Introducing Our Newest Cohort of Community Leaders

We’re thrilled to announce our newest cohort of Sea Turtle Community Leaders (formerly the Sea Turtle Inclusivity Fund), all from Africa. This program supports residents living around sea turtle habitats to advance their careers so that they can lead local conservation programs.

Epeh Nuela Ayuk (Cameroon) is an accomplished graduate of the University of Buea, holding a degree in Environmental Science with a major in Environmental Science and a minor in Occupational Health and Safety. She is passionately dedicated to the field of waste management, with an emphasis on tackling marine pollution. As the Marine Conservation Coordinator for the Association for Community Awareness (ASCOA), Nuela plays a vital role in supporting the Environmental Protection Department.

Born in Lomé, Togo GBATCHI FAFA JUDITH holds a Master's degree in International Marketing and Networks and lives in the fishing community of Bè. She is actively involved in initiatives to help young people protect of the environment and the sea turtles she fell in love with a few years ago. As a founding member of the association Environnement et Relève de Demain in Africa (E.R.D. Afrique), she designs and implements of projects aimed at raising young people's awareness of environmental issues. Her vision is to promote environmental education adapted to local realities.

Nicholas Okeyo Otieno is a self-driven professional with experience in the field of fisheries and marine sciences. He co-founded and oversees administrative affairs at Mariners for Action (MFA), a conservation organization in Kenya. He holds both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in fisheries, oceanography, and marine/lacustrine management. As a member of Global Youth Biodiversity Network, Nicholas is deeply committed and passionate about marine research and conservation efforts.

Salma Hashim was born in Mkokoni village in Lamu, Kenya. Salma Hashim's commitment to sea turtle conservation and community development inspires those around her, making her a valuable asset to the Kiunga Turtle Conservation Group. She is a certified emergency responder, trained by the Kenya Wildlife Service. In 2011, Salma was trained by WWF Kenya in sea turtle conservation. Her dedication and efforts in this area have made her a recognized figure in turtle conservation within the Kiunga Ward area. In addition to her conservation work, Salma holds a certificate in peace and safety. Most recently, Salma completed a three-month leadership and management training program offered by the North Rangeland Trust.

2024 SEE Turtles Program Wrap Up

2024 was a strong year for our efforts to protect sea turtles and support coastal communities worldwide. We had a record number of baby turtles saved, helped clean up literal tons of plastic, and provided support for efforts to fight the tortoiseshell trade and grow emerging leaders in communities near turtle habitats.

A huge thank you to all of the supporters, travelers, businesses, and as always, our incredible network of partners around the world who are implementing these programs. None of this success would be possible without any of you!

Billion Baby Turtles

2024 was another great year for this program, setting a new record with an estimated 6,194,000 million hatchlings saved with 40+ grants, supporting 220 local jobs. Those funds include grants to 11 new partners in Ghana, Togo, Mexico, Bangladesh, Panama, and Colombia. For 2025, we are planning to provide an additional $200,000 in grants to our local partners around the world. Check out all of our partners from 2024 and before here.

Too Rare To Wear

We initiated new multi-year grants for on the ground work by our local partners Fundacion Tortugas del Mar (Colombia), The Leatherback Project (Panama), and Latin American Sea Turtles (Costa Rica). These grants will help to train law enforcement, research the trade, and build alliances with the tourism industry. We also worked with Care2.com to promote our pledge to avoid turtleshell which got more than 6,500 signatures. Our staff has also been working to grow our network of tourism partners working to educate travelers about this trade. For 2025, we will be finalizing upgrades to our award-winning SEE Shell App that uses AI to identify illegal turtleshell products, providing more funding for local campaigns, and reaching the public about this urgent issue.

Sea Turtles & Plastic

In 2024, we provided 12 grants totaling $24,000 cleaning up more than 200,000 lbs of waste. Those funds supported more than 400 coastal residents, helping to generate income for them and conservation efforts. Those grants included 4 grants for building new recycling efforts in 3 countries (Ghana (2), Kenya, and the Philippines. We are expecting a big 2025 for this program, as we are receiving great support from the Adventure Travel Conservation Fund and the Footprints Fund in addition to other supporters including our Sustainable Travel Sponsors. We are projecting $50,000 in grants to 15 - 20 cleanup and recycling efforts around the world this year.

 SEE Turtle Conservation Trips

2024 was our best year ever for our trips including trips to Costa Rica, Belize, Mexico, and Panama. For the year, we had 93 travelers generating more than $130,000 in conservation benefits. That includes $45,000 in profit for our general fund (which keeps our lights on) with an additional $20,000 generated for Billion Baby Turtles, Too Rare To Wear, and Plastic programs. We brought back our popular trip to Colola, Mexico which we filled. For 2025, we brought back our popular trips from previous years, Cuba and Galapagos, both of which have filled. We are starting on a very strong footing for 2025, 80 people registered for this year’s trips.

Sea Turtle Community Leaders

We’re very excited about the potential for this growing program. We recently changed the name from the Sea Turtle Inclusivity Fund to better reflect the program’s goals. We provided $10,000 in grants for 5 community leaders in 2024 (one in Costa Rica and 4 in Africa). In addition, we are providing $1,000 to the International Sea Turtle Society to support travel of African participants to this important event. We are hoping for 2025 to be our best year yet with a projected $13,000 in 5-6 grants. We will also be exploring ways we can better support our grantees through additional training and opportunities to advance their careers. Learn about all of our grantees here.

Sea Turtle Week

2024 was another solid year for Sea Turtle Week. We reached more than 7 million people during the week, added in dozens of new partners for the program around the world and grew our social media following by 15%. We partnered with Oceanic Society to encourage organizations globally to conduct beach cleanups during the week. With additional funding from one of our sponsors, we provided $5,000 in grants to 12 organizations conducting cleanups and Oceanic Society funded an additional 7 cleanups.

Welcome to the New Members of Our Board of Directors!

We’re thrilled to bring on three new folks to our board of directors. Each of these folks have deep experience in sea turtle research and education and valuable skills they are bringing to our organization. Ceci Fischer has collaborated with our Too Rare To Wear program and brings deep experience on the international illegal wildlife trade. Bryan Wallace has authored dozens of papers on sea turtle research and conservation and has been a supporter and advisor of our Sea Turtle Inclusivity Fund and is on the board of Grupo Tortuguero in Mexico, which was co-founded by our late co-founder, Dr. Wallace J. Nichols. Barbara has years of experience at the California Academy of Sciences as well as field research in Baja and close relationships with many of our conservation partners.

Cecilia Fischer: Independent Consultant

Ceci with a turtle nest

Ceci is an Independent Consultant combating illegal wildlife trade and strengthening marine conservation, with a geographical focus on Southeast Asia. She is working for international organizations and NGOs, such as UNODC, UNEP, the World Bank, ADB, WWF, EIA, etc., and has, among others, coordinated counter-wildlife trafficking projects at the national (Philippines) and regional (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines) level, has conducted analyses of regional law enforcement operations, and strengthened coordination among development partners in the region. Ceci co-authored 10-year Conservation Action Plans for Marine Turtles and Dugongs in the Philippines, and was part of conducting a Livelihood Feasibility Study to halt marine turtle egg poaching in the Philippine Turtle Islands. She also conducted a Marine Turtle Legislative Review in the Asia-Pacific for WWF, in close collaboration with CMS, and promoted the ShellBank tool – which includes a global database of marine turtle DNA to identify the origins of poached turtles based on confiscated items. She is a member of the IUCN-Marine Turtle Specialist Group and has undergone several turtle-related trainings held by experts, such as marine turtle tagging and monitoring in Mon Repos, Australia. Ceci is also a PADI Rescue Diver and enjoys watching turtles underwater.

Dr. Bryan Wallace: Director, Ecolibrium

Bryan with a nesting leatherback

Dr Wallace is a bilingual (English and Spanish) wildlife ecologist specializing in “collaborative conservation”. His work integrates primary research, collaboration, and facilitation to assess how people affect natural resources and to develop strategies for resource management within limited budgets. He has extensive experience in collaborative, multi-stakeholder projects dealing with wildlife monitoring research and management in international and USA geographies. During his career across academia, non-profit and for-profit sectors, working with many different stakeholders, Dr Wallace has learned that balance among perspectives and priorities is the key to effective science and successful, inclusive, and fair conservation solutions. He is also a dad, husband, nature addict, average front-yard gardener, less-than-amateur photographer, keen but green fly fisherman, and avid conservationist/conversationist. He lives in the Rocky Mountains with his marvelous family and lots of sunshine.

Barbara Andrews: Legal Manager, California Academy of Sciences

Barbara with a loggerhead in Baja California Sur, Mexico

Barb is the Legal Manager at the California Academy of Sciences located in San Francisco, California, and has worked at the Academy for over 20 years. In partnership with the Academy’s General Counsel, Barb oversees the management of the Academy’s legal operations, including contract procurement, intellectual property matters, and the institution’s insurance and risk management program. Barb was introduced to the world of sea turtles in 1998, initially volunteering as a field assistant to Dr. Jeffrey Seminoff and then Dr. Wallace J. Nichols at their respective field research sites in Baja California, Mexico. Since 2020, Barb has supported Mexico’s community based sea turtle organization, Grupo Tortuguero de las Californias, and has served on the boards of WildCoast, ProPeninsula (Board Chair 2006-2009), and Turtle Island Restoration Network (Vice-Chair 2013-2019). Barb loves the outdoors, is an avid hiker and mountain climber, and has a summer cabin in northern California where she also served on the cabin tract’s HOA board as Secretary and then President (2014-2024). She has a BA in Geography from the University of Oregon, and Paralegal Degree from California State University, Hayward (Cal State Univ. East Bay).

