According to scientists from multiple research facilities, endangered sea turtles have had a highly successful nesting season along the Southwest Florida coast and statewide.

Researchers from Mote Marine Laboratory's Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program reported that last month, 2,459 sea turtle nests were spotted within a 35-mile-long stretch of local shorelines from Longboat Key to Venice.

Leatherback turtles reached a record 641 and loggerhead nesting numbers also remained high, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The data was gathered from the agency's two sea turtle monitoring surveys. The two surveys are statewide, one documents nesting at 190 beaches, whereas the second uses data from 33 different beaches over a period of 109 days.

The index survey started May 15 and ended August 31 and it showed that loggerhead nests were more in numbers than they were last year.

Simona Ceriani, FWC research scientist, said that in the 1990s, loggerhead nest numbers were high but reduced in the early 2000s, but they are now increasing again.

Ceriani said the surveys are only meant to show state trends and leatherback nest numbers almost doubled from last year.

The FWC worked together in the two surveys with the help of over 2,000 individuals along 800 miles of Florida beaches. Individuals included federal, state and local park personnel, university researchers, members of conservation organizations and private citizens.

Zach Steinhauser, a UF wildlife ecology and conservation senior, said it is amazing news that nesting is up for loggerheads, greens and leatherbacks and shows that efforts of conservationists to work with people have yielded positive results so far.

"It's showing that you have an endangered species that are being protected for quite a bit, and it's showing that they're doing pretty well", said Simona Ceriani, FWC research scientist.