Sea Turtle Conservancy

Author: Lexie Beach

  • JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: Staff Accountant

    Overview and Purpose

    Sea Turtle Conservancy (STC) is an international nonprofit 501(c)3 organization based in Gainesville, Florida and was founded by renowned sea turtle expert Dr. Archie Carr. STC is the oldest and one of the most accomplished sea turtle conservation organizations in the world. STC is hiring a Staff Accountant to assist the STC Controller in managing and accounting for projects in the US, Costa Rica, Panama, and wider Caribbean.

    Duties and Responsibilities

    This position is full time, physically based in our Gainesville, Florida office. Accounting tasks will be many and varied, under the direct supervision of the Controller. They will include:

    • General Ledger
    • Accounts Payable
    • Grant administration of the Sea Turtle License Plate grant program
    • Grant administration of the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) Lighting and Predation grant programs
    • Grant reporting to Foundations
    • Sorting and coding reports from Costa Rica and Panama
    • Managing gift shop sales reports
    • Preparation of 990 schedules and documents
    • Payroll
    • Human resource tasks
    • Bank statement and investment reconciliation
    • Sales Tax reporting
    • The staff accountant should possess the ability to work with and support the many members of our conservation team.

    Minimum Qualifications

    • Bachelor’s degree with a major in Accounting or Finance.
    • Experience with non-profit accounting, grant or contract management preferred.
    • Organized and detail-oriented with the ability to simultaneously handle and prioritize multiple tasks.
    • Strong written and verbal communication skills.
    • Skilled with MS Office (Word, Excel).
    • Skilled with general accounting software programs such as DacEasy or Peachtree.
    • A personal commitment to the wildlife/conservation mission of the organization.
    • Position requires US citizenship.

    Salary and Benefits

    • Starting salary will be commensurate with experience (Range $45,000 – $50,000)
    • Fully paid employee health and dental insurance.
    • Paid holidays, vacation, and sick days.
    • Retirement plan initiated after 12 months employment.
    • Work in a flexible, yet highly motivated non-profit environment with a close-knit team of professionals committed to sea turtle conservation.

    Applications will be accepted until a candidate is selected. Apply by submitting your cover letter and resume to the Senior Accountant at erin@conserveturtles.org.

     

  • STC Awarded Two Florida Sea Turtle License Plate Grants

    Funded by a portion of revenues from Florida’s Sea Turtle Specialty License Plate, the Sea Turtle Grants Program distributes funds each year to support sea turtle research, conservation and education programs that benefit Florida sea turtles. In 2024, Sea Turtle Conservancy (STC) had two grants funded, Addressing Barriers to Lighting Compliance Through Targeted Outreach and Inspiring Sea Turtle Conservancy Action Ambassadors.

    Addressing Barriers to Lighting Compliance Through Targeted Outreach

    May be an image of lighting and twilight

    Poorly managed coastal lighting is a leading threat to Florida’s sea turtles. For decades, numerous programs offered by scientists, government agencies, and non-profit organizations have been in place to reduce problematic lighting on Florida’s beaches. However, there is widespread agreement among stakeholders in Florida that more needs to be done to address two barriers to reducing problematic lighting: the inaccessibility of wildlife friendly products and the need to distribute sea turtle conservation messaging through coastal real estate agents. As it stands now, it is largely impossible for a coastal property representative to walk into a home improvement store and purchase wildlife friendly fixtures and lamps; they must be ordered through a lighting distributor that has existing relationships with manufacturers of wildlife friendly lighting. In addition, as more people move to Florida’s coast from out of state, it is crucial that new residents are aware of how to protect the natural resources they are inheriting; one way to reach this audience is by providing educational materials to real estate agents that sell beachfront properties and interact directly with this important audience. Over the past few years, Sea Turtle Conservancy (STC) has begun to address lighting issues with targeted education and outreach. Through this project, STC will refine its home improvement store initiative, and provide the ability to expand STC’s outreach efforts and break down two important barriers to reducing sea turtle disorientations on important sea turtle nesting beaches.

