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 $2,000 in grants, we were able to  support 5 different organizations in 5 different countries with an estimated of more than 20,000 pounds (10,000 Kg) of trash taken out from marine turtle nesting beaches/areas. 

The projects / beaches supported were:

1. AGBO-ZEGUE (Togo)

2. Fundação Tartaruga (Cabo Verde)

3. Kiunga Turtle Conservation Group (Kenya)

4. Bridges Cameroon (Cameroon)

5. ECOMAR-UAGro (Mexico)

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.

November Billion Baby Turtles Update

We’re thrilled to have passed the 10 million hatchling milestone this past month. Check out our blog post to learn how we got there. This month, we provided 4 grants to projects in 3 countries, totaling $18,000 in grants and helping to save more than 3.5 million hatchlings this month. That brings our total for 2023 to more than 4.2 million hatchlings saved for the year.

University of Michoacan, Colola Beach (Mexico)

Since 2013 SEE Turtles has supported this project located on the coast of Michoacán, Mexico. Colola is the most important beach for nesting black turtles, which are a different morphotype of green turtles in this area (very dark skin and different shape and color of carapace). The population of black turtles has been monitored systematically since 1981, from that date, the population declined dangerously 1980-1999 (between 100 and 500 nesting females). However, since 2000 the number of female black turtles has been increasing significantly and in this past season (2022) was a record with the highest nesting season ever recorded with more than 80,000 nests and an estimated 5 million hatchlings. With US$ 10,000 Billion Baby Turtles helped to protect more than 3 million baby black turtles this season.

Black turtle nesting at Colola. Photo by Juan Ma Contortrix

Everlasting Nature of Asia (Indonesia)

ELNA helps to protect hawksbill turtle eggs from egg collectors to aim to recover the population. They conduct this project with Indonesia Sea Turtle Research Foundation (Yayasan Penyu Laut Indonesia/ YPLI) to hire local people as egg guardians who walk around the beach every morning and collect the nesting data. With a US $4,000 grant, we estimate that 16,000 hawksbill hatchings will be saved.

Patroller Joey Avellanas conducting a nest survey. Photo: Sea Turtles Forever

Guerrero Biodiversidad (GROBIOS) (Mexico)

GROBIOS has been working to protect primarily leatherback turtles around Acapulco, Mexico since 2018. SEE Turtles provided a $2,000 grant from our emergency fund to help the camp rebuild from the category 5 Hurricane Otis that hit in October, 2023.

10 Million Hatchlings Saved!

“How much does it cost to save a hatchling?” This question posed in 2013 by our co-founder Dr. Wallace J. Nichols launched Billion Baby Turtles, which has become SEE Turtles largest and most effective program. At the time, we didn’t know the cost but we figured if it was $1 per hatchling saved, it would be an effective way to raise funds for turtle nesting beaches.

We approached a handful of organizations that we knew well and asked them to calculate that cost for their beaches, dividing the total project budget by the average number of hatchlings produced. Combining those first few projects, the result was 5 hatchlings saved per dollar and the program was born. The first few years, we raised around $30,000 per year and supported 8-10 groups and 100,000 – 200,000 hatchlings per year. We reached our first milestone of 1 million hatchlings saved in 2017, 4 years after the launch of the program.

Our first partner in this program was the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Initiative, a new project at the time that was supporting efforts to protect this population in Nicaragua and El Salvador in conjunction with ProCosta and Fauna & Flora Nicaragua. These programs provide direct payments to local residents who bring nests to their hatcheries, the first efforts to protect one of the world’s most endangered sea turtle populations. This model ensures that local residents benefit from conservation efforts instead of taking away their livelihoods, which has happened at many nesting beaches around the world.

Eastern Pacific Hawksbill at Padre Ramos Estuary, Nicaragua (photo: Brad Nahill / SEE Turtles)

In 2018, Billion Baby Turtles began a period of intense growth, from $50,000 raised to more than $250,000 raised in 2022. We went from a few hundred thousand saved per year to more than a million. These funds come from a variety of sources, including individual donors, students and schools, sustainable business sponsors, private foundations, and income from SEE Turtles conservation tours.

