Join us at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center as we Shell-e-brate Earth Day this Saturday, April 14^th from 11am to 3pm.  This fun, family friendly event is FREE with general admission.  Activities include crafts, exhibits, games, Earthly magic and even live animals!  Don’t forget to meet Scute and check out his spiffy spring gear.  Sea if you can figure out what it is made of.  Find out why honey is so important to sea turtles.  Visit with local artists and sample an Earthly treat you’re sure to enjoy.  Additional food will be available for purchase by Coasters Curbside Cuisine.

Don’t forget to cast your vote for Patient of the Year.  $1 per vote for the sea turtle patient you think best represents our goal: Rescue, Research, & Rehabilitation.

For more information, visit our website: www.georgiaseaturtlecenter.org

SEA YOU THERE!

~Kira Stearns, Educator

The Georgia Sea Turtle Center was invited to demonstrate how to use the art of puppetry to engage younger audiences. For those of you who don’t know, the GSTC puppet show “Scute’s Ocean Adventure” is world-renowned and has been seen by thousands of young children. The puppet show features a young turtle, named Scute (our mascot) who goes on an adventure. Along the way, he meets many friends (Leandro, the Leatherback; Maura, the Moray Eel), but also some danger (Sylvie and Stan Shark). Scute sees a glistening jellyfish and tries to eat it, but unfortunately finds that it’s not a jellyfish at all. It’s a plastic bag! It gets stuck in his throat and he is taken to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center where Dr. Norton fixes him right up and gets him back to the ocean!

Using art, like puppetry, is a great way to engage younger children and teach them environmentally-friendly ideas. Plastic hurts the animals in the oceans. We have to recycle and reuse as much as we can.

There was a striking guest speaker at the EEA conference, artist Pam Longobardi, who focuses her pieces in the longevity of plastic in the ocean. She creates beautiful driftwebs and wall art made entirely out of plastic which she has found along the beaches and shores of her travels. Many of her pieces are poetic in their beauty and message, yet horrifying in their shear size and relevance to daily life. Pam said during her talk that plastic doesn’t really ever disappear. Almost every piece of plastic ever made is still out in the world somewhere! Think of the shear mass of every piece of plastic ever made! Most plastic doesn’t biodegrade. It photodegrades which means it only breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces. All of those tiny pieces of old plastic are floating around in the ocean, being ingested by tiny organisms. Plastic makes its way into the food chain at the lower trophic levels and soon makes it way through the food chain as one organism eats another.

For the past five years, volunteer Gary Buckles has dedicated a large part of his life to a single cause: the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. Since 2007, Buckles has been an active volunteer at the sea turtle research, rehabilitation and educational facility on Jekyll Island. Several days a week, he wakes at 4 a.m., driving from his home in Folkston, to be at the center hours before it opens in order to ensure that the facility operates as efficiently as possible. This month, his dedication to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center was recognized by an international audience. On March 16, Buckles was awarded the International Sea Turtle Society’s Ed Drane Volunteerism Award, an international award that recognizes one volunteer from around the world who has made a significant contribution to sea turtle conservation.

Chosen from a field of international applicants, Gary won the award for his ongoing devotion to and passion for sea turtle conservation. Prior to retirement several years ago, Gary was an air traffic control, and came to the Sea Turtle Center with no formal training in veterinary medicine or marine life research. However, after years of acting as a jack-of-all-trades for the center, he has gleaned a deep understanding of what goes into sea turtle conservation and why the preservation of the sea creatures is imperative. “This has been such an inspiring venture for me,” Garysaid. “Sea turtles are the barometer for the health of our ocean, our overall ecosystem. Doing anything I can to assist in their continued conservation is important. Winning this award is an incredible honor.

But working at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, as closely as I am allowed to do, has been a true gift for me.” Having Buckles work at the center has also been a major aid for staff and other volunteers, said Dr. Terry Norton, Director and Veterinarian of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. Buckles proves a devoted volunteer who never misses a shift, and is able to perform a variety of duties that help the center operate smoothly, Norton said. “We have many great volunteers and Gary is, as this award shows, a caring, committed member of our team,” Norton said. Jeannie Miller, Volunteer Coordinator at the center, echoed Norton, stating that Buckles has learned a diverse skill set since coming on board at the center. During his volunteer hours, Buckles mans a variety of stations, from assisting with sea turtle surgeries to working in the gift shop if needed. “Gary comes in at the crack of dawn, stays 10, 12 hours, and leaves at night fall,” Miller said. “He loves being here and we love having him.”

