The Sea Turtle’s Plea
I am a giant turtle
And with my shell I hurtle
Over rocks and sticks
To the blue, blue sea.
Though I may be slow on land–
My flippers struggle on sand–
My speed can’t be matched
In the deep, blue sea.
However . . .
I now swim zigs and zags
’round plastic bottles and bags.
What’s all this doing
In the once blue sea?
Please promise to stop this mess–
Just recycle and use less–
So I can swim fast
In a clear, blue sea.
By Carole Mackey,
Educator and Sea Turtle Fan
Satellite-tracked turtle returns to nest again
by Ludi Lellis, Orlando Sentinel on May, 23 2011
About three years ago, she crawled off a Brevard County beach, a satellite tag glued to her back so that turtle fans could track her. Now, the loggerhead sea turtle has returned to Central Florida, back again at our beaches to nest again.
The return of the Belle O’Brevard, as she was named, has thrilled turtle researchers, who have learned much through satellite tagging of the sea-faring reptiles.
“Usually the transmitters don’t last long enough but on this turtle, we’ve been able to track her for three years,” said Rocio Johnson, with the Sea Turtle Conservancy in Gainesville.
The Belle O’Brevard was so named as part of a contest during the 2008 Tour de Turtles, an annual event hosted by the Sea Turtle Conservancy in which several turtles are fitted with satellite tags and then tracked for a marathon distance of 2,620 kilometers.
In 2008, this particular turtle, then weighing 350 pounds, had come ashore at the Archie Carr Refuge near Melbourne Beach to dig a nest but before she could return to sea, a fist-sized satellite transmitter was glued to her shell.
The transmitter has stuck, sending a satellite signal every three days. Her favorite migration path is between the Carolinas and Maryland, where she is apparently following the horseshoe migration season. You can see her migration map at this website.
She headed south to Florida a few weeks back and has been staying close to the Brevard coast. Turtles normally return to the beach where they first hatched to lay their own eggs and loggerheads are known to lay eggs about every two to three years. So it would seem that her biological clock is due for another round of nests.
Johnson noted, though, that no one has confirmed a nest, because no one has yet caught up with her at a beach during the nocturnal egg-laying.
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On behalf of STC, thanks for continuing to cover sea turtles, Ludi!
Florida sea turtle supporters:
We are passing this alert from 1000 Friends of Florida on to our friends and supporters and recommend you take action as soon as possible. As many of you know, the Florida legislature is focused on cutting the budgets of state regulatory agencies and their environmental programs, streamlining or eliminating environmental regulations, and essentially gutting the growth management laws that have been in existence for decades.
As the legislative session winds down there are many bills that will reduce or eliminate environmental protections for surface and marine waters, wetlands, coastal habitats, sea grass beds, and wildlife. The alert below addresses two of the worst bills working their way through the legislature and what you can do to reduce the potential harm to Florida’s rich environment.
Sea Turtle Conservancy has been actively involved in this legislation and working with its partners in the environmental community to make this legislation better. We have offered amendments to improve these bills in ways that would ensure protection for sea turtle nesting beaches. Unfortunately it has been a difficult uphill battle. We are now asking for your help. The issues and the bills are complicated. Please read the alert below and take action:
While the schedule has not yet been released, the Senate Budget Committee is expected to pass the growth management bill, SB 1122, on Thursday, April 28. SB 1122 will then be ready for a floor vote by the full Senate sometime next week.
Representatives of Florida’s leading planning and conservation organizations, including 1000 Friends of Florida, Audubon of Florida, the Everglades Foundation, Florida Wildlife Federation, National Parks Conservation Association, Sierra Club, and The Nature Conservancy, have been consulting with key Senate leadership on growth management and have come to the conclusion that sweeping growth management legislation will pass this session despite strenuous objections. While it has many flaws, SB 1122 is clearly preferable to the House companion bill, HB 1729.
We are asking you to call your Senator as soon as possible to prevent damaging changes to SB 1122 when it comes up for a vote by the full Senate next week. Click here to find your Senator. Please ask your Senator to:
(1) Keep intact the existing SB 1122 language on the expedited review/alternative review process. The Senate version provides for fairer citizen challenge standards on plan amendments, and gives smaller local governments the option of keeping the current and more comprehensive plan amendment process; and
(2) Not allow “developer giveaways” on large scale projects (known as DRIs) to be amended on to SB 1122. These damaging amendments would allow a 150 percent increase in the size of projects that would be exempted from the state DRI review process, a 100 percent increase in the allowance for large scale changes to DRIs that do not require additional DRI review, and outright exemptions from the DRI process for MINING, INDUSTRIAL, and HOTEL/MOTEL projects.
Stop a Monster Environmental Bill:
HB 991 by Rep. Jimmy Patronis includes a series of special interest changes to 34 different environmental laws undermining citizen protection rights from polluters. It would limit local regulation of mining operations, allow groundwater contamination from landfills, and increase development provisions in wetlands. More information will be released at a 10:30 a.m. press conference called by The Sierra Club, National Parks Conservation Association, Audubon of Florida and 1000 Friends of Florida. Conservation groups are calling on Senators to resist efforts to amend this bill’s bad provisions on to other proposed legislation.
While you are calling your Senator about halting the damaging growth management provisions outlined above, please also ask your Senator to not amend the harmful provisions from HB 991 onto other bills. Please also contact your Representative to oppose HB 991. To find your Representative, please click here and then click on the “Find Your Representative” icon.