    Inspiring Sea Turtle Conservancy Action Ambassadors

    May be an image of 4 people, people swimming and oceanThe Barrier Island Sanctuary Management and Education Center (BIC) has a responsibility to train the next generation of stewards of sea turtles and their critical nesting habitat. Sea Turtle Academy (STA) field study education programs have reached up to 3,300 students in both Brevard and Indian River Counties with support from the Sea Turtle Grants Program to provide bus scholarships and with funding for a Sea Turtle Educator. Most of these programs reach K-4 students. To broaden the age range of our audience, in 2019, STC also built the Sea Turtle TECH STEM Program to reach middle school and teen audiences during the summer. These programs show strong learning outcomes and pro-sea turtles attitude and conservation behavior shifts. However, the BIC still needs a teen program during the school year. This project will fund a Community Stewardship Coordinator and a college intern to support the STA education program, other sea turtle outreach programs, and the new STCAA program to reach students in the 11-18 year old age range during the school year. With a new Sea Turtle Conservancy Action Ambassador Program, based on the Community Action Projects for the Environment model produced by UF IFAS, we will train teens in the steps needed to succeed in collaborative projects that create systemic change. These projects may be citizen science, advocacy or stewardship oriented and will address threats to sea turtles and their habitats. These programs build the future stewards of the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge by training the next generation in the skills needed to conserve sea turtles and their habitats.

    Both projects are funded in whole by a grant awarded from the Sea Turtle Grants Program. The Sea Turtle Grants Program is funded from proceeds from the sale of the Florida Sea Turtle License Plate. Learn more at www.helpingseaturtles.org.

  • Join us for a Live Tour de Turtles Release this Summer!

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    2024 Tour de Turtles Live Events!

    Release dates and information are subject to change. Please check back as we get closer to the event dates! All events listed below are FREE and open to the public. No registration needed!

    Loggerhead Turtle Release on Anna Maria Island
    Date: June 24 or 25 (release date dependent on turtle nesting)
    Location: Anna Maria Island, FL
    Release Time: 8:30 am EST

    More info on our Facebook Event Page Here!

    Green Turtle Releases in Tortuguero, Costa Rica
    Date: July 14 & 15
    Location: STC Field Station, Tortuguero, Costa Rica
    Release Time: 9:00 am CST (local time)

    Hawksbill Turtle Releases with The Four Seasons Resort Nevis
    Date: July 21, 22
    Location: Pinney’s Beach, Nevis
    Time: 9:00 am AST (local time)

    Loggerhead Turtle Release in the Archie Carr Refuge
    Date: Sunday, July 28
    Location: Barrier Island Center, 8385 S Hwy A1A, Melbourne Beach, FL 32951
    Release Time: 8:30 am EST (arrive by 7:30 am)

    Rehab Turtle Release with The Turtle Hospital
    Date: Friday, August 2
    Location: Sombrero Beach, The Florida Keys
    Time: 9:30 am EST

     

    Questions about any of the Tour de Turtles events? Email lexie@conserveturtles.org

    Make sure you subscribe to our E-Newsletter below or follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to receive updated information regarding turtle releases.

  • Help us Raise $65,000 for STC’s In-Water Program this Giving Tuesday

    Sea Turtle Conservancy (STC) is hoping all of its supporters will participate in this year’s Giving Tuesday Campaign, which seeks to raise funds for the critical in-water work we are doing to study and conserve sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico. Though not as well-known as Black Friday or Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday, which occurs the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (November 28 this year), is one day when everyone can join together to make a huge difference.

    For Giving Tuesday last year, STC supporters raised $60,000 for STC’s research and conservation programs in Tortuguero, Costa Rica. STC has set its sights even higher this year, with a goal of raising $65,000, which we are confident we can reach thanks to generous pledges from STC’s Board of Directors to match up to $33,000 for every dollar donated.