SEE Turtles Sustainable Travel Auction

To promote sustainable travel that supports sea turtles and coastal communities, SEE Turtles is announcing our second annual Sustainable Travel Auction. We work with leading tour operators and travel companies to encourage sustainable travel to coastal destinations around the world including Lindblad Expeditions, Natural Habitat Adventures, Pioneer Expeditions, Cuban Adventures, Global Basecamps, and EcoTeach. Funds raised from this auction will support SEE Turtles programs including our Too Rare To Wear program, which works with the tourism industry to combat the illegal tortoiseshell trade and our Sea Turtles & Plastic program, which helps coastal communities clean up and recycle plastic waste.

Highlights from the auction include:

• A 10 day trip for 2 to the legendary Galapagos Islands on a chartered yacht with Natural Habitat Adventures

• A week-long cabin for two on the National Geographic Quest cruise ship, visiting the Panama Canal and the beautiful coasts of Panama and Colombia, donated by Lindblad Adventures

• An 8 day trip for 2 to the unique island of Cuba visiting the highlights including Havana and more, donated by Cuban Adventures

• An 10 day sea kayaking exploration of Indonesia’s Komodo Islands for one, donated by Pioneer Expeditions

• A 3 night stay at Punta Islita in Costa Rica that includes a visit to a sea turtle conservation project donated by Global Basecamps

• A week-long Costa Rica sea turtle volunteer trip for one to work with giant leatherback turtles, donated by EcoTeach & SEE Turtles

The first sustainable travel auction in 2023 raised $13,000 for sea turtle conservation efforts. Those funds helped to support community projects in Kenya and Malaysia that are helping these destinations to clean and recycle thousand of pounds of plastic waste. In addition, the funds are being used to educate travelers about the illegal sale of tortoiseshell products happening in more than 10 countries around the world and to develop our ground-breaking SEE Shell App, which uses machine learning to allow travelers and others to identify these products.

Auction Donors

                 Global Basecamps

SEE Turtles Launches Crypto Campaign to Save Sea Turtles and Clean Up Oceans

Goal: $350,000 by End of 2025

SEE Turtles, a renowned global sea turtle conservation organization, has launched a groundbreaking crypto fundraising campaign with the goal of raising $350,000 by the end of 2025. The funds will support vital conservation projects around the world, from saving baby turtles on nesting beaches to cleaning up plastic waste from coastal communities.

To date, SEE Turtles has raised just over $175,000 in crypto donations helping to save endangered species and restore vital ocean habitats. This support has resulted in:

●  Saving 600,000 baby turtles across 15 nesting beaches.

●  Supporting 7 coastal communities in recycling efforts, collecting over 80,000 lbs of plastic and recycling 15,000 lbs.

●  Launching the award-winning SEE Shell app, using AI to identify illegal turtle shell products.

●  Reaching 8 million people through Sea Turtle Week to raise awareness about sea turtle conservation.

But SEE Turtles’ work is just beginning.

"Our ability to accept cryptocurrency has allowed SEE Turtles to dramatically expand our mission and help more sea turtles and coastal communities around the world," Brad Nahill, President of SEE Turtles. "The funds raised through this campaign will go directly towards protecting nesting beaches, supporting sustainable livelihoods, and combating illegal poaching."

Campaign Goals
The campaign’s goal to reach a total of $350,000 in crypto donations will help meet the following targets:

• Billion Baby Turtles: $150,000 to save 1.5 million baby turtles across 30 nesting beaches.

• Sea Turtles & Plastic: $100,000 to clean up 100,000 lbs of plastic and expand recycling programs to 15 coastal communities.

• Too Rare To Wear: $50,000 to launch public awareness campaigns in Colombia, Panama, and Indonesia to combat the trade in turtleshells.

• Emerging Leaders Initiative: $25,000 to support ten emerging conservation leaders from coastal communities investing in local workforce development.

• Sea Turtle Week: $25,000 to support an outreach campaign that will reach millions of people with messages about how to help sea turtles worldwide.

Global Impact
SEE Turtles' network of partners spans the globe, including organizations working in coastal communities in countries like Curacao, Colombia, Mexico, Malaysia, Costa Rica, and more. These critical projects are making an impact in regions with vulnerable turtle populations, supporting local conservation efforts, and building a cleaner, healthier environment for both marine life and coastal communities.

Crypto Donors: Make Waves with Your Impact
SEE Turtles is encouraging the growing crypto community to join the mission and donate to the campaign. Donating cryptocurrency is a fast, secure way to contribute directly to saving sea turtles and protecting oceans. Crypto donors can give in popular stable coins, including Turtle Finance, DeFi Turtle, and others. Learn more about these innovative partnerships and projects on SEE Turtles' donation page.

Join us in this ambitious and urgent campaign. Every crypto donation counts in the race to save our oceans and these ancient, majestic creatures from the brink of extinction.

Donate today and make your crypto count! Visit: www.seeturtles.org/donate-crypto

Click to read Crypto For Turtles

About SEE Turtles
SEE Turtles is a leading global organization dedicated to sea turtle conservation and ecotourism. Founded in 2008, SEE Turtles has saved more than 10 million turtle hatchlings and supported critical community-driven conservation programs worldwide. The organization's mission is to provide funding, resources, and tools to protect endangered sea turtle species in the Global South. Our work has earned awards from Travel + Leisure Magazine, the World Travel & Tourism Council, and others.

For more information, media inquiries, or partnership opportunities, contact:
brad@seeturtles.org | +1 (800) 215-0378

Follow SEE Turtles on Social Media
Twitter: @seeturtles
Instagram: @see_turtles
Facebook: SEE Turtles

#CryptoForConservation #SaveSeaTurtles #CryptoGiving

August Billion Baby Turtles Update

For August our Billion Baby Turtles supported 6 different projects in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh and Costa Rica with a total of US $18,900 and expected to help almost 108,000 baby turtles. This year, to date we have supported our partners with US $125,400 in grants and have helped save almost more than 1,000,000 baby turtles so far! 

Our World Our Sea, Beyin, Western Region,  Ghana

This is a new organization that started working in 2023. Their first year they protected 231 nests of green turtles, 33 olive ridley, and 165 leatherback nests. One of the main threats in the nesting area is illegal collection/hunting. Our World works with local communities during the nesting season where local volunteers support the maintenance of hatcheries, beach patrols, egg relocation, and hatchling releases. Our World also runs a by-catch release program named “fishing gear for turtles” and intensive community awareness. With US $3,000, our Billion Baby Turtles expect to help this partner to protect more than 36,000 baby turtles. 

Marinelife Alliance, Cox Bazar-Teknaf, Bangladesh 

Marinelife Alliance (MLA) is dedicated to the understanding, protection, and preservation of coastal and marine resources, amidst endless threats posed by man-made alterations and unsustainable practices in the area of Cox Bazar-Teknaf in Bangladesh. Founded by a group of young biologists in the 90s, their mission is to conserve and restore marine and coastal biodiversity through knowledge enhancement, rigorous scientific research, and active engagement of local stakeholders with a primary focus on sea turtle restoration programs. This project addresses multiple threats endangering sea turtles in Bangladesh, including bycatch, egg collection, predation, nesting beach alteration, and tourism-related disturbances. With US $2,000, our Billion Baby Turtles program hope to support MLA to protect at least 12,500 turtle hatchlings.

Ashanti Conservation Initiative, Western Ghana

This is a new project born in 2021 due to the Covid-19 outbreak that disrupted the conservation sector in Ghana, especially with income losses and reduced survey/monitoring activities. This project seeks to increase the awareness and empower of local communities and support the rehabilitation of key marine turtles nesting sites in the Western region of Ghana. Ashanti engages local traditional leaders, community members, artisanal fishers and school children. They have employed at least 30 guides, continuously building their capacity, providing them with a monthly stipend to patrol nesting beaches. Also, more than 400 community members have benefited from the "US $1 for nest” program, encouraging local people to report any turtle nest along the project areas and receive US $1 in return. This stipend has supported high school students who serve as guards. With all these activities, Ashanti ensures full participation of local communities and the information gathered will provide valuable insight into the relative abundance per species, and off-sea distribution and diversity of sea turtles and an indication of threats encountered by sea turtles visiting nesting sites. With US $3,000 Billion Baby Turtles support this to protect and expect to help more than 5,000 baby turtles to reach the ocean.

Conservation des Espèces Marines, Grand-Béréby, Ivory Coast     

Conservation des Espèces Marines (CEM) has been active for more than a decade in sea turtle protection activities, focusing on approximately 30 km of beaches west of Grand-Béréby.  CEM is a local non-profit association of Ivory Coast and it is composed almost entirely by members of local communities. The field activities are carried out 100% by local eco-guards. They organize the surveillance of the nesting females. Three marine turtle species nests on the beach West of Grand Béréby: leatherback, olive ridleys and green turtles. Last season they protected 703 olive ridley nests, 83 green turtles, and 14 leatherbacks. Billion Baby Turtles is supporting this organization for the first time this year with US $3,000 expecting to help more than 11,500 baby turtles to get to the big blue.

Olive ridley hatchling. Photo: Conservation des Espèces Marines

Conflict Islands Conservation Initiative, Conflict Island Atoll, Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea

CICI works to increase the nesting and hatching success of hawksbills within the Conflict Islands atoll through creating safer habitats along the 21 islands. Their Safe Habitats program employs indigenous Conservation Rangers, training them on marine turtle populations, importance, and conservation techniques. The ranger’s presence along the Conflict Islands help to make local communities aware and decrease the number of illegal collectors from surrounding islands. Furthermore, to increase hawksbill hatchling success, they also collect ‘high risk’ eggs that are either below the high tide line or on a beach accessed by illegal collectors and relocate them in their hatchery on the main island of Panasesa. This project started in 2016 with just 4 local rangers but now they have 14, and this year they are seeking to employ a further 4 women to the team. This project protects green and hawksbill turtles, every year they help around 28,000 hatchlings to get to the ocean. This year, Billion Baby Turtles supported this project with US $3,000 and expect to help CICI to protect at least 500 baby turtles.