In an effort to get the word out about endangered species and help make a difference through education, College Degree Net published a list with their choices for the Top 100 Animal Preservation Blogs.
Here is what they had to say about Sea Turtle Conservancy’s blog:
“Fortunately, visibility for the need to protect sea turtles has boomed recently. This blog helps you direct your concern to practical and effective modes of support.”
Thanks for the kudos College Degree Net!
At the end of September 2010, STC initiated the construction of a Education Kiosk in Tortuguero, Costa Rica. The building is constructed with concrete floor, a wooden frame and a traditional thatched roof made with the leaves of a local palm species known as the royal palm tree, Manicaria saccifera.
The goal this new facility is to offer a better learning experience for tourists and the Tortuguero Community. The Education Kiosk will feature an informative video, information panel displays and serve as a meeting facility for the local community.
STC was able to build this facility thanks to support from Tourism Cares and three French volunteers who dedicated a month of sweat and expertise.
— Update from the staff in Tortuguero, Costa Rica
From left to right: Ivan (STC staff), Alain, Jose (STC staff), Rene and Robert
Got New Year’s resolutions on the mind? Get organized with the 2011 Sea Turtle Scenes Calendar featuring the winners from STC’s calendar contest. Click here to get your calendar today!
To see see the individual pictures and names of winning photographers, please visit our STC page on Facebook.
Every now and then, we get a letter that touches our hearts. This one came just in time for the holidays, and we wanted to share it with our sea turtle fans.
Sammy donated $83 for the holidays that he collected from working at his lemonade/hot chocolate stand. Along with his donation, he sent us a letter and a decorated envelope.
Sammy at his hot chocolate/coffee stand
Thanks Sammy for spreading sea turtle love this holiday season!
From the staff at STC
After years of working in the magazine industry, Julie Schlosser and Lee Clifford decided to transform their passion for doing good into action.
They formed Altruette, a philanthropic line of charm bracelets.
“The Altruette concept couldn’t be simpler: 50% of the net profit from the sale of our charms goes directly to our cause partners,” said Julie.
Beyond financial support, wearing your Altruette turtle charm helps spread the word about sea turtle conservation in a fashion-forward way.
Visit Altruette.com today to check out their fabulous sea turtle charm benefitting STC!
Since the oil spill, STC has doubled its efforts to reduce threats to sea turtles in Florida.
STC is traveling the state in search of problematic beachfront lights and working with residents, business owners and local sea turtle groups to install sea turtle-friendly lighting.
Supported by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the program is reducing the negative impacts of lighting on sea turtles and hatchlings during nesting season.
Check out a before-and-after shot of this condo from the beach.
Before Window Tinting
After Window Tinting
To many in Florida’s environmental community, the hastily called legislative Special Session in Tallahassee on November 16 was a warning shot across the bow. If all the rhetoric from legislators turns into action, the next few years spell trouble for Florida’s environment.
After the Nov 2. elections, the Florida legislature wasted no time in overriding the Governor’s veto of one of the worst environmental bills in years. House Bill 1565, passed last year by the legislature but vetoed by the governor, would bring state rulemaking—environmental and otherwise—to a grinding halt.
HB 1565 requires expensive economic analyses on any state agency rules, and requires any rules with more than a minimal estimated economic impact ($200,000 a year for 5 years) to return to the Legislature for ratification. Adding insult to injury, the bill was offered last year late in the legislative session with almost no public debate. In the days prior to the Special Session, conservationists, business owners and local government leaders urged legislators not to overturn Governor Crist’s veto. Those pleas were ignored.
Several legislators from both parties eloquently objected to the veto in floor debate. In the final vote a very small handful of legislators voted nay but, both houses overwhelmingly voted to override Crist’s veto, making this new law effective immediately.
In a follow up article in the Tallahassee Democrat, both sides offered comments on what this vote means. “This is literally across the board. This would change the way government operates,” said Frank Matthews, a prominent Tallahassee lobbyist for the Association of Florida Community Developers.
Audubon of Florida Executive Director Eric Draper stated, “From the public health and safety standpoint, this is the worst possible thing they could come up with. This may be what they want to do, just shut down government altogether.”
Crist justified his veto last year by saying this would result in a power grab by the legislature of executive authority over state agencies. Florida’s environmental agencies in responding to the bill, reported that almost all agency rules concerning environmental, growth management, water management and related issues will “trip the threshold” requiring approval from the legislature. The veto override was expected by this new legislature. Its anti-government regulation philosophy is closely aligned with the sentiments repeatedly expressed by the new Governor-elect.
I do not know how this will impact beach and turtle protection. But it could potentially impact everything from sea wall permitting to lighting ordinances. It will certainly have a chilling effect on issuing any future environmental regulations. Before DEP can issue a new regulation on anything, lets say beach raking to protect nesting, the agency would have to conduct an economic analysis. If the cost to implement the new regulation is over 200k statewide (remember this is a very large state so almost any rule could cost at least this much to implement) then the regulation would have to go to the legislature for hearings, analysis and approval. This will likely open up agency rule making to extensive special interest lobbying, delaying ratification for years.
The legislature has effectively taken executive branch authority for rule making away from the governor and state agencies and placed it in the hands of what some consider the most conservative legislature since reconstruction.
Gary Appelson
Policy Coordinator