Currently, Gary is in the Caribbean, working with the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network. For several years, he has spent three months of the year in St. Kitts working with the network for a sea turtle tagging and nesting program. He first joined the GSTC International Team in 2008 and was such a benefit to the team, that Dr. Norton and Dr. Kimberly Stewart, the Director of St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network, have invited him to come back each year and have expanded his duties to be that of a Research Assistant. “Sea turtle conversation and research has become my life,” Gary said. “My wife and I are now passionate about this cause. It’s a strange turn, for sure, but one that has honestly fulfilled me. It is a mission I plan to continue as long as they will have me.”

Please join us in congratulating Gary’s and celebrating his accomplishments!

About the International Sea Turtle Society Ed Drane Volunteerism Award: The Ed Drane Award for Volunteerism was established in memory of Ed Drane who was Treasurer of the ISTS for more than 20 years. This award is presented annually to a person working outside their professional life to voluntarily commit a significant portion of time, energy, and passion to the conservation of sea turtles. They do not seek academic or monetary credit for their efforts but they make a significant contribution to the study and conservation of sea turtles. For information visit www.seaturtlesociety.org.

Every year, AmeriCorps members across the country celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday by assisting with a community service project meant to help empower and strengthen local communities.  The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service extends beyond AmeriCorps, as people across the country come together to serve neighborhoods and communities as “a day on, not a day off.”

This year, our AmeriCorps Members went to Little Saint Simons Island to collect native seeds and work on their bulk head garden.  We worked alongside members of Coastal WildScapeswhose mission is to actively preserve and restore the highly significant biodiversity of Southeastern coastal ecosystems by protecting existing native habitats, rebuilding the connectivity of impaired habitats and minimizing the future fragmentation of the coastal landscape.  Little Saint Simons Island is a source for local, native plant genotypes.  LSSI and Coastal WildScapes are working with GA DNR to gather native plants, raise them in the Jekyll Island greenhouse and then sell them to the public at plant sales.  These efforts are an attempt to reconnect fragmented habitats and individuals can help by beginning this process right in their own backyards.  All plants do not serve biodiversity equally as plants and insects evolve together to form an ecosystem base.  Native plants can attract pollinators, improve water quality and require less care than non-native plants attempting to grow in GA soils.  Little Saint Simons Island Resort also helps work towards Coastal WildScapes goals through education.  LSSI shows guests the uses of native plants in restoration as well as organic gardening and vermicomposting systems.  Their next project on the island is to remove the bulkhead and put in a living shoreline.

View during Little St. Simons Island tour!

We started our day of service with a tour of the island.  We stopped along the way to collect native seeds from various plants that will be processed and sent to be raised in the Jekyll Island Greenhouse.  After lunch, we travelled back to the lodge area of the island and began working in the bulkhead garden.  We broke into different teams focused on removing weeds and jumping cactus, edging the border of the garden and translocating plants.  After a couple of hours, we had made a large impact in the garden and left it with a lot less weeds and jumping cactus.  In the future, this bulkhead and bulkhead garden will be made into a living shoreline consisting of oyster shells.

Check out Little Saint Simons Island and Coastal WildScapes to learn more about their native plant and education initiatives!

Blazing Star (Liatris pilosa) on the left and Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) on the right are native perennials that attract butterflies.

Caitlin Sampson
Volunteer Program AmeriCorps Member

Hugue upon arrival to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. Epibiota covered his entire body.

One of our newest loggerhead sea turtle patient arrived on December 29, 2011. Hugue is a sub-adult who stranded in Huguenot Park, just south of Little Talbot Island in the Jacksonville, Florida area. His/her stranding location is how the name “Hugue” was chosen.

Leeches and barnacles were some of the many epibionts found covering Hugue.

Hugue came in to the center moderately debilitated and with lots of epibiota on his/her carapace, plastron, face and flippers. Some of these epibionts included leeches, crabs, algae and polychaete worms. Hugue was very thin, lethargic and had a glucose level too low to register upon arrival.

Epibiota is a common occurrence on loggerhead sea turtle shells. Barnacles, crabs and other epibionts can help sea turtles camouflage into the muddy, active waters found along the Georgia coast.  However, when epibiota moves beyond the carapace and covers significant portions of the head and flippers, it can slow the turtle down and be a visible sign of Debilitated Turtle Syndrome.