Comunidad Protectora de Tortugas de Osa, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

This organization protects primarily olive ridleys and green turtles at 3 beaches. This is one of the most biodiverse areas in Costa Rica. Since 2019, Tortugas de Osa monitoring and research projects offer the opportunity to involve different local actors, volunteers and conservation organizations, to contribute to the protection and monitoring of marine turtles. This is a community-led conservation association that aims to integrate local people in the conservation of the highly biodiverse Osa Peninsula, and more specifically the busy sea turtle nesting beaches of Rio Oro and Carate. They focus on local communities in rural areas where individuals are looking to make positive change away from mining, hunting and taking inside the Corcovado National Park area. With US $5,000,  Billion Baby Turtles supported this project and hopes to help to protect more than 43,000 baby turtles this season. 

Sea Turtle Inclusivity Fund Profile - Emma Bello

Emma with a hatchling in Parismina. Photo: Turtle Love

Our Sea Turtle Inclusivity Fund provides grants and scholarships for residents of coastal communities where we support sea turtle conservation work. Our most recent grant is for Andriws Emmanuel Bello Suazo, also known as Emma, a 19-year-old Costa Rican native from Limón on the country's Caribbean coast. His parents, Nicaraguan immigrants seeking a better life, moved to Costa Rica. Despite financial challenges, Emma excelled academically, earning a high school diploma and a technical degree in Rural Tourism.

During his supervised professional internship with our partner Turtle Love, Emma's passion for conserving endangered species was ignited. Throughout 2023, he immersed himself in sea turtle conservation, actively relocating over 300 green turtle nests and protecting 30,000 eggs. The thought that over 20,000 baby sea turtles might have perished without his help thrilled him.

While 2023 was fulfilling, financial constraints impeded Emma's dream of enrolling in university. Accepted into the Universidad Tecnica Nacional to study biology for continued sea turtle conservation efforts, Emma faced setbacks when his father lost his job at a local banana plantation just before Christmas. As a result, Emma's family can no longer afford to support his education. This scholarship will empower Emma to leverage his academic skills, pursue a degree, and further contribute to conservation efforts, especially for sea turtles in Costa Rica.

We asked Emmanuel about his goals for pursuing his biology degree and his experience.

Tell us about your background and interest in studying biology:

I am 19 years old and my academic level is diversified education and an intermediate technician in Rural Tourism. My interest in dedicating myself to biology, conservation and environmental management dates back to my childhood, where I could appreciate the beauty and importance of the environment in which I live, the value of biodiversity that my country and its surroundings have. I plan to dedicate myself to the conservation of wildlife, especially sea turtles, and carry out
research in collaboration with Turtle Love.

Emma releasing a juvenile green turtle with a transmitter. Photo: Turtle Love

What is your experience in sea turtle research and conservation?

My experience in the Turtle Love organization is mainly in monitoring work of sea turtles, carrying out all activities related to them. Also the monitoring of freshwater turtles and monitoring with camera traps. I also went on to manage and lead groups of volunteers and students who visit the project. In 2022, I completed my supervised internship at Turtle Love. I worked in the area of ​​coordination assistant for the organization and in 2024 I will continue to be part of the team's collaborators during university vacation periods.

J. Nichols & The Science Exchange

By Katherine Comer Santos

On personal level, J had a way of talking to you with those sky-blue eyes that made you feel that he was on another planet looking through your soul at what is best for you, like a crystal ball of blue. His voice was like an adolescent’s, soft and somewhat scratchy around the baritone. He chose words carefully and each word was important, you clung to them, waiting for your sign. What idea is he going to give me now? There was no one he didn’t hug.  After the serious conversations about life, he would double over in laughter and take a tequila shot with you. Every time he spoke at a conference or event he inspired us and almost every time I cried. He was a true Renaissance man – musician, scientist, speaker, artist, writer, and groundbreaker. He and his wife Dana walked from northern California to Cabo San Lucas along the coast when they were young. Because he was such a superstar, people like myself didn’t want to let him down. So without any prodding, he got us to do his heavy lifting. That’s what a teacher does. He taught us all to go for the gold. Be crazy. He probably has thousands of devoted students including hundreds of fishers whose lives are intertwined with his and his family’s, all over Mexico, but especially Baja. The word “family” – his girls – his friends – his Tortugueros - was really powerful when he said it. Sin verguenza he put his heart in his hand and held it out for everyone to see.

At least that is how I remember him.

On a professional level, I want to share this essay I wrote in 2021, for which he received the Elizabeth Becker Award (cash) for mentorship in the field of psychology. It is similar to so many stories of non-profits and other programs he helped start. I am so happy he got to read it. 

“I have been a long-time student of my mentor Dr. Wallace “J” Nichols. Although he may not take credit for it, Dr. Nichols is the reason that my non-profit organization, the Science Exchange, exists. The mission of the organization is to provide mentorship to undergraduates and graduate students with the goal of creating the next generation of leaders who can tackle global conservation issues such as the health of our oceans.

At the Middlebury Institute, Dr. Nichols’ current research involves the neuroscience of how water affects the human brain. A quote from his book Blue Mind sums up his teachings: “Our wild waters provide vast cognitive, emotional, physical, psychological, social, and spiritual values for people from birth, through adolescence, adulthood, older age, and in death; wild waters provide a useful, widely available, and affordable range of treatments healthcare practitioners can incorporate into treatment plans,” (Nichols 2014).

However, Dr. Nichols has a long list of additional accomplishments. Nichols holds a B.A. degree from DePauw University in Biology and Spanish, an M.E.M. degree in Natural Resource Economics and Policy from Duke University, and a Ph.D. degree in Wildlife Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona. He received a Bradley Fellowship to study the impacts of sea level rise at Duke University Marine Lab, a Marshall Fellowship to study at the University of Arizona, and a Fulbright Fellowship to study at the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico marine station in Mazatlan. In 2010 he also received an honorary doctorate in science. He has authored more than 200 scientific papers, technical reports, book chapters, and popular publications; lectured in more than 30 countries and nearly all 50 states; and appeared in hundreds of print, film, radio, and television media outlets. His reach is far and diverse as he keeps teaching the science of Blue Mind.

I first met “J” in 2004 when we designed and analyzed a survey of residents who would be impacted by a marine reserve in a bay in Mexico, asking their views on what benefits the natural reserve would have for the community. With his support we turned the findings into a book chapter and two conference presentations. I was thrilled when he invited me to join him at my first professional conference (Grupo Tortuguero de las Californias) in 2005. At the conference I met many people that work hard to help ocean health (researchers on marine pollution, overfishing, climate change) and at the same time support the economic needs poor fishing communities. But these researchers were suffering from lack of on-the ground field workers and funding.

That experience with Dr. Nichols inspired me to start the Science Exchange Internship program. I had the idea of helping researchers by involving undergraduates and graduate students who needed academic credits, and Dr. Nichols supported me 100%. We worked together to create the non-profit organization and he was my first board member. We have had students in science, psychology, business, and international studies. The internships not only have helped students, but their research results have impacted the community at large by changing the way field conservation programs work and providing valuable data and suggestions to improve their efficiency. The Student Personal Narrative Part II provides quantitative data on those societal impacts.

J has been through many trials in his life. Raised by adoptive parents, he contracted spinal meningitis as a child, which sparked an interest in medicine. As a graduate student he was told his research topic – sea turtles – was pointless because there were not enough animals left, but that did not stop him. Last year J’s family house was destroyed in the California wildfires. Throughout this painful and stressful process of rebuilding he follows his own teachings of keeping a blue mind. Despite the obstacles he faces, J continues to be a leader for his students around the country and the globe even in these times of economic distress. His oldest daughter whom I have known since she was a baby is now in college.

I could not have started this organization without Dr. Nichols. I would not have chosen it as my principal occupation without his encouragement. More importantly, I would not have been successful in mentoring the 108 interns that have come out of this program without his advice and leadership. In turn, the Science Exchange is the reason that the students continue to promote ocean health in their careers, becoming leaders in their own right. One hundred and eight is a conservative number of people affected by the program. I believe that this impact has benefitted not only the students, but society at large. We do outreach to about 10,000 people a year through social media, newsletters, and presentations at universities and conferences. The volunteers, supervisors and students’ networks benefit. After all, the world needs more leaders who understand how conservation of the oceans works in the real world, not just on paper. “The world’s ocean and all waterways, including lakes, rivers, and wetlands (collectively, blue space), cover over 71% of our planet. Keeping them healthy, clean, accessible, and biodiverse is critical to human health and well-being,” (Nichols 2014). The work we do doesn’t stop at the beach but continues 1000’s of miles to the middle of the sea and 1000’s of meters to the tops of mountains. It doesn’t stop at our U.S. borders but continues around the globe. You can’t care for the ocean unless you love it. To be in it, near it, hear it, see it is to love it. Because water makes us healthier and happier. That is what Dr. Nichols has taught us. And we will keep on teaching it.”

J, I wish you and your family peace, happiness and water. You will always be in our hearts.

From left: Jeff Seminoff, Hoyt Peckham, Katherine, and J.

Introducing our new Communications Manager, Sabrina Mashburn

We’re excited to introduce you to our newest member of the team, Sabrina Mashburn! Sabrina will be taking over for our communications manager Bethany Holtz, who has done a tremendous job running our social media efforts and Sea Turtle Week program for the past three years. We thank Bethany for her help improving our outreach and growing our audience and especially for her help growing Sea Turtle Week into a worldwide program.

Sabrina comes to us with a tremendous background in sea turtle and ocean wildlife conservation, research, and education. She has a masters in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, runs her own sea turtle conservation nonprofit, is a former biology teacher, and has worked in the field in Madagascar and the US.

Tell us about your experience in science and conservation before coming to SEE Turtles

I was working at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City as Assistant to the Curator when I started to become concerned with the state of our oceans, around 2006-2007.  After doing some preliminary research, I decided that art would flourish as long as human beings were on Earth, but the oceans and their inhabitants (and the coastal communities that depend on them for sustenance) needed my help there and then. I went back to school, earning my Post-Bacc in Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, and the rest is history! 