For 15 years, the support of SEE Turtles has been fundamental for the conservation of the black turtle population in Michoacan, Mexico. They are the only international donor to the project, which has seen a remarkable recovery, going from only 533 nests in 1999 to more than 80,000 nests per season now. —Dr. Carlos Delgado, University of Michoacan

Now, this program saves multiple millions of hatchlings per year and we have reached our next milestone of more than 10,000,000 hatchlings saved. We have granted more than $1 million in 200+ grants to more than 60 organizations working on beaches in more than 20 countries. These grants support efforts to protect five of the seven species of sea turtles worldwide, with a focus on the most endangered turtles and populations including hawksbills and greens and Eastern Pacific leatherback turtles. We determine which projects to support based on a variety of criteria including the intensity and type of threats faced at those locations, how threatened that population is, the level of local community involvement, and the amount of outside funding the organization receives.  

Perhaps the most successful of our partners is Colola Beach in Mexico, where the University of Michoacan in collaboration with the local Nahua community, has had an extraordinary growth in the number of nesting turtles and hatchlings over the past twenty-plus years. This population of black turtles (a sub-species of green turtles) had numbers in the tens of thousands of nests in the past but with intense collection of eggs and meat exported around the world, their numbers crashed. Despite starting work there in the early 80’s, by the end of the century their nesting numbers had dropped to around 500 for the entire season.

Black turtle hatchling at Colola (photo: Juan Ma Contortrix)

But the hard work of the Nahua community with support from university scientists started to bear fruit in the 2000’s, with the population growing slowly each year. That growth has accelerated in the past few years, with more than 80,000 nests last season and 5 million hatchlings, making it now one of the most important green turtle beaches in the world. SEE Turtles is now the only international supporter of this program.

Billion Baby Turtles now protects more than 3 million hatchlings per year. We would not have reached this milestone without the incredible support of thousands of donors, hundreds of students, dozens of schools and business sponsors, and more than 1,500 travelers. This program has grown to one of the largest private funders of turtle conservation in the world and we believe the program will continue to grow in the number of hatchlings saved and nesting beaches supported around the world.

Learn more about Billion Baby Turtles here.

Sea Turtles & Plastic Update

We’re excited to announce two new Sea Turtles & Plastic grants for coastal communities around the world. Our Sea Turtles & Plastic program provides crucial financial support for local organizations to address and benefit from the plastic waste arriving on their beaches. These two projects were funded from a grant from the Change Happens Foundation. To date, we have given out 14 of these grants, totaling more than US $70,000. These projects have collected more than 20,000 lbs of plastic waste, recycling more than 7,000 lbs and we’re just getting started!

Our newest Sea Turtles & Plastic Grantees are:

Fundação Tartaruga, Boa Vista, Cape Verde

The Cape Verde archipelago hosts the world’s third largest nesting population of loggerhead turtles. Fundação Tartaruga works on the island of Boa Vista. In 2021, more than 28,000 nests were laid on the beaches they patrol. During the sea turtle nesting season, the rangers are paid to patrol the beach, so the aim of this plastic project is to ensure that the rangers can also pursue meaningful and environmentally compatible employment during the off-season. The purpose of this grant is to support their rangers to produce products from plastic waste outside the sea turtle nesting season on Boa Vista/Cabo Verde and sell them to tourists. Additionally, the plastic problem in this area is very important, during the Sea Turtle Week last June, in one event beach cleanup, they removed almost 3,500 kg (more than 7,500 lbs) of plastic from the beach. Rangers from the local group “Onze Estrelas” are collecting suitable plastic waste on nesting beaches, shredding it, putting the granules into the injection machine, heat it, and create new items like key-chains in the shape of a sea turtle, shark or penguin. With a grant of US $5,000 we are supporting the acquisition of a motor-powered granulator machine for this project.

Turtle caught in discarded plastic fishing gear on Cape Verde. Credit Fundacao Tartaruga.

