As some of you may know we recently attened the 28th Annual International Sea Turtle Symposium in Loreto, Mexico (Baja California Sur) in January. It was an honor and a privelege for us to represent the GSTC at this conference.
Coinciding with the start of the Symposium, the Seri Indians began their 6-day long celebration of sea turtles on Sat. 1/19, where each day the preformed blessings, rituals and dances for the protection of sea turtles. It was great how they included the Symposium participants in this celebration!
The theme of this year’s Symposium was sustainablility. Participants were asked to bring their own water bottles, travel mugs for coffee, and utensils. Some cups and utensils available, but they were made of recycled material and were 100% biodegradable! For coffee breaks, the Symposium offered organic coffee and in keeping with Mexican heritage….organic tequila (4 Copas, http://www.4copas.com/)! These are a few of the 4 Copas representatives, Enrico, Chris and Carlos.
Since the participants were scattered throughout the city, and even outside the city, at various hotels and casas, as well as the Symposium activities (poster sessions and lectures) taking place at opposite ends of the town, shuttle services were available throughout the day. Convenient enough most of the time, but if you missed the last shuttle, you still had one more option before taking a taxi……the Tortuga Mobile!!
In addition, both of us were chosen from an number of sumbissions to present our work.
Stefanie presented a scientific poster on the 2007 Saturation Tagging Project on Jekyll Island including historical information, analysis of the 2007 tagging and nesting season, and plans for future improvements of the Project. At the poster sessions, she handed out GSTC brochures and pencils! A previous JI Turtle Tech from 2004 even stopped by to see what was new on JI with regards to the Center and the beach monitoring Project! 
Alicia conducted an oral presention on her Master’s Thesis, “Sun, Sand and Sea Turtles: Inspiring Caribbean Youth through Nonformal Education”, which is a sea turtle camp for kids! Her thesis work, orginally conducted under the guidance of WIDECAST (Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network), will now also be supported by the GSTC!
And in case you haven’t heard….we will be having our 1st ever Sea Turtle Camp at the GSTC THIS SUMMER!!!! Stay tuned for details!
The end of the week was met with the traditional banquet, a time for thanks yous, special recognitions, awards, dinner and dancing (and of course, more networking opportunities!). On behalf of the GSTC, we presented J. Nichols, this year’s ISTS President, with an original GSTC Shirt and a personal invitation to visit the Center soon!
Thank you to all those came to the GSTC January Focus Class to see what we were presenting at the Symposium and let us practice! Your feedback and support are appreciated!
Sincerely,
Stefanie and Alicia