The first treatment for a sea turtle patient covered in epibiota is a fresh water soak. Hugue was placed in a shallow, fresh water bed overnight upon arrival to the GSTC.  This freshwater soak helped to kill the marine epibiota covering Hugue’s body. After the marine epibiota was removed, we were able to assess the damage done to Hugue’s carapace.  The top layer of a sea turtle shell is composed of modified scaled, called scutes, that are built of the protein keratin.  Keratin is the same protein that composes our hair and finger nails, so it will grow back. Hugue will remain a patient here at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center until his shell has regenerated the layer of keratin scutes he/she would normally have.  He/she has gained about eight pounds since arriving at the center in December and eats all the food offered each day. The healing process can take a while, but Hugue is now doing much better and we hope to release him/her back into the ocean some day!

Caitlin Sampson
Volunteer Program AmeriCorps Member

Registration has been extended to Wednesday, March 7th.  Last chance to join us for a Turtley Awesome experience!  Registration details are below.  Don’t miss out!

Join Us for an exploration of Jekyll Island’s magnificent variety of reptilian wildlife as we explore Turtles for Tomorrow!  Spend a few hours learning about sea turtles, marsh turtles, and other reptiles as participants visit three hands on environmental learning facilities on Jekyll Island including, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, Tidelands 4-H Nature Center, and Jekyll Island 4-H.  This Turtley Awesome event takes place on Saturday, March 10th from 9am to approximately 1pm.  Make a day out of it as picnic space is available near the Georgia Sea Turtle Center or at the Beach!

Whether you have just one scout or the whole troop, we would love to spend the morning together to learn about all of the unique reptiles on Jekyll Island.  More information is available at www.georgiaseaturtlecenter.org including the reservation form.  Look for the “Register Now” button on our main page.  Share the word with other troops so that we may pass Turtles for Tomorrow on to new friends.

Cost is $10/participant and includes a certificate of participation and a special ‘Turtles for Tomorrow’ patch that can be worn on the uniform.

Registration is due March 1st! 

This is a different event than our scout programs on site such as Nifty Nesters (Girl scouts) and Turtles, Tortoises, & Terrapins, Oh My! (Boy scouts)

Contact Kira Stearns, Special Events, for questions and more information at kstearns@jekyllisland.com or call (912) 635-4076.

‘Sea’ you there!

-Kira Stearns

Educator – Special Events, Adopt-a-Sea Turtle Program

While every conservation management project seemingly has its flaws, I believe that the sea turtle research program on Jekyll Island is close to perfect. We have had dedicated, hard-working patrol teams for years, accounting for every female and every nest that we are fortunate enough to call our own on the island. With the help of beach proximity and technology, we always have all of the equipment we need to do our job, and while there are always bumps in the road, we end up getting the work done efficiently and effectively. Experiencing sea turtle tagging programs in other countries has allowed me to better appreciate all the luxuries we really have on Jekyll Island.

The sea turtle conservation project with Osa Conservation is well-established, but it has some inevitable limitations caused by things such as the nature of the unstable terrain, inclement weather, remote location, limited funding, and small staff size. Georgia is a good location to become gently exposed to harsh summer field conditions, but not even National Geographic can quite prepare anyone for exactly what it is like to live and work in a tropical rainforest during rainy season. Water is the one unifying thing that makes the Osa sea turtle project both possible yet unbelievably impossible at times. Thank goodness for tin roofs.

The biggest difference between the Jekyll Island sea turtle tagging program and the one in the Osa, besides the target species, is the fact that all patrols are done on foot. Osa Conservation monitors up to 4 beach transects, including Piro (2KM), Pejeperro (4.5KM), Rio Oro, and Carate (5KM). An interesting fact, however, is that the average number of kilometers spent patrolling the beach on foot per season in the Osa is about equal to the average number of kilometers spent patrolling the south end of Jekyll Island on foot each season – roughly 1,600 KM! That, of course, does not include the hike to get to the beaches in Osa, which take anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes each way. The trails to the beach involve wading across the river and are often flooded with soupy mud, while the beaches themselves consist of soft, rocky black sand. After 2.5 months of patrol and a base diet of rice and beans, I feel like I am in the best shape of my life. The most useful items to have for sea turtle patrol in Costa Rica are rubber boots with knee-high socks, a bright torch, and a rain jacket.