I began my conservation career after Columbia working for the Wildlife Conservation Society as a Teaching Fellow and consultant on their Madagascar exhibit, which led to a job with WCS’ Ocean Giants Program, where I was a cetacean bioacoustics laboratory manager and bioacoustic analyst for two years. During that time, I discovered the first-ever evidence of a Sri Lankan blue whale in Angolan waters on one of our data sets, and was honored with co-authorship of my lab’s presentation at the International Whaling Commission Conference. But after years of listening to the cetaceans (and copious amounts of vessel traffic noise disturbance) under the waters of Angola and Madagascar, I just had to get out into the field and see these animals for myself! This led to my acceptance to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature’s International Volunteer Programme as their first American ambassador to Madagascar’s Southwest region, as well as a wonderful opportunity to be a volunteer scientific diver for both Blue Ventures and WWF. There I was able to help conduct a portion of the first-ever comprehensive survey of Madagascar’s barrier reef system - the third-largest barrier reef system in the world. 

During my time in Madagascar, I fell in love with the Vezo people, their culture, and their deep sense of community. I have since been given the title of “honorary Vezo,” which I hold close to my heart, and am always looking for opportunities to improve the Vezo people’s access to healthcare, clean water, PPE, and nutrition, as well as improved fishing gear, and helping to increase their targeted fish species catch while decreasing incidental take of internationally-protected species like sea turtles and small cetaceans. 

At home in the USA, I started my own fisher-focused conservation organization, SoCal Sea Turtles, Inc., in 2015. SoCal Sea Turtles works alongside NOAA, the US Navy, and other public and private partners, to ensure that everyone on, in, or near the water on the West Coast of the United States knows how to report live sea turtle sightings, as well as how to safely retrieve, report, and release injured sea turtles and report sightings of dead sea turtles to the NOAA Stranding Network. These federal agency partnerships have given me an inside look at how policy around endangered species is devised, revised, carried out, and enforced at the local, state, and federal levels, improving my skill set for conservation work both at home and abroad.

What are you most excited about working on with SEE Turtles?

I have been focused mainly on US-based conservation projects for the past decade since moving home from Madagascar, and I am very much looking forward to getting back out into the field and helping coastal communities in the parts of the world most in need of aid.

Tell us about the first sea turtle you saw or worked with.

The first sea turtle I ever encountered was underwater during my very first SCUBA dive in Honolulu, Hawaii. My dive instructor had me practice my buoyancy skills at a sea turtle “cleaning station” and I suddenly felt like a scientist on her first drive through Jurassic Park. I originally went to Hawaii to search for cetaceans, but once my dive course was over, I had completely shifted my research interests from cetaceans to sea turtles, and haven’t looked back since.

Although whales and their sophisticated social behaviors and vocalizations will always hold a special place in my heart, I have wanted to live among the dinosaurs since the moment my brain was developed enough to understand what a dinosaur was, and I think sea turtles are just about the closest thing to living dinosaurs in terms of their physical presence, if not their genetics and/or ancestry!

What gives you hope for the future with sea turtles?

Sea turtles have persisted in Earth’s oceans for over 90 million years (leatherbacks) and over 60 million years (hard-shelled species), so I am confident that they will exist long after our species has gone extinct, as long as we continue to make small changes in our own behavior on, in, and near their ocean homes, to accommodate their ancient lifestyles.

June & July Billion Baby Turtles Update

For June and July, our Billion Baby Turtles supported 8 different projects in Costa Rica, Indonesia, Nicaragua, and Mexico with US $34,500 which we expect to help save almost 700,000 baby turtles. This year, to date we have supported our partners with US $106,500 in grants and have helped save almost 1,000,000 baby turtles so far!

Guanacaste Dry Forest Foundation: Nancite, 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. Turtle biologist Luis Fonseca has been studying the sea turtles of this area for more than a decade. His sea turtle monitoring project is integral to understanding population trends over time and in designing management and conservation actions that promote the recovery of sea turtle populations in this part of Costa Rica. With US $5,000, SEE Turtles supported Luis’ research at this important beach and expect to help around 500,000 baby turtles to get to the big blue. 

Olive ridleys nesting during an arribada at Nancite. Photo: Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund

Everlasting Nature,  Kimar Island, Indonesia   

This organization in Kimar Island,Indonesia helps protect hawksbill turtles and the recovery of this population. This island used to have a big problem with illegal taking of nests, this is the main reason for the establishment of this project. Everlasting Nature hires local people as “eggs guardians”, walking the beach every morning and collecting nesting data. They conduct this this project with Indonesia Sea Turtle Research Foundation (Yayasan Penyu Laut Indonesia/ YPLI) as partner. This is a very important area for the endangered hawksbill turtles, they protect around 700 nests per season. Our Billion Baby Turtle program supported them with US$ 5,000 for this season and estimate they can protect around 60,000 baby turtles. 

SOS Nicaragua, Los Brasiles, Nicaragua

Since 2019, Sos Nicaragua has been independently implementing conservation efforts on the island of Los Brasiles, starting a permanent sea turtle protection program. They have developed a conservation model in harmony with turtle egg harvesters where raising local awareness, protecting critical sea turtle habitats and generating new sources of financial sustainability for local families in long-term project goals. The average number of nests protected annually usually exceeds 100, mostly nests of ridley turtles. Billion Baby Turtles has been supporting this project since 2017, this year with US $2,000, we hope to help around 2,000 baby turtles. 

Turtle Foundation, Sipora and Selaut Besar, Indonesia

The Derawan Archipelago in the district of Bearau, East Borneo, is located in the famous Coral Triangle, making it part of one of the most biodiverse marine areas. It also is one of the most important nesting sites for Green Turtles. The coral reefs of the archipelago are also home of hawksbill turtles, which are still heavily hunted for its carapace, which is used to make jewelry and souvenirs. While Turtle Foundation and its local sister organization Yayasan Penyu Indonesia have been running protection projects on several islands in the Derawan Archipelago in recent times, there are two important green turtle nesting islands, Mataha and Bilang-Bilangan. For the 2022-2023 season they were asked by local partners to help protect these important islands. All this work had led to a virtual complete decline of illegal collection for the first time in those islands, where turtle nests are now able to develop undisturbed. With US$ 10,000 Billion Baby Turtles supported this project and helped to protect turtles in the Berau District. 

We also supported the Turtle Foundation to start a conservation project on the uninhabited island of Selaut Besar, north of Simeulue Island in the province of Aceh in Sumatra in 2021 together with the local conservation organizations Yayasan Penyu Indonesia (YPI) and Ecosystem Impact (EI). Our Billion Baby Turtles program is supporting this project on this Island with US$ 3,000 for this upcoming season expecting to protect more than 3,500 baby turtles.

On the island of Sipora in West Sumatra, part of the Mentawai Islands, in autumn 2017, a completely unknown nesting 8 km beach of the endangered leatherback turtle was discovered: Buggeisiata. During decades the local community used to hunt nesting females for the meat and take the eggs for their consumption. With these practices the number of nesting females has decimated, but since Turtle Foundation is protecting this beach, the local community has respected the life of nesting females. Thus, even in a low number of nests every season, the protection of this area is very important to protect the female turtles. Last season they protected 32 leatherback nests, 4 hawksbill nests and 6 nests of olive ridleys. With US $2,500, SEE Turtles supported this project that protects not only eggs and hatchlings but also adult females from being killed. 

Hatchery at Sipora (Turtle Foundation)

Leatherback turtle from Sumatra (Turtle Foundation)

Palmarito, Oaxaca, Mexico

The Palmarito Project has been operating since 2005, a nesting beach for leatherback, black/green and olive ridley turtles, located on the route migration of sea turtles and the most important nesting area in the Mexican Pacific. Last season they protected 285 nests of olive ridley turtles, 173 of green turtles, and 12 leatherbacks. Billion Baby Turtles supported this partner with US$ 5,000 helping to save more than almost 6,000 baby turtles. 

Kaanan AC, Isla Aguada, Campeche, Mexico (Emergency Fund Grant)

Hawksbill turtle nesting in Campeche is recorded on different beaches with unique characteristics, occurring both on the coastal shoreline and inside the Laguna de Términos. This project has been protected since its inception in 1977. In the last 20 years, the operation has been strengthened in large part by community participation, achieving the formation of a trained and appropriate community group for the project, actively participating in the monitoring of nesting, strandings, emergencies, nest exhumation, and even monitoring of juveniles. With US $2,000 from our Billion Baby Turtles program, we hope to help this organization to help at least 8,000 baby turtles to get to the ocean. 

Melania & J

I met J out of pure luck, there is no other way to describe it. At the end of the 90's I was an undergrad student in La Paz, Baja California Sur, wanting to work with sea turtles but nobody at my university had a research project on it. They said Baja was not the right place for it, and that I should try something else. The internet was a new thing and I wasn't really sure how it worked  exactly but I browsed anyway and found J and Jeff Seminoff’s project with green turtles in Bahía de Los Ángeles. I sent him an email saying I wanted to study sea turtles and ask for guidance on how to proceed. Again, I was very inexperienced. J wrote back a few days later and invited me to join his project for a few weeks during the summer so I could learn about it and gain experience. I did not hesitate much and said yes without knowing anything about where BLA was or the difficulty to get there on public transportation back then. I had to ride with a local circus from Punta Prieta to BLA and then on a military truck to Antonio Resendiz's camp. My arrival was a surprise for everyone since I was escorted by armed military men very late that night. I think I may have scared them a little.

J & Jeff Seminoff

Jeff was there at the time, he welcomed me and the next morning began teaching me about their project and the daily activities they were running, from checking the nets for sea turtles, stomach lavages, measuring and weighing caught individuals, to placing satellite transmitters. It was a great learning experience. J arrived a few days later and we talked about what I wanted to do. I was interested in sea turtle nesting so he pointed me to Cabo San Lucas, there was a local NGO working on olive ridleys but he also encouraged me to look to other things, I remember we started a short project figuring out if turtles oriented themselves to a specific direction while in captivity, I had to go visit the turtle tanks at specific time intervals (day or night) and see where their head was pointing but that was not interesting enough so it ended pretty fast. I was absorbed in all the other activities they were doing, learning as much as I could in the couple of days I had left. Working with J and Jeff was the best learning experience in my undergrad life and I will forever thank them for that. 

