Saving Sea Turtles With Dots.Eco

SEE Turtles is thrilled to be partnering with Dots.Eco to help protect sea turtles around the world. With the support of Dots.Eco, SEE Turtles is working with partners to help protect important turtle nesting beaches and clean plastic out of important turtle habitats.

Nesting beaches supported by Dots.eco

2023 Nesting Season

Ayotlcalli, Mexico: an organization dedicated to protecting endangered sea turtles which nest in the area of Playa Blanca, Playa Larga and Barra de Potosi, Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, México. Estimated hatchlings saved: 5,700

Tortugas de Osa, Costa Rica: a community-led association that aims to integrate and educate local people in the conservation of the sea turtle nesting beaches of Rio Oro and Carate. Estimated hatchlings saved: 77,000

PAMaLi Indonesia: a nonprofit working on sea turtle protection and conservation on Denawan Island. They protect nesting hawksbill and green turtles. Estimated hatchlings saved: 8,700

Provita, Venezuela: Biologist Clemente Balladares works with communities in the Gulf of Paria to protect hawksbill and leatherback sea turtles. Estimated hatchlings saved: 5,000

Palmarito Sea Turtle Rescue, Mexico: This camp works along 21 kilometers of beach on Mexico’s Pacific coast, protecting nests of leatherback, green, and olive ridley turtles. Estimated hatchlings saved: 2,000

2024 Nesting Season

Sea Turtle Conservancy (Costa Rica): Tortuguero Beach is a globally-important nesting site for green turtles, The beach, which is one of the longest running wildlife conservation projects in the world, regularly receives more than 100,000 green turtle nests per year and more than 3.5 million hatchings. Estimated hatchlings saved: 35,000

SOS Nicaragua: Since 2019, Sos Nicaragua has been implementing conservation efforts on the island of Los Brasiles. The average number of nests protected annually usually exceeds 100, mostly nests of olive ridley turtles. Estimated hatchlings saved: 1,400

Reef Guardians (Malaysia): Since 2004, this project has protected hawksbill and green turtles nesting on Lankayan Island. Estimated hatchlings saved: 12,000

Ocean Spirits (Grenada): This beach averages around 300 leatherback and hawksbill hatchlings per year with more than 6,000 hatchlings. Estimated hatchlings saved: 5,000

Colola Beach (Mexico): Colola is the most important beach for nesting black turtles which have been increasing significantly over the past 20 years. The beach now has more than 80,000 nests and an estimated 5 million hatchlings per season. Estimated hatchlings saved: 350,000

Ashanti (Ghana): A project born in 2021 that protects more than 270 nests and 13,000 hatchlings of olive ridleys, greens, and leatherbacks. Estimated hatchlings saved: 4,000

Turtle Love (Costa Rica): A community-based conservation project working to protect the second most important nesting beach for green turtles in Costa Rica, in addition to supporting leatherback and hawksbill turtle nesting. Estimated hatchlings saved: 13,000

ProNatura Yucatan (Mexico): ProNatura has protected 3 of the most important nesting beaches in the Yucatan Peninsula. They average around 2,500 green and hawksbill nests per year with 16,000 hatchlings. Estimated hatchlings saved: 15,000

Sea Turtle Conservancy (Panama): In the last 8 years and thanks to the protection of the area, the number of nests have been increasing from 688 in 2014 to 1104 last in 2021. Estimated hatchlings saved: 17,000

Latin American Sea Turtles (Costa Rica): Moin beach is threatened by illegal human actions during nesting season. This beach averages around 600 leatherback nests and 25,000 hatchlings per season. Estimated hatchlings saved: 1,000

Nancite Beach (Costa Rica): Playa Nancite is the second most important nesting site for olive ridley sea turtles in Costa Rica. The arribadas of these turtles generally result in between 20,000 and 116,000 nests each year. Estimated hatchlings saved: 220,000

TOTAL ESTIMATED HATCHLINGS SAVED: 766,000

Plastic Cleanup Projects

Agbo Zegue: Togo

Agbo Zegue works to protect sea turtles and clean up plastic waste along the coast of Togo. Total estimated plastic collected: 37,500 lbs

Grupo de Trabajo en Tortugas Marinas del Golfo de Venezuela (GTTM)

GTTM works to protect sea turtles in the Gulf of Venezuela and clean plastic waste around Maracaibo Lake which has intense waste from Caracas. Total estimated plastic collected: 12,000 lbs

Paso Pacifico: Pacific coast, Nicaragua

Paso Pacifico is working to clean 10 turtle nesting beach along Nicaragua’s Pacific coast. They will separate the waste and recycle what is possible through their Junior Rangers program. Total estimated plastic collected: 25,000 lbs