                The beaches in the Osa Peninsula are frequented by 4 species of sea turtles:  the Olive Ridley or “Lora” (Lepidochelys olivacea), Green/Pacific Black Turtle or “Verde/Pacifica negra” (Chelonia mydas agassizii), Leatherback or “Baula” (Dermochelys coriacea), and Hawksbill or “Carey” (Eretmochelys imbricata). Peak nesting season for the Olive Ridley – by far the most frequent nester in the Osa – runs from July through December, which is when Osa Conservation hires research field assistants, like myself, to assist with the project. Like on Jekyll, Osa Conservation runs both night patrols, in search of nesting females, and dawn patrols, in search of additional nests, false crawls, depredated nests, and nests that have hatched. Osa Conservation, however, does not run a true saturation tagging program like we do here on Jekyll Island – the time and duration of all patrols is heavily dependent on the tides and rainfall, since it is quite easy to get trapped on the beach by high tides and strong rivers. There were some nights where we only patrolled just over one hour, some nights where we patrolled the beach for 9 hours, and other nights where no one patrolled at all. In the month of October, it rained so much that the rivers flooded, and we could not leave the station for a week; not to go to town, not to go for a hike, not even to go on a single patrol. Fortunately we did not run out of food or electricity – which was, at the time, reliant only on solar power.

The Osa Peninsula is the most important non-arriabada nesting site for Olive Ridleys on the entire Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. During the 2011 nesting season, from July to December, we recorded about 2,000 sea turtle crawls and 1,400 nests, and tagged over 400 different nesting sea turtles – quite an impressive number compared to the 2011 season on Jekyll Island, which consisted of 415 sea turtle crawls, 177 nests and over 60 tagged turtles. During my 2.5 months on the project, I saw over 50 Olive Ridleys and 8 Greens – my favorite species of sea turtle. Each and every turtle was unique, but there are a few specific cases that will always stand out in my mind. One was a Lora who false crawled into the river on the beach five times and kept coming back to try again. Several Loras got so tangled in vegetation that I had to cut them free. One night we had both a Green and an Olive Ridley nesting side-by-side at the same time. Another Olive Ridley tried to dig her new egg chamber directly on top of an existing nest that was in the middle of hatching out – throwing hatchlings out of the nest as she dug into it. There was a Olive Ridley with a missing left rear flipper – who I named “Izzy” (short for “izquierda” which means “left” in Spanish) – who still managed to successfully nest without assistance. On Pejeperro there was one Green who completely buried her entire head and the left side of her body into an escarpment of sand. There were so many turtles, but the only turtle I can say for sure I saw twice was an injured Olive Ridley who had a large abscess on her neck and malfunctioning rear flippers – she never nested, and I saw her on a different beach each time.

Olive Ridleys have a similar body plan to the Loggerhead Sea Turtle, but they are much smaller, only about 60 cm on average (compared to a 90 cm Loggerhead). Their incubation period is also a little shorter, lasting anywhere from 45-60 days. The nests we are able to locate are triangulated using nearby vegetation so that the exact nest location is not as apparent to poachers, another culture-based challenge that we don’t typically have to deal with in the United States. I never did get the chance to see a Green hatchling, but had plenty of opportunities to witness Olive Ridley babies scurrying to the sea. Since there is such a long nesting season, nests had already started hatching as soon as we arrived, so it was a different experience to have a long overlap of mamma and baby turtles on the beach.

In addition to conducting patrols, I also wrote a 20-page protocol manual for the Osa project – which is being translated into Spanish by another research field assistant. I also organized and managed their database, which I will continue to do even while I am back in Georgia. In the time I was there, all of us research field assistants developed and implemented new and improved protocols, helped improve communication and efficiency, developed a nest excavation schedule, proofed existing data, and became the best of friends. Reflecting upon my experience in Costa Rica, I not only feel like a more culturally-diverse scientist, but a changed person as well. This wasn’t an eco-vacation, it was a chance to truly become engaged in the Costa Rican lifestyle. Having been there for over two months,everyone in town knew exactly who we were, and we made some lifelong friends. Now that I am back in The United States, I have a better appreciation for simple things, like clean socks, a hot water shower, and dry hair. The Osa project, the wildlife and the people of the Osa Peninsula are an important part of my life, and I hope to return there for some time as soon as I find the opportunity. Until then, I am looking forward to being involved in another fantastic sea turtle patrol season right here on Jekyll Island. We will continue our collaborations with the people at Osa Conservation by continuing to host some of their biologists at the GSTC as well.

-Breanna Ondich

Research Member

Hey all you animal lovers! Do you know any youth that are interested in becoming a vet some day?

Ichabod Ink is the first and only website that is 100% dedicated to kids, tweens and teens who are interested in veterinary medicine.  Through its videos, members go behind the scenes in veterinary hospitals and see what veterinarians do.  They also hear veterinarians answer questions and learn the science behind veterinary cases.  Veterinary games are also available that teach the science of animals.

