Each year between the months of March and July thousands of female leatherback sea turtles come ashore to nest.  Besides laying precious eggs during their brief time out of the water, these turtles give us the opportunity to observe nesting behaviors and to give us the opportunity to gain obtain valuable research data.  Leatherback sea turtles are the largest sea turtle in the world measuring an average of seven feet in length and weighting about one thousand pounds.  Adult male leatherbacks have been documented to weigh 2000 lbs or a ton! As giant as these creatures are, their diet depends entirely upon jellyfish.  Known as the “Iron-man” of the sea turtles, leatherbacks dive the deepest and swim the greatest distances.  Their range covers all of the worlds oceans; however, their populations are unstable and their survival is threatened by many conditions both environmental (loss of habitat, food sources, predators) and human impacts (beach development, pollution, fishing industry especially the longline fisheries).  The Pacific leatherback is in greater trouble than the Atlantic and numbers have dwindled rapidly in the last decade and a half.

Here at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, we have begun our sea turtle patrol of Jekyll Island’s beaches; our first nest of the season…a leatherback!  The GSTC has many affiliations and projects around the world for the conservation and protection of sea turtles.  One such program is the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network (SKSTMN) in St. Kitts and Nevis, a small island in the West Indies of the Caribbean.  In conjunction with Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine and the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST), the Georgia Sea Turtles sends staff and volunteers down each year to help with the Leatherback Sea Turtle Project, a monitoring program organized and run by Dr. Kimberly Stewart.  The GSTC staff have also conducted several health related workshops in St. Kitts and provide scientific and veterinary expertise to the program.

This year, several volunteers and staff at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center have will traveled down to help out with this project. Alicia Marin, our Education Coordinator traveled down in April and was able to establish educational sea turtle programs at hotels and resorts on the island while Steven Nelson, our Veterinary Technician, traveled down this past week to help with night monitoring and blood collection and processing for the nesting turtles.  Dr. Norton and Michelle Kaylor (Rehabilitation Coordinator) are assisting Ross University in the development of a small rehabilitation center.

Upon return from his trip to St. Kitts, Steven shared with us his experience. 

“This past week has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life, I had never anticipated the feeling you get when you first see a one thousand pound sea turtle emerging from the water on a moonlit beach.  Up close, these turtles are incredible, as if their size and strength isn’t enough, their artful instinct and behavior is amazing.  How such as giant creature can gently manipulate delicate eggs is nothing short of impressive.  Over eight turtles nested during the week of my trip, walking up and down the beach from 8pm-4am, it’s the adrenaline of finding a turtle that keeps you going.  Every turtle we came across was examined, measured, tagged and a blood sample was obtained.”  

Unlike other sea turtle species, leatherbacks get flipper tags in their rear flippers, these tags enable us to track the turtle each time they nest during a season and years to come.  Measurements of the turtle’s shell are taken to monitor growth rates.  Blood samples are collected from their rear flippers and provide information as to their overall health.  An assessment of their surroundings and location of the nests are noted.  “Due to unsuitable habitat, 3 of the 8 leatherbacks we came across needed their eggs relocated in which we relocated to suitable habitat away from high tide and erosion sites.” After about 58 days of incubation in the sand, hatchlings will emerge and make their way to the ocean where very few (1:1000) make it to adulthood.  The SKSTMN patrol team is there to help and excavates nests to save straggler hatchlings and assure that they all have a chance to at least make it to the sea without obstacles, environmental stresses or natural predation. 

“Besides spending long nights on the beach, I was also able to take part in a unique St. Kitts event called Agriculture Day, an annual event in which the entire country’s school kids are able to attend a fair revolving around animals, plants and the environment.  This was a unique opportunity because many of the students that were born and raised where leatherback sea turtles nest and frequent had no clue that they even existed.  We also shared with them the importance of their survival and the many dangers they face in the wild.“  

Even though they are endangered, the sale and consumption of sea turtle products is legal during certain months (open-season) in St. Kitts, which heavily impacts the sea turtle population.  Education is the first step towards conservation; it is difficult to change tradition and culture in a society so dependent on this resource; however, many of the local fishermen on the island have since learned of the importance of sea turtles in the ecosystem and have either discontinued these practices or have even joined the conservation efforts of the patrol/monitoring team.  Dr. Norton and Michelle Kaylor will be traveling to St. Kitts next October to place satellite transmitters on hawksbill sea turtles that would otherwise be eaten. The fishers normally killing the turtles will hopefully be engaged in the monitoring of the turtles after they are released. This is a pilot project that we hope will expand if preliminary results are successful.

“One of my most memorable moments of the trip was during our second night on the beach that week.  We were watching at 6 foot long turtle dig a nest chamber when we saw in the distance behind the vegetation line a group of dark shadows slowly approaching us.  In fear for personal safety we shined our flashlights towards the shadows and dozens of wild cattle were coming over to check out the commotion.  They get within five feet of the nesting turtle and began to intently staring at her as she nesting.   They were amazed and the look on their faces was priceless, it was one of the most unique interspecies experiences that I have ever witnessed.” 