Karumbe: Uruguay

Karumbe works to clean plastic waste around the communities of La Coronilla y Punta del Diablo. This area is one of the worst in the world for ingestion of plastic waste by sea turtles. Total estimated plastic collected: 50,000

Our World, Our Sea: Ghana

This organization conducts beach cleanups along twelve community beaches and three fish landing sites. Total estimated plastic collected: 56,000

COBEC: Kenya

This project brings together key stakeholders from different sectors in a joint effort to find solutions to reduce plastic pollution in the Marereni seascape. Total estimated plastic collected: 22,000

Latin American Sea Turtles (LAST): Costa Rica

LAST works to protect sea turtles on both of Costa Rica’s coasts. These funds will help cover beach cleanups in Pacuare and Moin on the Caribbean as well as the Osa Peninsula. Total estimated plastic collected: 125,000

Palawan Biodiversity Conservation Advocates: Philippines

The mission of Palawan Biodiversity is to actively work for the protection, conservation, enhancement, and sustainable management of biodiversity in the province of Palawan and Puerto Princesa City. Total estimated plastic collected: 21,000

Turtle Love: Costa Rica 

Turtle Love runs a community-based conservation project working to protect sea turtles nesting at Playa Tres, the 6-km stretch of beach immediately south of Tortuguero National Park. Total estimated plastic collected: 30,000

Bahari Hai: Kenya

This new organization works in the Kanani area, which accumulates significant plastic pollution due to the monsoon. Total estimated plastic to be collected: 23,000

Costa Rican Alliance for Sea Turtle Conservation & Science (COASTS), Costa Rica

COASTS’ aim is to safeguard sea turtle populations and their habitat. For this grant they are focusing on removing plastic from the mouth of the Rio Sixaola during turtle nesting season. They have started to remove plastic during the past two nesting seasons and have pulled a total of 2117 kg (more than 2 metric tonnes) of plastic. Total estimated plastic collected: 50,000 lbs.

Grupo de Trabajo en Tortugas Marinas del Golfo de Venezuela (GTTM)

GTTM is a nonprofit organization dedicated to research and conservation of sea turtles in the Gulf of Venezuela. The organization coordinates volunteer cleanups around Lake Maracaibo and beaches along the Gulf. Total estimated plastic collected: 5,700 lbs.

2023 Sea Turtle Week Beach Cleanups

With $6,000 we were able to  support 14 different organizations in 8 different countries with an estimated of more than 54,000 pounds of trash taken out from marine turtle nesting beaches. 

The projects / beaches supported were:

  • Fundação Tartaruga. Boa Esperança, Boa Vista, Cabo Verde

  • Kiunga Turtle Conservation Group. Kiwayu, Kenya

  • Grobios A.C. Bahias de Papanoa Estero Colorado Santuario Playa Piedra de Tlacoyunque, Guerrero, Mexico

  • Kiunga Community wildlife association, Lamu, Kenya

  • Greening Forward Cameroon. Isobe-Idenau Cameroon

  • Agbo-Zegue. Togolese littoral (Site 1, 2 and 3 in Lomé - Togo)

  • Center For Community Enhancement Cameroon, Buea- Southwest Region Cameroon

  • Kenyan Youth Biodiversity Network. Diani beach, Kenya

  • Ecological Conservation Puerto Rico. Arecibo, Puerto Rico

  • Marereni Biodiversity Conservancy. Marereni beach, Kilifi county, North coast, Kenya

  • Sustainable Ocean Alliance Cameroon. Batoke, Limbe Cameroon

  • Centro de Protección y Conservación de la Tortuga Marina "ECOMAR-UAGro". Llano Real, Benito Juárez, Guerrero, Mexico

  • Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD). Bundu beach, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

  • Barra de la Cruz, Oaxaca, México

TOTAL ESTIMATED PLASTIC CLEANED: 465,000 lbs

2024 Sea Turtle Week Beach Cleanups

  • AGBO-ZEGUE (Togo) (15,400 lbs)

  • Fundação Tartaruga (Cabo Verde) (4,400 lbs)

  • Kiunga Turtle Conservation Group (Kenya) (8,800 lbs)

  • Bridges Cameroon (Cameroon) (13,200 lbs)

  • ECOMAR-UAGro (Mexico) (3,300 lbs)

  • Turtle Love (Costa Rica) (1,200 lbs)

  • Tortugas Marinas del Golfo de Venezuela (2,800 lbs)

TOTAL ESTIMATED PLASTIC CLEANED: 49,240 lbs