    STC’s In-Water Research Project in Florida has been in high gear over the last several years. The project, led by STC Biologist Rick Herren in collaboration with Dr. Ray Carthy at University of Florida’s (UF) USGS Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, recently surpassed 300 sea turtle captures in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. The overall goals are to study sea turtle distribution, demographics, health, movements, and threats in this important foraging habitat and to promote their conservation in the region.

    Our research team is working on a variety of studies in collaboration with UF graduate students. We are finishing up three projects we began in 2019. These include an estimate of species abundance and distribution throughout Florida’s Big Bend, a comparison of juvenile green turtle demographics between three widely separated foraging grounds, and a study of green turtle movement and behavior during the winter. Last year, we began working with a UF graduate student studying green turtle fibropapillomatosis or FP, which is a debilitating tumor-bearing disease linked to poor water quality. We also began studying green turtle health and diet using point-of-care devices to analyze blood gases and blood chemistry values in the field. These measurements can be used as reference values for the medical management of sea turtles under veterinary care and as a comparison with sea turtles at other developmental foraging grounds. Lastly, we are studying the movements and behavior of Kemp’s ridley sea turtles in a warming Gulf of Mexico.

    In addition to our research we are engaging more with the wonderful people who live in Florida’s Big Bend and Panhandle. The Big Bend or Nature Coast is one of the least developed coastlines in Florida. We are working on a new education campaign to connect with residents and visitors alike on the importance of this coast for sea turtles and what they can do to help them survive in the future. As part of this work, STC is set to release a handy new smart phone app that will allow people to report turtle sightings on the water and provide STC with useful information for locating new sea turtle foraging hot spots.

    STC is deeply appreciative of all the support received from various corporate and private donors for the project. Our current project needs include a dedicated truck for towing our boat to and from various research sites, which will have the added benefit of allowing STC to respond quickly to turtle stranding events, such as cold stuns. We raised money in the past for this purpose, but during the pandemic truck prices shot up so high we are still short of our need.

    We are hopeful that STC’s members will support the program this Giving Tuesday, when all donations will be matched 1:1 by the STC Board of Directors. With your support, STC will continue filling gaps in our knowledge about the sea turtle populations found in this important region, and we will apply that knowledge to effective conservation action.

    Help support STC’s Giving Tuesday Fundraiser by donating in one of three ways:
    1. Online at conserveturtles.org/GivingTuesday or facebook.com/conserveturtles
    2. Call 352-373-6441 with your credit card info
    3. Mail a check with “Giving Tuesday” in the subject line. All checks received with “Giving Tuesday” in the subject line will count towards the campaign if received by December 31.

  • ALERT – Brevard Barrier Island Protection Bill Signed Into Law!

    We are thrilled to announce that Florida House Bill 1489, a bill designating the southern area of Brevard County as an Area of Critical State Concern, was signed into law by the Governor yesterday!

    Brevard County’s south beaches join only five other areas in Florida with this designation, including the Florida Keys, Key West, Big Cypress, the Green Swamp and the Apalachicola Bay area.

    This new protection area contains the entirety of the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, a 20.5-mile section of shoreline between Melbourne Beach and Wabasso Beach – the most important sea turtle nesting beach in the United States. It also contains the Indian River Lagoon, an important estuary, recreational fishery, and developmental habitat for sea turtles.

    The law requires state, regional, and local government agencies to prevent the adverse impacts of development on resources critical to sea turtle habitat. This includes prohibiting new shoreline hard armoring, reducing nutrient pollution to improve water quality, supporting nature-based solutions to restore habitat, ensuring that development is compatible with the barrier island’s natural resources, and more. Read the full language here.