Check it out at http://www.ichabodink.com/

Starting this Wednesday, Jekyll Island will be hosting the Southeast Regional Sea Turtle Meeting.  The event will hosts sea turtle researchers, patrol leaders, and animal care experts from all across the region.  Learn more at the conference website:  http://iconferences.seaturtle.org/serstm/

Stay tuned for a wrap up blog about the great meeting!

Terra-Tiger

If you’ve visited the GSTC recently, you may have had the opportunity to meet two of our newer patients: Terra-Tiger and Helio-Noel. Both of these juvenile green sea turtles came to the center in December after getting caught in dredging equipment off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida.  The more I talked about these two patients to guests, the more I realized that I knew very little about dredges and even less about their impacts on sea turtles. I did a little research on the topic and thought I would share my findings with GSTC blog followers who, like myself, might be interested in learning more about dredging and sea turtle safety.

To begin, a dredge is a machine that removes material from the sea floor. There are a couple of different types of dredges, and each is designed to accomplish a different task. Terra-Tiger and Helio-Noel encountered the dredge MV Terrapin Island, a trailing suction hopper dredge. This dredge type drags a suction apparatus that acts like a vacuum to pull up material from the seabed. Since sea turtles spend a lot of their time resting or foraging on the ocean floor, they are fairly vulnerable to being pulled into hopper dredge devices.

Dredges can do a wide variety of things, and in fact provide many services that are critical to the operation of other industries. They are perhaps best known for carving out the channels used by shipping and recreational vessels, however dredges can also be used for fishing, mining, beach renourishment, and pollution clean-up.

In the United States, dredging projects are managed and regulated by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).  In order to minimize the negative impacts dredging may have on sea turtles, USACE has undertaken multiple studies to assess the consequences of dredging.  These have ranged from collecting abundance data in areas slated for dredging activity to testing methods that disperse or remove turtles before dredging projects begin. All of these efforts have resulted in USACE developing a series of protocols and equipment designed to lessen the threats that dredges pose to sea turtles.  Some of the practices developed to protect turtles from incidental take include:

• Restricting dredging activities to certain environmental windows: sea turtles aren’t typically found in water colder than 12 °C (about 54°F), so dredging projects often take place during the colder months of the year (December-March).

• Using exclusion equipment to prevent sea turtles from getting caught in dredges: the proper use of deflectors on dredging equipment has been shown to drastically reduce sea turtle entrapment.

• Dispersing or relocating sea turtles prior to dredging:  a variety of methods have been employed to remove turtles from dredge sites, including the use of trawl nets to capture and relocate turtles inhabiting the dredge pathway. Not all methods of dispersal have been found to be particularly effective, and many may not be used due to the high financial costs they entail.

• Implementing a monitoring program to keep track of incidental take of sea turtles: many dredging vessels are required to have a National Marine Fisheries Service-approved monitor on-board to examine dredge equipment and dredged materials for entrapped sea turtles. This is how Terra-Tiger and Helio-Noel were found and brought to the GSTC.

After getting pulled through a dredge, turtles may have a variety of injuries. Terra-Tiger arrived with internal bruising, some carapace abrasions and a fracture, as well as swelling in the eyes and neck. The turtle was also pretty lethargic and in shock, which is not surprising considering the extent of its injuries. As treatment, Terra-Tiger received fluid therapy for hydration and wound cleaning and debridement. Terra-Tiger continues to receive iron supplements to help combat anemia, as well as a variety of oral medications to head off infection.

Helio-Noel

Helio-Noel came to the GSTC about 10 days after Terra-Tiger and also had a serious array of injuries. These included multiple fractures to the carapace and plastron, as well as skin and shell abrasions.  In addition to cleaning and debridement, Helio-Noel’s early treatment involved the use of a WoundVAC, a device which uses negative pressure to create an environment that promotes wound healing.  These tough turtles still have a long road to release, but have many well-wishers rooting for their speedy recovery; several employees from the MV Terrapin Island have either called or stopped by the center to check up on their turtle friends!

There is a lot more information about dredging and sea turtles available online, and if you’re interested in learning more I encourage you to check out the following resources:

USACE Sea Turtle Data Warehouse:  http://el.erdc.usace.army.mil/seaturtles/

Historical review of dredging impacts and sea turtle protection: http://el.erdc.usace.army.mil/seaturtles/docs/2004WODCON-Dickerson.pdf

Presentation about the impacts of dredging on sea turtles: http://water.epa.gov/type/oceb/oceandumping/dredgedmaterial/upload/2009_08_27_oceans_ndt_about_15_get-science-right-dickerson.pdf

Sadie Mills

GSTC AmeriCorps Education Member