More than 40 Florida beaches considered vital for loggerhead sea turtles including Canaveral National Seashore could be named as critical habitat under a federal proposal announced Friday.

Several Volusia and Brevard beaches could be designated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as vital areas to be protected for the turtles, which lay their eggs in the beach dunes.

The proposal isn't expected to change anything for local beachgoers, but it could affect federal permits or projects on such beaches, such as beach renourishment projects on eroded areas, said Sandy MacPherson, the service's national sea-turtle coordinator.

For example, this would require that a dredging or sand project at a critical beach cannot change the beach so that it would no longer serve as a nesting area for turtles.

Florida beaches are among the world's most important nesting grounds for loggerhead sea turtles. Last year, more than 58,000 nests were counted at the state beaches tracked for long-term trends, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Beaches included in the federal proposal include Canaveral, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Kennedy Space Center and Brevard beaches south of Patrick Air Force Base. In Volusia, beaches north of State Road 40 in Ormond Beach and Ormond-by-the-Sea are included.

However, the federal proposal doesn't include beaches in the Daytona Beach region, including the areas where beach driving is permitted. Officials said that doesn't mean other beaches aren't good habitat for turtles, but that the federal designation focuses on the areas with the highest densities of nests which are considered crucial for the species' survival.

Environmental groups had sued the federal government for the lack of such habitat designations and praised the federal proposal.

"It will benefit the turtles because it will be easier to ensure that the quality and quantity of beaches will not be degraded over time," said Amanda Keledjian, a marine scientist at Oceana, a nonprofit conservation group.

llelis@tribune.com or 386-479-1529

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More than 40 beaches crucial to loggerhead sea turtles