    After learning about efforts to increase development density on Brevard’s South Beaches earlier this year, Sea Turtle Conservancy worked with Barrier Island Protection and Preservation Association (BIPPA), 1000 Friends of Florida, and Brevard County legislators to help draft and advocate for this legislation. At every committee stop, including the full House and Senate, the bill passed unanimously. We believe this was due to the overwhelming feedback legislators received from community members and supporters about the bill.

    We thank Representative Thad Altman and Senator Tom Wright for filing this legislation, as well as their staff aides who helped usher the legislation through the process. The bills had strong support from the entire Brevard County legislative delegation. We are also grateful to our conservation partners, legislators, local community members, and our dedicated supporters who helped contribute to this victory for sea turtles!

  • Sea Turtle Grants Program Awards $490,000 to Conservation Projects in Florida

    The Sea Turtle Grants Program (STGP), funded by the sale of Florida’s “Helping Sea Turtles Survive” specialty license plate, recently awarded $490,892.07 to 30 different projects benefiting Florida sea turtles as part of the 2023-2024 grant funding cycle. Since it’s inception, the Sea Turtle License Plate Grants Program has awarded more than $7 million to conservation projects.

    Each year, the Sea Turtle Grants Program distributes money to coastal county governments, educational and research institutions and nonprofit groups through a competitive application process. The sea turtle specialty license plate is also the primary source of funding for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Marine Turtle Protection Program.

    The following organizations received grants for their approved projects for the 2023-2024 cycle:

  • ACTION ALERT! Encourage Florida Legislators to Support the Balloon Release Ban in 2023

    A major threat to sea turtles is the ingestion of or entanglement with marine debris, including single-use balloons. Although many Floridians participate in balloon releases as part of a celebration or to honor a loved one, once balloons are released, they can travel thousands of miles before landing. When a balloon bursts and lands in the ocean, sea turtles and other marine wildlife often consume it because of its resemblance to jellyfish. Sea turtles are unable to regurgitate, so once the balloon enters the digestive tract, it can cause an impaction that can lead to death.

    The ribbon attached to balloons also wraps around the flippers or necks of sea turtles, inhibiting breathing, eating or swimming. People who monitor sea turtle nesting around Florida report seeing balloons on nesting beaches on an almost-daily basis. Sea turtle rehabilitation facilities in Florida spend hours removing balloon material and other plastic debris from stranded sea turtles. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has numerous records of sea turtle deaths associated with balloons.

    We are encouraged to see the filing of H.B. 91 – Release of Balloons, which would close a loophole allowing countless balloons to enter our waterways and kill marine life, including sea turtles. Currently, Florida Statute 379.233 prohibits the release of ten or more balloons per day, but makes an exception for “biodegradable” balloons, which is not scientifically sound. By removing these two loopholes, as read in H.B. 91, Florida can drastically reduce plastic debris in the marine environment and save countless marine animals.

    All species of sea turtles found in Florida’s coastal and nearshore habitats are listed as either “threatened” or “endangered” under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, meaning that they are at risk of extinction. A number of man-made threats, including coastal development, light pollution, boat strikes, commercial fishing interactions, and plastic pollution are contributing to their decline. While reducing plastic pollution in the ocean as a whole will require systemic change, stopping intentional balloon releases and their debris in the marine environment is achievable through laws such as H.B. 91. By supporting the balloon release ban in Florida in 2023, you can directly improve sea turtle nesting and foraging habitat.

    The 2023 Legislative Session begins on March 7 and ends on May 5. To support this legislation, STC encourages Floridians and all sea turtle enthusiasts to contact state House Representatives and Senators and ask them to support H.B. 91, the intentional balloon release ban, when it is scheduled in their committees and up for consideration on the House and Senate floor. While emailing is helpful, directly calling legislators at their district or Tallahassee offices and speaking with their staff is especially impactful. If you are unsure who your legislators are, follow the links below.