Conservation des Espèces Marines, Grand-Béréby, Ivory Coast     

Since 2014, Conservation des Espèces Marines has been carrying out a community management project for the protection of sea turtles. CEM has managed to raise awareness among local communities, drastically reduce the human threat to sea turtles, and involve local communities in preservation activities along a 30 km beach located west of Grand-Béréby (Mani Beach -Kablake). This project aims to employ 10 people from Grand Bereby and the towns of Mani, Pitiké and Kablaké to collect the large amounts of plastic waste found on nesting beaches. The collected waste will be classified by type and sent to Abidjan, where the only company in the country that recycles plastic waste is located, called Recyplast. This project will make it possible to recycle plastic fishing nets that have accumulated mainly in rock reefs for many years. It will also allow recycling of other kinds of plastics that accumulate on beaches such as polypropylene, bottles, etc. which come mostly from fishing boats. With US $5,000, CEM will collect 1 ton of regular plastic waste and up to 5 tons of plastic nets. 10 people will directly benefit from the project, getting paid to do the cleanups.

Volunteers clean up a beach in Ivory Coast. Photo credit Conservation des Especes Marines.

August & September Billion Baby Turtles Update

 In August and September, we gave a total of US$ 14,000 or our Billion Baby Turtles program, we supported 4 projects in 3 different countries. So far this year, we have supported 32 partners with a total of US $148,500 in 16 different countries, protecting an estimated 780,000 hatchlings, bringing us to more than 9 million turtles saved to date.

Turtle Foundation, Sipora and Selaut Besar, Indonesia

Sipora

On the island of Sipora in West Sumatra, part of the Mentawai Islands, in 2017, a completely unknown to science nesting 8 km beach of the endangered leatherback turtle was discovered: Buggeisiata. Over decades, the local community used to hunt nesting females and take the eggs for their consumption. With these practices, the number of nesting females has been decimated but since Turtle Foundation ishas been 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 5 nests of olive ridleys. With US $3,000, SEE Turtles supported this project that protects not only eggs and hatchlings but also adult females from being killed. 

Green turtle hatchling from Indonesia. Photo credit Turtle Foundation

Selaut Besar

Selaut Besar is an important nesting site for green turtles in Sumatra/Indonesia. Last season, Turtle Foundation protected 328 nests of green turtles and 18 of leatherback. The island is also sporadically visited by hawksbill turtles, so that a total of three different species of sea turtles nest on this unique island. Turtle Foundation is hiring and training staff from local communities and each member of the Selaut team is from Simeulue. Some of the team members were hunters themselves but now through participation in the program, they are aware of the importance of the sea turtles and have become sea turtle guardians. They carry this awareness with them into their communities and have been able to raise awareness of the project through community engagement. Our Billion Baby Turtles program is supporting this new project on this Island with US$ 5,000 for this upcoming season. 

Releasing hatchlings in the Ivory Coast. Photo credit: Conservation des Especes Marines

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 nonprofit association of the Ivory Coast and is composed almost entirely by members of local communities. The field activities are carried out by local eco-guards. Three marine turtle species nest on the beach West of Grand Béréby: leatherback, olive ridleys, and green turtles. Last season, they protected 679 olive ridley nests, 60 green turtles, and 54 leatherbacks. Billion Baby Turtles is supporting this organization for the first time this year with US $3,000 expecting to help at least 1,000 baby turtles to get to the ocean.

Olive ridley turtle returning to the ocean in Mexico. Photo credit: Palmarito Turtle Camp

Palmarito Turtle Camp, Oaxaca, Mexico 

The Palmarito Project has been operating since 2005. They manage a nesting beach for leatherback, black, and olive ridley turtles. 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 and the Sea turtle monitoring program, where they have confirmed the presence of the hawksbills throughout the year. Last season they protected 284 nests of olive ridley turtles, 120 green turtles, and 5 leatherbacks, helping to get to the ocean more than 34,000 baby turtles. Billion Baby Turtles supported this partner with US$ 3,000 helping to save more than 4,500 baby turtles. 

Inclusivity Fund Profile - Paola Castillo

With US $2,400, SEE Turtles supported Equipo Tora Carey (ETC), based in El Jobo, Costa Rica with a grant from Our Sea Turtle Inclusivity Fund. ETC is a local organization working protecting sea turtles in 5 different beaches around the Santa Elena Gulf, located along the country’s northern Pacific coast.

