Sea Turtle Eggs are Protected

The 2025 Sea turtle season is winding down and the monitors are encountering less sea turtle related activity on the beach. Still, you might encounter hatchlings on their way to the water, or on a rare occasion, you might come across sea turtle eggs exposed or washed away. And you might be tempted to pick them up. 

Leave it alone! Sea turtles lay many eggs with an average clutch of 100 eggs. They are the size of ping pong balls and soft. Storms occasionally wash away nests bringing the eggs to the surface. According to experts, if you see exposed eggs on the beach, leave them where they are; note their location and call Marco Island Code Enforcement, who will get in touch with the sea turtle monitor.   

Sea turtle nests and eggs are protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973, and Florida’s Marine Turtle Protection Act. Florida State law provides protection against taking, possessing, disturbing, mutilating, destroying, or causing to be destroyed, selling or offering for sale, transferring, molesting, or harassing any marine turtle or its nest or eggs at any time. Federal law provides even greater protection to sea turtles, also realizing that the life in the eggs should be given the same level of protection.