I still don't know what he saw in me but from then on he became my mentor and friend. When the Grupo Tortuguero movement started, J invited me to participate in the first Loreto meeting I think I was already working on my research project with olive ridley nesting in Baja, so I had the chance to present my work to the group, but most importantly, I had the opportunity to learn from the fishermen and value their knowledge and experience. I remember that in that meeting, someone from the School for Field Studies in San Carlos, approached me and asked if I was interested in being a research assistant during the summer. They were conducting a sea turtle project and thought my experience may be of help, and J was one of the instructors. Of course he had something to do with that too! 

In 2000, I was finally ready to defend my bachelor's thesis and J was part of my committee. He flew down to La Paz to be there for my examination and the school (the female component) went crazy. The place was crowded not to hear about sea turtle nesting but to see this tall, blond, handsome blue-eyed guy sitting there asking questions about my work. After passing my examination, one of my female friends dared to say to me that the best part of it was definitely J. He clearly made an impact.

We lost touch for a while but we crossed paths a few times at the ISTS meetings, he always had a smile on his face. When I went to Florida to pursue my PhD, there was a moment when I was really struggling to continue, I didn't feel I was cut up for the academic environment and felt I wasn't doing things right. And as if sent by the gods, J came down to give a talk to another department and had the chance to talk to him after. I do not remember exactly what led to it but while talking to this circle of people, we began talking about me and how proud he was of how far I had gone. I couldn't hold the tears back then just as I cannot hold them as I write these lines. His words were exactly what I needed to hear at that time and made it all better. I will miss him dearly and will try to honor his legacy for as long as I can. 

Sea Turtles & Plastic Update

Our Sea Turtles & Plastic program helps coastal communities collect and recycle plastic waste from sea turtle habitats. To date, we have supported more than 30 communities who have collected more than 250,000 lbs of plastic.

Mariners for Action (Kenya) 

Photo: Mariners For Action

Mariners for Action and their partner Marereni Biodiversity Conservancy through their beach monitoring program have been able to protect nesting beaches of sea turtles and oversee the safe hatching of more than 15,000 hatchlings since its inception. They have collected more than 100 tons of plastic waste from Marereni beach since they started working. The plastic waste management program has sold 200 kilograms (440 lbs) of plastic waste. Since November 2022, they have transported 70 tons of plastic waste to the Ecoworld recycling plant in Watamu Town. The money generated from the plastic project has been used to increase the frequency of beach monitoring patrols and organizing frequent beach cleanups. One of their major accomplishments is the creation of an environmental awareness project among fisher groups and local schools where they prioritize the theme of combating plastic pollution in turtle nesting beaches. Through our Plastic Recycling program we granted them with US $5,000 to help continue their recycling work. 

Our World Our Sea (Ghana)

Photo: Our World Our Sea

Beaches along the coast of Ghana are filled with plastic waste. Activities contributing to this plastic menace include; indiscriminate waste disposal by tourists who visit the beaches. Intense fishing in the area also leaves remnants of fishing equipment along the beaches. Obsolete fishing gears, polyethylene bags, plastic bottles and straws are common sightings. With funding support from SEE Turtles last year, more than 5 tons of plastic waste was collected along the critical sea turtle nesting beaches in the western region of Ghana. Our World Our Sea also leads beach clean ups with community involvement. Beach clean ups have been done along 12 communities and three fish landing sites so far. They also perform education in local communities and schools to increase awareness on the need for sea turtle conservation. They do this through school visits, musical floats with the communities, radio programs, among others. Through our Plastic Recycling program we granted them with US $5,000 to help continue their cleanups and recycling work. 

Sea Turtle Week Cleanups

Photo: Fundacao Tartaruga

With the support of our partner Dots.Eco we supported beach cleanups in different countries during the upcoming Sea Turtle Week. With US $3,000 we were able to support 7 organizations in 7 different countries. An estimated 22,382 kg (49,240 lb) were collected during these events with the participation of 667 volunteers!

The projects / beaches supported were:

1. AGBO-ZEGUE (Togo) (15,400 lbs)

2. Fundação Tartaruga (Cabo Verde) (4,400 lbs)

3. Kiunga Turtle Conservation Group (Kenya) (8,800 lbs)

4. Bridges Cameroon (Cameroon) (13,200 lbs)

5. ECOMAR-UAGro (Mexico) (3,300 lbs)

6. Turtle Love (Costa Rica) (1,200 lbs)

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

When I Met J.

J’s blue marble

Me, J. and Frank Paladino, some ISTS

by Brad Nahill, SEE Turtles President

My first experience with Dr. Wallace J. Nichols (aka J.) was different than most. I didn’t see one of his extraordinary presentations or read one of his numerous books. I was attending the 22nd Annual Sea Turtle Symposium in Miami where Sylvia Earle was giving the keynote address. My daughter Karina, 3 months old at the time, was getting fussy and not giving Her Deepness the respect she deserved. So I took her out to the lobby to calm her down and started chatting with a tall, impossibly good-looking guy, also calming a fussy baby, his daughter Grayce, who Karina would befriend years later. Of course I knew who J. was at the time, he was the ultimate sea turtle celebrity, but I had just barely started my career in this field. But we bonded over being turtle dads.

A few years later, while working at Ocean Conservancy as a grant writer, my hero Marydele Donnelly decided to leave the organization. This was crushing news but when she told me that she was hoping the organization would hire J. as their new sea turtle person, I was thrilled. J. said to me on his first day the organization in 2007, "Hey what about a project where we use tourism as a conservation tool to help communities move away from catching turtles? We'll call it SEE Turtles, like go and SEE them.” He wanted to help the fishing communities in Baja where he had worked for decades earn a living from tourism so they didn’t have to spend time doing the thankless work of fishing, where turtles were getting caught in nets. The fishermen didn’t want to catch turtles but weren’t sure how to reach US travelers.

Cover of Outside Magazine NBD

Andre 300 Benjamin literally played a fictional J. in a movie FFS

The idea hit me like a ton of bricks. With my background in ecotourism and field work in Costa Rica and my grant writing skills, I immediately offered to help plan it out. I had been looking for a way to move back into working with turtles and this was the perfect opportunity. J was busy planning the next International Sea Turtle Symposium in Loreto, Baja and generally just being the coolest guy on earth (see above photos), so I took the lead in planning SEE Turtles.

J. and I spent several months planning and fundraising to launch SEE Turtles and it was among the most hopeful times of my life. I was able to move into program work and spend my workdays imagining the amazing things we were going to accomplish. We raised the funds, mostly from donors who respected J’s work, and launched the project in 2008. It became apparent after a few months that the project wasn’t a good fit for the organization, so we moved it to The Ocean Foundation, where the project lived until 2015. Leaving the structure and stability of a large organization was a daunting decision, but with J as my cheerleader, we took the leap.

Grayce (left) and Karina (right) at ISTS

Meanwhile, J. led what was in my opinion the most unique and impactful International Sea Turtle Symposium in Loreto Mexico that I’ve attended (I’ve been to 13 of them so far). No symposium has had a bigger economic impact on a small coastal community than this one, with hundreds of people filling local hotels and restaurants, taking tours, and showing love to this town. The highlight of this ISTS for me was when J.’s daughter Grayce was nominated to be “Queen of the Auction” and cajoled Karina into joining her, they had become fast friends during the week. It was hilarious watching adults try to say no to two adorable six year olds and I believe they raised the most money, even if both were crashed out in our arms by the end of the night.

My favorite J. story took place during a site visit in Costa Rica early on with SEE Turtles. We were scouting potential locations for conservation trips on the remote Osa Peninsula. Back then, there were no bridges over the creeks getting out to the town of Carate, an olive ridley nesting beach and gateway to Corcovado National Park. I had spent some time with my ex-wife working on a small beach on the peninsula a few years earlier and I remembered hearing many stories of cars getting swept downstream of these creeks after big rain storms. We had one more night on the trip, visiting the field station of Osa Conservation and were flying back to San Jose the next day.

Morning J. on the Osa. He would love that I included this.

J. with research assistants on the Osa Peninsula

As we went to bed, the rain started and the harder it came down, the more my anxiety rose, as we were just on the other side of one of these infamous creeks we would be crossing in the morning. After a sleepless night, we got into our SUV, me deferring to J. to drive as he had much more experience in these conditions. As we started to descend into the creek, he says “you should record this,” so I grabbed my video camera and started to film. The water came up all the way to the window as we slowly moved through the water. About halfway across, the truck shut off. I wish I could find that video now (I think it was a compact CD) to listen to my string of expletives as I freaked out. At one point, I look over at J. and he’s fucking laughing. He reaches over, turns the key, and the truck starts up and he drives the rest of the way through. Funny guy that J., pretending that the truck had stalled. I spent years getting my revenge for this prank with the highlight coming at the end of an ISTS oral presentation (with him coming up next), thanking the “sea turtle community’s most famous Alec Baldwin impersonator” for his support (see below).

G-friggin-Q Magazine, seriously?!?

Hollywood’s most famous Wallace J. Nichols impersonator

A few years into the project, inspiration strikes J, again. "How much does it cost to save a baby turtle?,” he asks. “Can we save a billion of them?" I laughed and rolled my eyes at yet another wild idea (there were many). We started the Billion Baby Turtles project under SEE Turtles in 2013 and it has blossomed into our biggest and most successful program. We now raise and give away hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to local organizations working on 50+ turtle nesting beaches worldwide, saving 13 million so far, just one small part of his huge legacy.