Hi, my name is Paola Castillo, I work for the NGO Equipo Tora Carey, and I am in charge of the administration and coordination of the patrolmen, as well as the database of our project. We depend 100% on donations and volunteers and this grant for my salary from the Sea Turtle Inclusivity Fund will cover a whole year and is a great help to both me and the organization.

Paola with her family in El Jobo, Costa Rica

I have known about ETC since it started butI joined the group shortly after it started, when my husband started as a patrolman working on the nesting beaches. A few months later, I started with managing the turtle database and working with the treasurer of the organization. Now I also coordinate their patrol schedule, when there are volunteers with us and try to make sure their experience is good. In a few words I’m the coordinator of the organization. But until now there was very little or no pay for my position; this is the first time Equipo Tora will have a full-time local resident to help coordinate our programs.

ETC positively impacts our community because now there are more families that are associated with the environment and more families who recycle when before it was hardly seen. Our turtles are also more protected since continuous patrols have reduced the taking of turtle nests and therefore increases the probability that our turtles will continue to return. My favorite part is knowing that I am doing something that supports my community and our children will have a better environment in the future since we are constantly cleaning our beaches. Even my son is now patrolling the beaches with his father, so my whole family is strongly involved with conservation in our community.

About Equipo Tora Carey

Being a community-based project, we believe in the deep connection between conservation and local communities; conservation cannot be fulfilled without an active local community and vice versa. This is why we want and need to work together with the local community, not without or even against them! Our objective is to mobilize and empower these locals – the most important resource at the project’s disposal – in order to fight coastal-marine destruction!

Our three pillars of work are conservational effort, research and education. With patrolling our beaches every night and cleaning our beaches weekly, we not only actively protect nesting turtles and their eggs from being poached, but also gather a lot of valuable data. With this information, we try to predict the marine animals’ behaviour in order to protect them more efficiently. Finally, education is our way to raise the awareness of conservation in the community, especially among the children, to ensure a lasting change of habits.

Learn More:

• Equipo Tora Carey website

• Join us for a visit to volunteer with Equipo Tora Carey in Costa Rica

July Billion Baby Turtles Update

July was a busy month for our Billion Baby Turtles program, we supported 7 projects in 5 different countries with US $30,000. This month we supported two of the most important nesting beaches in Costa Rica with some of the most important nesting populations for Green and Ridley turtles  (Tortuguero and Nancite respectively). With these grants we hope to help almost a million baby turtles to get to the big blue this month alone!

Sea Turtle Conservancy, Tortuguero (Costa Rica) 

Sea Turtle Conservancy has conducted research and monitoring Tortuguero Beach since the mid-1950s. After traveling to Tortuguero to study the migratory and reproductive behavior of sea turtles, world-renowned scientist Dr. Archie Carr found that turtles at Tortuguero were being harvested by the thousands. Unfortunately, after a long recovery that started in the 1970s, this green turtle population is showing the first signs of decline. The reasons are not well understood, but STC is undertaking studies to assess the impacts of predation, illegal harvesting (both at Tortuguero and abroad), impacts from climate change, and artificial lighting.  For a second year, SEE Turtles supported this project with US $5,000 through our Billion Baby Turtles grants, with this grant we are helping to protect around 500,000 baby turtles to get to the big blue!

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 increased gradually from 138 nests in 2004 to 833 2021. Last season they protected 403 nests of greens and 124 nests of hawksbill turtles with a total of 30,763 hatchlings of green turtles and 12,311 of hawksbills. With US $3,000, Billion Baby Turtles supported this upcoming season we expect to help 12,000 baby turtles to get to the ocean. 

A Reef Guardians ranger prepares to bury a nest of eggs in their hatchery on Lankayan Island. Photo credit: Reef Guardians

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 programme that extends to all recorded nesting species. 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 olive ridley turtles. Billion Baby Turtles has been supporting this project since 2017; this year with US $2,000 we hope to help at least 1,500 baby turtles. 

