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Sea turtle nesting season is over on Florida's east coast and it wasn't a record-breaking year on one stretch of beach.
The nine and a half miles from Jupiter to Juno Beach is considered the most densely-nested beach for sea turtles in the Western Hemisphere.
"It was a good year. We never know what to expect."
Director of Research Dr. Justin Perault with Loggerhead Marinelife Center says they monitored just over 15,000 nests, which came in about 3,000 under what they expected.
Still, he says they're not concerned unless they see a multi-year trend of lower numbers.
There were 17,000 nests last year and a record 21,000 the year before.
Perault says all of us can pitch in to keep the turtles thriving.
"Some of the biggest threats for sea turtles are currently I'd say pollution and plastic congestion is something we're seeing quite frequently in a lot of the turtles that come into our facility."
He suggests eliminating single-use plastics, like forks and straws and use a reusable bag instead of plastic at the grocery store.
An estimated one million hatchlings made their way to the ocean this year.
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Here's another way you can help:
As your kids continue to polish off their Halloween candy,, Loggerhead Marinelife Center wants you to hold onto those candy wrappers. It's the sixth year for the turtle hospital's "Unwrap the Waves" program, in which they collect trash from trick-or-treating and make sure those wrappers are 100 percent recycled.
Wrappers are turned into a group called Terracycle, which recycles waste, unlike most recycling centers that won't take the wrappers.
Those wrappers can be dropped off at Loggerhead in Juno Beach through November 8th.