    Find your Florida Senator: https://www.flsenate.gov/senators/find

    Find your Florida House Representative: https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/findyourrepresentative

  • SCAM ALERT – DO NOT PURCHASE PRODUCTS FROM BELA WONDER, TURTLE’S JOURNEY, OCEAN PROJECT.CO, OCEAN BETTER, WILDLIFE MISSION OR WILDLIFE TEAM

    **NOTE: To purchase tracking bracelets from our official charity partners, please click this link or check out the companies listed on our Partners page here: https://conserveturtles.org/partners**

    SCAM ALERT! Companies operating under a variety of names are advertising on Facebook, selling products online, and illegally using STC’s turtle tracking maps as a perk to buyers. If you have been offered an STC tracked turtle by purchasing something from Bela Wonder, Ocean Project.co (not to be confused with ‘The Ocean Project‘), Turtle’s Journey, Wildlife Team, Wildlife Mission, or Ocean Better, they have used Sea Turtle Conservancy’s turtle tracking information without our permission. Don’t be duped or support the scammers!

    If you have been scammed, please do NOT email or call STC if you haven’t received your order or if you have questions about your turtle. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do. The greatest inconvenience to STC (aside from having our copyrighted information stolen) is the valuable staff time that is being wasted responding to people’s complaints rather than actually working to protect sea turtles. Instead, we encourage you to report the activity of these companies to the Better Business Bureau, Shopify, and Facebook (contact information below).

    How to report scam companies:

    File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau: https://www.bbb.org/consumer-complaints/file-a-complaint/get-started

    Report online shops to Shopify: https://help.shopify.com/en/questions#/contact/email

    Report pages to Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/help/355811251195044

    If you ever question the legitimacy of a company who claims to partner with STC, we encourage you to reference the PARTNERS page on our website, which we update regularly.

     

     

  • Join STC on a Sea Turtle Expedition to Costa Rica this August!

    Join STC on an exclusive, guided journey August 3-10, 2023 to experience the warmth of tropical beaches and rainforests in Costa Rica while we explore the wonders of sea turtles. During this short and immersive trip we will spend a few nights working hands-on with green turtles in Tortuguero – nesting site of the largest green turtle colony in the Atlantic and the literal birthplace of sea turtle conservation. You will be guided by world-renowned sea turtle biologist and STC Scientific Director, Dr. Roldán Valverde, a Costa Rican native, who will give presentations on sea turtle research and conservation, as well as rainforest ecology, biodiversity and local “Tico” culture.

    This trip will also include a visit to the Arenal volcano, where you will enjoy natural hot springs and other natural attractions around this active volcano region. Click here to see more details and register for the trip through our travel partner, Holbrook Travel.

    Highlights

    • Assist STC researchers with turtle nest monitoring, tagging, and tracking during evening turtle patrols on the beaches of Tortuguero.
    • Explore Tortuguero National Park by boat and on foot to seek out wildlife like monkeys, sloths, caimans, and more than 350 bird species.
    • Hike in Arenal Volcano National Park to learn about the geology of the area, and then visit Arenal Hanging Bridges for a treetop view of the rainforest canopy and its flora and fauna.
    • Enjoy a relaxing soak in the geothermal hot springs near Arenal Volcano.

    Click here for the FULL ITINERARY!

    Cost: $3,540 (not including airfare)

  • Help STC Raise $70,000 for Urgent Turtle Research and Protection Efforts in Tortuguero this Giving Tuesday!

    Each year for Giving Tuesday (the Tuesday after Thanksgiving), Sea Turtle Conservancy (STC) targets one of its most pressing sea turtle protection projects as the focus for this annual charitable event. The campaign starts with a pledge from STC’s Board of Directors to match the individual donations provided by STC members and supporters, up to a certain amount. This year’s challenge match from the Board will be $35,000, which means our Giving Tuesday fundraising goal is $70,000 or more.

