Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program and Mote’s Sea Turtle Patrol, a group of scientists, interns and volunteers, will begin monitoring 35 miles of beaches from Longboat Key to Venice starting this Saturday, April 15. Southwest Florida beaches provide nesting grounds for threatened loggerhead sea turtles, endangered green sea turtles and occasionally for other sea turtle species. Florida's west coast hosts the largest nesting population of loggerheads in the Gulf of Mexico. Nesting season runs May 1-Oct. 31.