenko said: "It's remarkable how much water they can take over their nests and they still do pretty well."

Before Fay hit, a survey of nests along the Treasure Coast, from northern St. Lucie county to the north end of Jupiter Island, a survey found about 2,300 loggerhead, 384 green and 46 leatherback nests, said Eric Martin of Ecological Associates. Storm damage to the nests will be monitored on Wednesday, Martin said.

Bron: PalmBeachPost