J. with a black turtle, photo by our friend Neil Osborne

J. with his good friend Chuy Lucero in Baja

A bigger part of his legacy is the role he played in the return of the black turtle, a sub-species of green turtle found in the Pacific (see above). When J. was in grad school, he wanted to focus on this turtle in Mexico but his advisors told him not to bother, the species was too close to extinction to bother with. But that only motivated him more, and with his good friend Jeff Seminoff, he helped bring together the Grupo Tortuguero, a team of scientists, conservationists, fishermen, and coastal residents across Pacific Mexico, to put this turtle on a path to recovery. The black turtle has now recovered dramatically due to this network and while J. was one small part of a huge team, his hard work and energy was critical.

You must read this book

Over the years, J. shifted to other work, including his groundbreaking and bestselling book Blue Mind and raising awareness about plastic pollution (PluckFastic), shrimp bycatch (ShrimpSucks.com), and other issues, but he stayed involved as a board member and advisor. His imprint is all over the organization, he created our great logo with designer Max Davis, he came up with the name for the Too Rare To Wear tortoiseshell campaign and bringing in our biggest funder after one of his incredible presentations, with our partnering with his former colleagues in Baja for turtle conservation trips, and much more. Our focus on supporting coastal communities along with the turtles was borne of his decades of experience and his compassion for everyone he met (and those he didn’t meet).

I wouldn’t have a career in sea turtle conservation without Dr. Wallace J. Nichols. When I was nominated to join the ISTS Awards Committee, he shamelessly campaigned for me (to the consternation of some in the community, but he didn’t care). He consistently picked me up when my imposter syndrome flared up. He believed in me before I believed in me. Whenever I would confront a challenging situation, a particularly tough time, anytime at all, he would be there with what I needed to hear, whether that was a kind word, advice, a joke, or a distraction (usually basketball related). He stayed up late into the night to watch a live feed from Spain of us winning a big award, texting me jokes leading up to the announcement to keep me from freaking out. And he gave me the key line to use in the acceptance speech.

Even in the worst of times, he was able to bring light to the world. Blue Mind has become a source of healing for millions of people. The Nichols family lost their home to a fire a few years ago and J. wrote a letter to Grayce about the tragedy which was turned into a beautiful and heartbreaking children’s book (see him read it here but have tissues ready). He especially loved his work with Force Blue, an organization that helps special operations veterans learn to dive and volunteer as a way to give back and heal from trauma. He organized a half-day workshop on resilience for the sea turtle community at ISTS and encouraged us to celebrate our failures (which gave us Jesse Senko’s legendary All The Condoms story). He passed out millions of marbles to celebrate people doing good things for the ocean. J. gave to others even when he had nothing to give but his time and love.

J was my inspiration, my big brother, and my biggest cheerleader. I will miss him every day.

We’ll get to that billion my brother, I promise. Only 987,000,000 to go!

Please consider donating the Wallace J. Nichols Memorial Fund to continue his legacy.

Follow us on Facebook for more inspiring stories from J’s life over the next few months.

Just adding as many hilarious photos as I can

Has to be his least flattering photo

May Billion Baby Turtles Update

And here we are, June is the month of the Sea Turtle Week, and we are very excited with lots of fun things during the best week of the year! This month for Billion Baby Turtles, we supported 6 different projects in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Cuba with US $22,000 in grants and expect to help almost 100,000 baby turtles. This year to date, we have supported our partners with US $72,000 in grants and have helped save more than 278,000 baby turtles so far.

Ayotlcalli A.C., Playa Blanca, Playa Larga, Barra de Potosi, Guerrero, Mexico

Campamento Tortuguero Ayotlcalli was founded in September of 2011 with the purpose of protecting and help increase the population of three species of marine turtles that nest within 15 kilometers of beaches that include Playa Blanca, Playa Larga and Barra de Potosi in Zihuatanejo. This non-profit organization works with the assistance of several local and international volunteers who performed various activities such-as, night patrols searching for nests, once located, the eggs are relocated into the hatchery, pertinent data is recorded and when the hatchlings are born, they are safely released into their vast new home. This year, this program won the Grassroots Award during the 42 International Sea Turtle Symposium in recognition of their efforts. Billion Baby Turtles supported Ayotlcalli with US $2,500, helping to protect the 3 different species that nest on these beaches (olive ridleys, leatherbacks and black turtles) and more than 7,500 baby turtles.

Black turtle hatchling - Photo: Ayotlcalli

Latin America Sea Turtles (LAST): Cahuita & Pacuare North Beaches, Costa Rica 

The Caribbean shoreline is also one of the most important nesting locations for leatherback and green turtles. The beach of Pacuare north counts between 300-500 leatherback nests and 100-150 green turtle nests in a regular season. Local protection in Pacuare is crucial and also benefits sea turtle conservation programs in neighboring countries as it aims at the same turtle population. Pacuare beach also registers between 5-15 nests each season of the critically endangered hawksbill turtle. Without any protection efforts whatsoever, many nests and even adult turtles would be lost for illegal practices that are still common in this area. Billion Baby Turtles supported this project with US $4,000 and hope to help more than 350 baby turtles to get to the ocean.

Leatherback hatchlings: Photo Latin American Sea Turtles

Since 2000, LAST organizations has worked for the protection and conservation of nesting hawksbill and green females and baby sea turtles in Cahuita Beach. During the last decade, it was estimated that 90% of the nests at this beach were lost by wildlife predation, illegal egg collectors, or washed out by the ocean. Cahuita’s nest population represents one of the highest numbers reported for hawksbill turtles in Costa Rica. For this season, through our Billion Baby Turtles program supported this project with US$ 3,500 to help more than 8,500 baby turtles reach the ocean.

Ocean Foundation: Guanahacabibes National Park, Cuba 

Since 1998 the Ocean Foundation’s Cuba Marine Research and Conservation Program (CMRC) has built strong scientific collaboration and conservation programs between Cuba, the United States, and neighboring countries that share marine resources. Eight beaches are patrolled during the nesting and hatchling seasons (May to October) in Guanahacabibes Peninsula. As for green turtle nesting population, it is the second largest of the Cuban archipelago and also exhibits high levels of hatching success. Billion Baby Turtles supported this organization with US $3,000 for this season, helping approximately 20,000 baby turtles to get to the big blue.

Green turtle nesting in Guanahacabibes. Photo: Sergio Romero Torras

Barreros de San Luis, Guerrero, Mexico

Our new partner Barreros de San Luis, located in the municipality of Técpan de Galeana in the state of Guerrero, Mexico, is made up of more than 40 local people who support the protection and conservation of sea turtles. They protect the critically endangered Pacific leatherback and also the green (locally known as black turtle) and olive ridley sea turtles. The main threat in this area is illegal hunting of eggs and adult turtles. For almost 10 years they have protected 90% of leatherback turtle nests in their hatchery and the rest are protected both: in situ and in the hatchery. With the efforts of all collaborators and with good management practices, more than 80% hatching success in the 3 species has been achieved. They protect up to 3,500 nests of olive ridleys, 150 leatherbacks nests, and 50 black turtle nests. With US $5,000, we expect to help them protect more than 42,000 baby turtles. 

Quelonios, Guerrero, Mexico

Another new partner this month, is Quelonios, located in the town of Playa Ventura in the municipality of Copala, Guerrero, Mexico. This organization consists of 15 people belonging to the Afro-descendant community dedicated to the protection and conservation of the 3 species of sea turtles that nest on this beach. For almost 15 years, they have protected more than 80% of their olive ridley and more than 90% of leatherback and black turtle nests. Unfortunately, this community continues to face the illegal taking of nests and the killing of adult turtles by people from surrounding communities who sell eggs, meat, and other derivatives such as turtle blood and oil for consumption. Additionally, there are a large number of dogs on this beach, which prey on the nests, hatchlings and can considerably injure some adult nesting turtles. Billion Baby Turtles is supporting this project with US $4,000, and expects to help almost 20,000 baby turtles to get to the ocean.

Staff Profile: Bethany Holtz, Outreach Manager

Tell us about the first turtle you had experience with?

Bethany & Chuck

In high school, I was very close to my science teacher, Mr. Blatherwick. I went to a Quaker Friends school which was preschool to high school, though I only went to high school there. I used to spend my lunch period helping him with his middle school science labs. One day they went on a field trip and came back with water samples to test water quality. Unfortunately, a very tiny baby turtle was scooped up in one of the samples of murky water. This baby turtle became a class pet. I was initially very scared of the turtle so Mr. Blatherwick started dropping her on my desk.

After a while I came to love that little turtle. I'd rush off the school bus to make sure I was the first one in the room to feed her. At the end of the school day, I would check on her and say goodnight. As the school year came to an end I started asking where the baby turtle would go since Mr. Blatheriwck was retiring. I asked 3-4 times per day for weeks if I could have the turtle. On the last day of school, Mr. Blatherwick surprised me and said she was now mine. That baby turtle sparked a lifelong love of turtles and she now lives in my room. I named her Chuck, before I realized she was a girl, after Mr. Baltherwick. 

What was the first time you saw a sea turtle?

My dad was working half the month in Florida when I was in high school. My family flew down one week to see where he had been working. He took us to see the Loggerhead Marinelife Center where they rehabilitated injured sea turtles. It was so cool to see the turtles up close and how the staff cared for them. It's funny that 10 years later I've collaborated with them on Sea Turtle Week projects through my job at SEE Turtles.

What made you decide you wanted to work with these animals?

Bethany at Adventure Aquarium

I knew I wanted to work in marine biology when I went to college. My parents encouraged me to do an internship at our local aquarium, Adventure Aquarium. I spent a week working in each department and had a blast working with the different types of animals. In the last week of my internship they asked if I would like a special project.  They assigned me to work with a loggerhead sea turtle that was going to be released back to the ocean after a few weeks. They explained that since the turtle would be released back to the ocean we had to clean its tank and feed him without being seen so they wouldn't become accustomed to people. One day while cleaning the tank the turtle latched onto the siphon and I panicked that he would break off and eat a piece of plastic. I played a careful game of tug and war without ever looking over the edge of the tank.

