Marathon, Florida Keys
December 5 & 6, 2009
The Marathon Sea Turtle Hospital.
Each year, the Marathon Sea Turtle Hospital hosts an annual Sea Turtle Workshop at their facility in the Florida Keys. Sea turtle staffers and researchers, from all over the world, come together to discuss new data and interesting patient cases from the past year. As part of a small network of sea turtle hospitals, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center staff packed up and migrated south to join and share our experience and expertise with other facilities like ours!
Day one started off with formal presentations in true workshop style. The diversity of topics was unending: Leatherback blood mercury levels, neonate Australian Flatback behavior, 2009 nesting statistics, even future sea turtle facilities under construction. Of the 20 or so lectures, the GSTC staff had the highest Center representation with 5 presentations! There were so many changes at the Center to share since the 2008 conference: Dr. Terry Norton, Michelle Kaylor, Jeannie Miller, Stefanie Ouellette and Rachel Thomas spoke about the past, present and future of the GSTC, interesting patient cases, the start of the AmeriCorps program, sea turtle satellite tracking and the Adopt-a-Sea Turtle program at the GSTC.
Dr. Norton lecturing about the Georgia Sea Turtle Center at the Sea Turtle Workshop.
Day two of the workshop included a hands-on Necropsy (animal autopsy) lab. The brave GSTC folks had the opportunity to perform two necropsies: a sub adult Loggerhead entangled in fishing line and also ingested a two inch fishing hook with fishing line embedded into his intestine; the second, a Green who perished from the effects of fibropapillomatosis, a type of herpes virus. This virus is becoming an epidemic among sea turtle populations worldwide. Although sad and unfortunate, these turtle necropsies offered an unmatchable learning experience. We’ll be able to put that knowledge to use as we see more and more cases in the coming years.
Dr. Terry Norton, Simon Dilts, Michelle Kaylor and Jessica Self performing a necropsy on a Loggerhead sea turtle.
Overall, the short trip to Marathon was a great experience! I personally enjoyed learning about the other facilities and research, as well as meeting people who share the same interest and passion of sea turtle conservation. I also left feeling very grateful to be a part of the GSTC. This center has done so much for sea turtle conservation in a very small amount of time.
Thank you,
Jessica Self
GSTC Americorps Education Member