    All funds donated for this year’s Giving Tuesday will be directed toward STC’s turtle research and protection efforts in Tortuguero, Costa Rica—the birthplace of sea turtle conservation. STC’s work in Tortuguero began back in the 1950s, making it the longest-continuous turtle conservation project in the world. Many of the turtle monitoring and protection efforts developed at Tortuguero are used today by sea turtle conservationists around the globe. In fact, many of the world’s leading sea turtle scientists and project leaders got their start as STC Research Assistants in Tortuguero. Most importantly, as a result of STC’s efforts over the last six decades, the green turtle colony that nests at Tortuguero recovered from near the brink of extinction to being one of the two largest green turtle populations in the world.

    With all the history and success of this project, STC is concerned knowing that the gains made on behalf of Tortuguero’s green turtles could be in jeopardy for reasons that are poorly understood. Our strategy of systematically reducing threats to sea turtles both on the nesting beach and at sea produced measurable results over the decades. Beginning in the late 1970s, approximately 25 years after conservation efforts started at Tortuguero, the green turtle population began increasing in size. The timing was not a coincidence. Green turtles take at least that long to reach maturity—meaning hatchlings that were protected and released in the 1950s should have started returning to Tortuguero as adults to nest by the end of the 70s. That’s exactly what our data indicates happened.

    From the 1960s up to 2012, the number of green turtle nests deposited in Tortuguero grew by over 600%. During high nesting years, it was common to document well over 150,000 nests in a season. The establishment of Tortuguero National Park, the elimination of global sea turtle trade, the banning of turtle and egg consumption at Tortuguero, and the development of sea turtle eco-tourism as an alternative livelihood for the local community all had positive impacts—proving that sea turtle conservation efforts developed by STC worked. Tortuguero green turtles were on the path to full recovery.

    But something unexpected began to happen over the next decade. Starting in 2013, we began documenting a declining trend in nesting. It wasn’t a dramatic drop. In fact, given the phenomenal growth of the population prior to this time period, STC was not particularly worried about a few “down” years of nesting. The factors that cause annual turtle nesting numbers on any beach to ebb and flow still are not well understood. However, our cautious observation of the nesting trend turned into real worry in 2021, when after several down nesting seasons, the number of nests dropped to the lowest level in 25 years (about 40,000 nests for the entire season). This is still a lot of green turtle nests, and it reaffirms Tortuguero’s global importance for this species. Nevertheless, it sparked worry knowing that a little over ten years ago the number of nests hit 180,000 during a single season.

    While our preliminary analysis of the 2022 nesting season indicates an encouraging uptick in nesting, the trend over the last decade still has us concerned that something unusual is happening. And that’s bad news for green turtles throughout the Caribbean and Atlantic. With funding raised through this year’s Giving Tuesday campaign, STC will launch important new studies and conservation efforts to help identify and address the threats that have caused the population decline. There probably is not a single “smoking gun.” Rather, it’s more likely that the collective impact of several threats is affecting the population. Our work will focus on identifying new marine foraging sites used by green turtles where they may be experiencing previously-undocumented hunting pressure. We also will work more strategically with the community and natural resource agencies in Tortuguero to curtail illegal hunting of turtles and eggs, which increased dramatically during the pandemic and still remains at an elevated level. It is entirely possible that unforeseen factors related to climate change could be impacting turtle reproduction, so this is another area where our focus will turn.

    STC has proven that it has the skill, dedication and tenacity to ensure the long-term survival of sea turtles. We will not allow our decades of success on behalf of sea turtles at Tortuguero to be undone, but we need your help. Please consider making a special donation for this year’s Giving Tuesday (donations will be accepted for this purpose through the end of the year).

    Help support STC’s Giving Tuesday Fundraiser by donating in one of three ways:
    1. Online at www.conserveturtles.org/GivingTuesday or facebook.com/conserveturtles
    2. Call 352-373-6441 with your credit card info
    3. Mail a check with “Giving Tuesday” in the subject line. All checks received with “Giving Tuesday” in the subject line will count towards the campaign if received by December 31st.