Eventually I got the siphon back and the turtle was fine. I was so thrilled I had solved the problem. I hopped off the platform I was on and landed in ankle deep water. While I had been playing tug of war the hose the siphon was connected to had come out of the drain. I didn't panic and set out to clean up the water. I got all of the water cleaned up before the aquarium opened for the day. As I sloshed around in wet sneakers for the rest of the day I wasn't daunted by what had happened but invigorated that I solved the problem and I was part of that turtle's story. I realized how much I loved working with turtles and helping make sure they are healthy and safe. 

Bethany participating in a research program with Inwater Research Group in Florida. Marine turtle research conducted under FWC MTP 204.

What part of this job do you enjoy the most?

I love receiving photos and videos from our partner organization around the world. I never know what I will open my phone and laptop to. Some days I get baby turtle videos from South America. Other days I get photos of children using of coloring sheets in Indonesia. It's always so special to see the reach our work has!

What do you think makes SEE Turtles unique?

SEE Turtles provides grants to sea turtle projects in developing countries. I don't know of any other organization that does it to the extent and reach that we do. We help make sure that turtles are protected in areas that couldn't otherwise do so without our grant funds. We also make sure that our grants have a lasting impact. Our Billion Baby Turtles and Inclusivity Fund grants create jobs for local community members. Our recycling grants program encourages beach cleanups that turn that trash into items that can be sold and used rather than just adding trash to landfills. SEE Turtles doesn't just help protect turtles but also the people and environment where the turtles are. Our world is so interconnected and SEE Turtles doesn't leave anyone out.

Billion Baby Turtles April Update

April was a busy month! We provided a total of US$ 27,500 to five partners in six sites through our Billion Baby Turtles program to turtle nesting beaches. With these grants, we expect to support roughly 112,000 baby turtles. This year to date we have supported our partners with US $50,000 in grants and have helped save more than 180,000 baby turtles so far.

ProNatura, Yucatán, Mexico

For over 30 years ProNatura has protected 3 of the most important nesting beaches in the Yucatan Peninsula: Celestún in Yucatán and Holbox in Quintana Roo are some of the most important nesting beaches for hawksbills in Mexico and in the Caribbean in general. The team surveys a total of 79 km-49 miles- (24 in Celestún, 31 in El Cuyo, and 24 in Holbox) at night to record each female and nest they encounter. In addition to the surveys, the team visits the local schools to teach children about the importance of sea turtle conservation in their community. For all the 3 beaches they had a total of 2,964 hawksbill nests, 6,464 of green turtles and 4 of loggerhead nests, with an estimated 217,000 baby hawksbills, 605,000 greens, and 280 loggerhead hatchlings. With US $8,000 for this season, we expect these funds to help more than 80,000 baby turtles to get to the big blue. 

Hawksbill hatchling from a ProNatura nesting beach, photo credit Edwin Alcocer

Sea Turtle Conservancy, Bastimentos, Panama

After more than 20 years of sea turtle research in Bocas del Toro Province, Anne and Peter Meylan formed a partnership with STC in 2003 to monitor increasing nesting hawksbills along the Bocas coast (covering ~50 km of beach in recent years). The area of concentrated work by the Meylans has been three important nesting beaches: Small Zapatilla Cay, Big Zapatilla Cay (both since 2003), and Playa Larga (since 2006), all of which lie completely within the boundaries of the Bastimentos Island National Marine Park (BINMP). At all monitored sites, daytime surveys for nests have been conducted using a standard protocol adapted from the Index Nesting Beach Survey Protocol of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Nighttime patrols are also carried out to intercept and tag nesting females on these beaches. Both activities are conducted by beach monitors hired from local native communities with help during most years from international student volunteers; all are trained by the PI’s or by experienced field coordinators. With US $5,000 Billion Baby Turtles is supporting the protection of more than 17,000 hawksbill hatchlings. 

Sea Turtle Conservancy, Soropta, Panama 

This project is to address ongoing threats facing the leatherback population at Soropta Beach while carrying out an in-situ research and recovery program. The 14-km Beach hosts between 200 – 1,200 leatherback nests per year, making it one of the most densely nested beaches for this species in the region. Unfortunately, illegal hunting of leatherback nests remains an issue at Soropta, due to its isolated location, relative ease of access and cultural tradition of sea turtle egg and meat consumption in the area. In 2022, STC is implementing a two-pronged approach to curtail illegal egg taking: implementing a hatchery and directly housing law enforcement personnel at STC’s Biological Research Station. For this season Billion Baby Turtles support this project with US $4,000 helping to get into the big blue at least 2,500 baby leatherbacks.

Leatherback at Soropta, photo credit - SEE Turtles

Equipo Tora Carey, El Jobo, Costa Rica

Equipo Tora Carey (ETC) was created as the result of a successful cooperation between fishermen, local tourism operators, and biologists in protecting sea turtles around Punta Descartes in 2015. Despite all the challenges and changes they had faced the past years, the protection of marine turtles keeps going. In the present, local residents patrol 5 different beaches every night. ETC protects around 250 nests of olive ridley, black and sporadic hawksbill nests. With US $2,500 this season, Billion Baby Turtles is encouraging this community to keep working on turtle conservation. 

Reef Guardians, Lankayan Island, Malaysia 

Since 2004, this project has protected hawksbill and green turtles nesting on Lankayan Island, in Malaysia. Since then, the annual nesting has increased gradually from 138 nests in 2004 to more than 600 the past 4 years. Last season they protected 485 nests of greens and 119 nests of hawksbill turtles with an estimation of almost 40,000 hatchlings protected for the season. With US $3,000, Billion Baby Turtles supported this upcoming season we expect to help more than 14,000 baby turtles to get to the ocean. 

Green turtle nesting on Lankaya, photo credit Reef Guardians

Yayasan Penyu Laut Indonesia /Indonesia Sea Turtle Foundation, Pesemut Island, Indonesia

Since 1999 ISTF has done nesting beach conservation and eggs protection for critically endangered hawksbills as well as green turtles at Presemut Island in Indonesia. Most of the work is focused on preventing illegal nest collection and predation. Last season YPLI were able to protect 721 nests of hawksbill and 708 of  green turtles. This year Billion Baby Turtles is supporting this project with US $5,000 and expects to help almost 40,000 baby hawksbill and green turtles to get into the ocean.

Full Circle

By Sophie Reid

“Happiness is only real, when shared” - Chris McCandless

Sophie working with a Saw-whet Owl in Wisconsin

I have always had a sense of passion for nature and wildlife ever since I was young. I can attribute that to my parents because they fostered an environment for me to truly explore those passions in every shape and form. As I grew up in a rural Wisconsin farming community, I had plenty of opportunities to explore the outdoors through Wisconsin 4-H youth programs and the environmental education program at my small K-12 school. Although, some of my fondest memories as a child were not only deer-hunting with my father, but also going to the Henry-Villas Zoo in Madison Wisconsin with my mom. I have always had this juxtaposition appear in my life; a love for all Wisconsin wildlife given to me by my dad and a passion and curiosity for exploration of wildlife outside of Wisconsin by my mom.

When I was seventeen years old, in 2019, my mom could see that I had a growing interest in marine wildlife and especially sea turtles; therefore, like the mother that she is, decided to investigate opportunities for me to get hands on experience with sea turtles in the natural world before I pursued a career in wildlife. So, she went to Google, like anyone else would do, and she found an organization called SEE Turtles, where they offered short-stay international volunteer programs with hands-on sea turtle conservation opportunities. As a parent, my mother's intention was to help me explore my passions in an exciting and safe way before I decided to chase after something I really knew nothing about.

Soon thereafter, my mom, sister, family friends, and I hopped on a plane departing for San Jose, Costa Rica. We were heading for an adventure to a small sea turtle camp located on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, called Estacion Las Tortugas. Here, many leatherback sea turtles nest on this beach and are protected by the station. I remember looking at a photo of a leatherback before we left, and I had no idea they existed before this trip was proposed by my mom. When you normally think of a sea turtle, green turtles, hawksbills, or even loggerheads come to mind, but leatherbacks remain elusive to the public’s eye.

It was quite an adventure to get down to Estacion Las Tortugas; we traversed through mountains, jungles, steep dirt roads, banana plantation towns, and eventually we ended up at a riverside where we unloaded and hopped on speed boats to finally get to this remote sea turtle station. Needless to say, this was not going to be a 5-star vacation in a tropical paradise. We were accommodated with rooms with twin beds and bug nets draped over the top, and a bathroom with a spout for a cold shower. Since we were in Costa Rica, it was very hot, humid, and mosquito ridden. Although the circumstances didn’t seem to be ideal, I was still at the edge of my seat, excited and waiting to see a leatherback sea turtle for the first time.

Over the course of the five days while we stayed there, we were able to participate on nightly sea turtle patrols in the volcanic black sand beach alongside the Caribbean Ocean. We walked with the researchers scanning for large dark blobs in the distance for a sign of a leatherback. The rhythm of the ocean paired with the cicadas of the jungle fueled a sense of peace and harmony under the spectacular display of stars. These walks were filled with chatter and laughter, anxiously waiting for a mother to surface the beach and lay her eggs. We would chant “Tortuga, Tortuga, ooha, ooha” over and over again, hoping to entice a visitor. The first sea turtle we found was a hawksbill laying her nest at the edge of the jungle's vegetation. My sister helped the researcher measure her carapace (shell) and collect her eggs to be relocated in their protected hatchery. I remember being very jealous of her, but I was patient. This was a turtle that had never been seen before, and therefore we were able to put a tag on her and I had the honor of naming her in our records. “Estrella” I said, remembering one of the only words I could recall from my high school Spanish class. This was a very special moment for me.