Visit the following link for more info on the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network (SKSTMN).  http://www.stkittsturtles.com/Welcome.html

-Steven Nelson, Veterinary Technician

You may be aware that the GSTC Education Department provides outreach programs about sea turtles throughout the southeastern United States, but did you know that we travel to the Caribbean?!?! But of course - we are always up for an opportunity to spread the word about sea turtle conservation!  It was only 3 short years ago that Alicia Marin, now GSTC Education Coordinator, spent the summer working on the small island of Nevis, assisting the Nevis Turtle Group (NTG) with their sea turtle monitoring project.  When the NTG was approached by the Four Seasons resort with an interest in providing a sea turtle related activity for children, Alicia jumped at the chance to work with local children, and developed a Sea Turtle Camp on the spot!  The program was so successful (100 children graduated from Camp that summer), she continued to perfect the curriculum as her Master’s thesis at Duke University, which is currently pending publication.

Alicia and Sarah Eckert (former GSTC Educator) are spending 3 life changing weeks in the West Indies, assisting with Sea Turtle Camp, Caribbean style.  This past week we were on the island of St. Kitts and had the pleasure of working with local Kittian children, thanks to the generous support of the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network.  We offered 2, half day camps; 6-8 year olds in the morning and 13-16 year olds in the afternoon.  Each day the Campers focused on a particular aspect of sea turtle biology, conservation, and threats that they face.

We first began with an introduction to sea turtles, and learned about the Amazing Adaptations™ that sea turtles face. So OF COURSE we had to make our own shells and beaks!  The children had the opportunity to express their creativity while decorating their paper carapaces (top shell) and plastrons (bottom shell).  Thanks to the efforts of the in water tagging team, our older Campers were able to see a juvenile Hawksbill sea turtle!

No day is complete without snack, and our Campers were given only the best treats.  After learning about the nesting process, and how sea turtles are Egg-cellent Nest Protectors™, Campers became nesting females and buried their “eggs” (marshmallows) in their “nest” (pudding, graham crackers and whipped cream) to keep them safe.  The older Campers learned about natural and human associated threats through a bingo like game called T-H-R-E-A-T™.  Not only did the Campers learn a lot, but they had a blast!  Let’s be honest, you are never too old or too young for Bingo.

The Campers also learned how people of all ages can help sea turtles.  Our morning Campers, played a game of Garbage in the Water to show the effects of marine debris on sea turtles, and learned how long it takes for certain items to break down.  Dr. Kimberly Stewart then presented on the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network, and introduced opportunities for the older Campers to get involved.  This included creating beads from glass bottles that would have otherwise been discarded!  That’s right, glass bottles!  Andy, a sea turtle conservationist by day and stand up comic by night, did a mind blowing glass bead making demo for the Campers and Staff.  Each Camper (and even us!) had the chance to create a beautiful glass bead necklace. The St. Kitts Sea Turtle Project has conducted several workshops for local fisherman to encourage their participation in this glass bead initiative in which everyone benefits.  This program allows Kittians the chance to receive monetary compensation, glass to be recycled, and sea turtle projects to be supported. We even had at least one interested Camper! Wondering where you can purchase these unique glass beads?  Well, the GSTC of course! We are proud to sell these one of a kind glass bead necklaces and keychains in our gift shop, helping to support this wonderful program.

After only 4 short days it was apparent how much fun these Campers had and even more amazing was how much they learned.  This week was one to remember for a life time, and this is only the beginning of our Caribbean EXTREME Outreach.  This week we educated 25 children, but there’s more to come!  Be sure to check out the blog next week to learn about Sarah’s outreach adventures on St. Kitts, as she educates 9-12 year olds for round 2 of Sea Turtle Camp and Alicia’s outreach adventures on Nevis, as she assists Barbara Whitman with her Under the Sea Camp.

“Liming” in the Caribbean,

Alicia and Sarah

Among the capacity building initiatives is WIDECAST’s regional Sea Turtle Trauma Response Corps (STTRC). The aim of the STTRC is to strengthen and coordinate the efforts of people throughout the Wider Caribbean Region to respond to sea turtles in crisis, whether at sea or stranded along shoreline. The initiative includes the development of a variety of standard guidelines and field procedures manuals, as well as standardized reporting forms and database management software.

In addition to peer-reviewed guidelines, Internet-based resources, information management software, and other technical products, the STTRC provides regular training and internship opportunities for field staff and volunteers, natural resource managers, veterinarians, and rehabilitators. Recently a manual was developed entitled Marine Turtle Trauma Response Procedures: A field Guide, 2006, http://www.widecast.og/trauma). Dr. Norton’s first presentation was an overview of the field guide contents and how Caribbean veterinarians can be involved in first response initiatives for stranded sea turtles. Other presentations by Dr. Norton included “Pertinent Anesthesia and Surgery in Sea Turtles”, “Necropsy Techniques in Sea Turtles”, and “Managing a Sea Turtle Mass Mortality Event”. Other speakers and topics presented included “Sea Turtle Strandings in Barbados” by Barry Kruger and Gus Reader, “Sea Turtle Trauma Response Corps An Overview” by Kimberley Stewart, “Rehabilitation of Sea Turtles” and “Fibropapillomatosis in Sea Turtles” by Charles Manire.

Another objective of the visit was to evaluate some green turtles that have been habituated to hand feeding pieces of fish to attract tourists. Unfortunately, the turtles have become obese. Some solutions and compromises were discussed with local sea turtle conservationists such as feeding more appropriate vegetarian treats such as squash. Future trips may involve evaluating the health status of the habituated turtles and their wild counterparts that are feeding predominantly on sea grasses.