We had not seen a leatherback by this time, and I was getting wary of the possibility of not being able to see one at all. Although, one night came when we got a call on the radio from the other side of the beach. A leatherback was laying her nest. We quickly walked to join the others, although we were only able to peak over the shoulders of some to get a view of this amazing turtle. While we were disappointed not to be working directly with this leatherback, we soon got a call of another one where we had just come from, but further down. As my heart was jumping out of my chest, we retraced our steps to investigate. At this point, it had just been my mom, sister, and I with two of the field research assistants. A large dark mass came into view as we trudged along the sand. A leatherback sea turtle came into focus.

Leatherback turtle from Las Tortugas

She was as big as my dining room table, dark and beautiful with speckles of white. We remained very quiet, stood behind her, and spoke in a hushed tone. This time, I was able to assist the researchers during the collection of the eggs. I put on gloves and was asked to lay down and hold her back flipper as she laid her eggs in order to see better. She is in a trance at this point, focusing only on birthing her eggs, so we were not bothering her by helping her out. As I lay with my belly in the sand, I held her back left flipper, so large that I had to use both of my hands. As she laid one, two, four, eggs at a time I was able to see and feel her contractions through her flipper. This was the most connected I had ever felt with another being in this natural world.

Sophie with a leatherback hatchling

As she finished, my sister helped one of the assistants transport the eggs into the hatchery. I was told that it can take a leatherback up to two hours to cover her nest before she returns to the ocean. I decided I wanted to stay to watch her go back to the great unknown. I sat with my mom and one of the field assistants in quiet silence, giving her space to finish up her motherly duties and head back to sea. In this moment, I knew this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

The other parts of our stay at the station were great. We played cards, slept in hammocks, painted murals, and assisted in camp activities such as cleaning up plastic from the beach, and assisting in the hatchery with the leatherback sea turtle hatchlings. I left with a feeling of hope and excitement for what my future might bring for me. Grateful for the experience and my mom for providing it for me.

Since then, I continued to travel and see the world with a passion my mom and dad gave me for wildlife. I majored in Wildlife Ecology and Management at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point and participated in international internships and study abroad experiences. I have learned a lot about the world. The good and the bad. I have seen many of the injustices, cruelty, and destruction this world faces today. Sometimes it is hard to remember how beautiful our home here on earth really is when we are faced with such challenges. Although, there are times in life that remind me of what truly matters; community and connection with others, respect for each other and the natural world, and to remember that no matter where we came from or differences in perspectives we have, we all live on this planet Earth together. I think the right thing to do is to try everything we can with the hope that we have, rather than to do nothing at all.

I am happy to say that I will be returning to Estacion Las Tortugas in May for the first time since that wonderful experience as a field research assistant myself. I hope this inspires at least one of you to chase your wildest dreams or encourages your children to do the same. I cannot truly express how much gratitude I have for my mother, SEE Turtles, and Estacion Las Tortugas for providing me this opportunity.

I am filled with passion, gratitude, and excitement for this next chapter of my life, and I cannot wait for the moment I will see my next leatherback sea turtle at Estacion Las Tortugas.

Billion Baby Turtles Update

This year we are excited to be able to continue supporting most of our current partners and some new projects coming online. In March we participated in the International Sea Turtle Symposium in Pattaya Thailand with the our Program Director Adriana Cortés. It was great to meet many of our turtle friends and partners and to learn about many projects around the world. Adriana was also part of the organization of the symposium as a co–chair of the Volunteer Committee and with the Live Auction team. 

Our Dr. Adriana Cortes with our partners from Turtle Foundation - Janin Bartoschek (Turtle Foundation), Tom Amey and Adéla Hemelíková of Ecosystem Impact, and Jatmiko Wiwoho of Yayasan Penyu Indonesia.

So far this year, we have provided 6 grants to local partners in 5 countries, totaling US $32,000 in grants, protecting an estimated 66,000 hatchlings!

Our grants for the first trimester of this year included: 

PAMALi, Indonesia

Pamali Indonesia is a not for profit organization working on sea turtle protection and conservation. Their sea turtle nest protection program on Denawan island runs in 2 ways: in situ and in a hatchery. PAMaLi Indonesia relocates nests that are below the high tide line and where there is a high risk of disturbance from animals or humans (human threats include eggs illegally taken, the turtleshell trade, sand mining, bycatch, and plastic pollution). All the nests at risk are relocated into the hatchery. For hawksbill nests, 100% are relocated to the hatchery because they are very vulnerable from predators. With a grant of US$ 5,000 this year, we hope to help more than 22,000 baby turtles get to the ocean.

Green turtle hatchling: Photo courtesy PAMALi

Turtle Love Project, Playa Tres, Costa Rica

Turtle Love runs a community-based conservation project working to protect sea turtles nesting at Playa Tres. This is the second most important nesting beach for green turtles in Costa Rica, in addition to supporting leatherback and hawksbill turtles. Between March and October 2023, the Turtle Love team protected 1,247 nests of green and 60 of leatherback. Thanks to the team's efforts, the illegal taking of nests was reduced from 31% in 2022 to 13% in 2023 for both protected species. With a grant US $5,000, Billion Baby Turtles funds will support the protection of more than 15,000 baby turtles.

Ocean Spirits, Grenada

Ocean Spirits was established in 1999 with the primary mission to conserve the marine environment and associated biodiversity via education, research, and community development. In collaboration with key stakeholders, Ocean Spirits leads conservation efforts for leatherbacks, critically endangered hawksbill sea turtles, and endangered green turtles through preservation of nesting and foraging sites and alleviation of local threats and pressures. This region has high pressure with illegal harvest as well as a dramatic decrease in hatching success for leatherback nests. With US $5,000, we are supporting this project and expect to protect at least 1,000 baby leatherbacks to reach the big blue this upcoming season. 

Leatherback returning to the ocean in Grenada: Photo courtesy Kate Charles / Ocean Spirits

Provita, Paria Gulf, Venezuela

Provita has partnered with the biologist Dr. Clemente Balladares to protect sea turtles (especially critically endangered hawksbill turtles) in Venezuela for almost 2 decades. During the 2023 season, this project protected 98 hawksbill and 3 leatherback nests. They were able to maintain the illegal nest collection at only 3%, the most important threat in the area. Billion Baby Turtles supported this project with US $4,400, with these funds, we expect to help our partner to protect more than 2,300 baby turtles for the upcoming season.

Ecosystem Impact, Bangkaru Island, Indonesia

This nonprofit organization works in the Bankaru Islands to protect primarily green turtles and sporadic nesting leatherbacks. In addition to the protection of nesting turtles, Ecosystem Impact develops law enforcement capacity, campaign and advocacy work, community awareness, ranger training, and education. They work with community rangers and campaigns in all the local communities surrounding the project. With US $5,000, our Billion Baby Turtles program supported Ecosystem Impact for this upcoming season, expecting to protect more than 2,300 baby turtles get to the ocean.

Billion Baby Turtles September Update

Last month, our Billion Baby Turtles program provided 2 grants totaling US $7,000 to partners in two countries. These grants will help save an estimated 7,000 hatchlings of ridleys, leatherbacks, and green turtles. This brings the total for 2022 to 45 grants totaling $245,000, protecting an estimated 2.3 million baby turtles!

Palmarito, Oaxaca, Mexico (New Partner)

The Palmarito Project has been operating since 2005, a nesting beach for leatherback black and olive ridley turtles, located on the migration route of sea turtles and the most important nesting area in the Mexican Pacific. They also run the Dark Nights Environmental Education Program to provide information to people who live on the beachfront about the importance of Palmarito for the reproduction of sea turtles, threats, and alternatives to contribute to their conservation. Last season they protected 1,163 leatherback hatchlings, 8,735 green, and more than of 40,076 olive ridleys. Billion Baby Turtles supported this new partner with US$ 5,000 helping to save more than 7,000 baby turtles. 

Sea Turtle Inclusivity Fund Profile - Sharon Bernal

Our Sea Turtle Inclusivity Fund is helping to grow leaders in disadvantaged coastal communities around the world. These funds help young emerging conservationists to advance in their career and help these communities engage in efforts to protect sea turtles.

We recently provided a grant to Palmarito Sea Turtle Camp in Oaxaca, Mexico for Sharon Danetsi Maldonado Bernal to become the organization’s first Ecotourism Coordinator. This grant will cover Sharon’s salary for six months to develop her leadership skills to coordinate volunteers at the camp, support nightly beach patrols, and develop her tour guiding skills.

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Hi, my name is Sharon Danetsi Maldonado Bernal, I am originally from a town located in Pinotepa Nacional municipality, in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Since I was a child, I had a lot of interest in nature. The place where I grew up was a small town, where I was able to enjoy a healthy and fun-filled childhood.

We are from the Mixtec ethnic group, my grandparents and parents speak the Mixtec language. Our ethnic group is known as the Ñu Savi or rain people. The clothing of our community is a Nahua loom painted with snail paint, an apron, and a huipil. My grandfather was a dancer, he danced the Tejerones and everything he knew he taught to his grandchildren, as well as his legends and stories. My community keeps many stories and legends. It is a place full of fauna and flora, only there is not much environmental education. They still kill snakes, they think that owls are witches; one of my purposes and projects that I have is to provide more information to my community, encourage environmental education, and help conserve the environment.

For that and for many other reasons, I decided to study biology. When I started the degree, I had the idea of wanting to save the world, but once I was inside, I realized that we need to act more locally to start. I hope to graduate, and to continue with a master and PhD. But at the moment, I want to work with children in a project I have. When I go home on vacation, I do small activities, talks and walks with girls and boys. We go out to watch birds, look for mushrooms, or look at iguanas, although I lack material to continue advancing with this, I know that little by little I will achieve it and grow.

I’m in the 7th semester of my degree, I am almost finished and I have learned many things. One of my greatest learnings is working with sea turtles, everything I have learned from the people at the Campamento Tortuguero Palmarito, they have supported and given me information to work on sea turtle conservation efforts. Also, in the not-too-distant future I would like to form a turtle station on the beaches near to my hometown, the hunting of turtles is very strong there, there are no regulations, there is no protection. I hope that with my help, my community one day we will achieve this.