Guanacaste Dry Forest Foundation, Nancite Beach (Costa Rica)

Playa Nancite is the second most important nesting site for olive ridley sea turtles in Costa Rica. The arribadas of these turtles generally result in between 20,000 and 116,000 nests each year. Green turtles also nest at Nancite beach, but in much smaller numbers (between 20 and 65 nests per year). The beach is located in a very remote part of this Area of Conservation Guanacaste, then, it is wild and pristine, with the only human traffic consisting of researchers, their assistants, and sometimes, park visitors and students. 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 $4,000 SEE Turtles supported Luis Fonseca research at this important beach and expected to help around 400,000 baby turtles to get to the sea. 

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

CICI’s ‘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. For the fourth year in a round, Billion Baby Turtles supported this project with US $8,000.

Green turtle returning to the ocean in Papua New Guinea. Photo credit: Conflict Islands Conservation Initiative

Ashanti Conservation Initiative. 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 sea turtle nesting sites in the Western region of Ghana. The project ensures participation of local communities and the information gathered will provide valuable insight into the relative abundance per species, distribution, and diversity of sea turtles. With US $3,000 Billion Baby Turtles supported this to protect olive ridleys, green, and leatherback nesting turtles and save more than 4,000 baby turtles.

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

This organization protects primarily olive ridleys and green turtles at 3 beaches (Playa Carate, Pejeperro, and Río Oro). 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 and hunting inside Corcovado National Park. With US $5,000, Billion Baby Turtles supported this project and hopes to help to protect more than 60,000 baby turtles get to the ocean this year. 

Sea Turtles & Plastic Program Update

In the last two months, our Sea Turtles & Plastic program has made tremendous progress. We gave 14 small grants (US $6,000) in 8 different countries for beach cleanups during Sea Turtle Week. We also gave two year-long beach cleanup grants for a total of US $7,000 in June and 5 recycling grants for a total of US $23,000. The cleanup grants were donated by our partner Dots Eco and the recycling grants were thanks to our donor World Nomads Footprints grogram along with donor Next Earth and our Sustainable Travel Sponsors.

Sea Turtle Week

With the support of our partner Dots.Eco, we were able to support beach cleanups in different countries during the upcoming Sea Turtle Week. With $6,000 we were able to  support 14 different organizations in 8 different countries with an estimated of more than 54,000 pounds of trash taken out from marine turtle nesting beaches. 

The projects / beaches supported were:

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

• Kiunga Turtle Conservation Group. Kiwayu, Kenya

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

• Kiunga Community wildlife association, Lamu, Kenya

• Greening Forward Cameroon. Isobe-Idenau Cameroon

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

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

• Kenyan Youth Biodiversity Network. Diani beach, Kenya

• Ecological Conservation Puerto Rico. Arecibo, Puerto Rico

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

• Sustainable Ocean Alliance Cameroon. Batoke, Limbe Cameroon

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

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

• Barra de la Cruz, Oaxaca, México

Volunteers participating in a Sea Turtle Week beach cleanup in Togo, Africa run by the AGBO-ZEGUE organization.

COASTS (Costa Rican Alliance for Sea Turtle Conservation & Science), Gandoca-Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge (REGAMA), Costa Rica

COASTS is mainly removing plastic from the mouth of the Rio Sixaola and adjacent stretch of beach during the sea turtle nesting season. The river carries a lot of plastic debris out into the ocean, which is then washed back onto the beach. The adjacent beach (Gandoca) is an important nesting ground for leatherback and hawksbill turtles. Because of rising sea levels worldwide, the part of the beach that is suitable for nesting is disappearing into the ocean and the rest is drowning in plastic. They have started to remove plastic during the past two nesting seasons and have pulled a total of 2117 kg (more than 2 metric tons) of plastic so far. Due to the inaccessibility of the river mouth and its large plastic deposits, they need to charter a boat that can help us transport the bags full of collected plastic back to the village (5+km) for processing. We supported COASTS with US $5,000 to support their beach cleanups for the next 2 years. 

Palawan Biodiversity Conservation Advocates. Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines

This project engages in 5 land-based clean-up activities in selected coastal barangays in Dumaran Island, Palawan that are known to be nesting sites of sea turtles. Members of the communities where the activity will be conducted will be the main participants in the clean-ups with other stakeholders who are willing to volunteer for the events.  This project is estimated to collect around 250 kg (550 lbs) per month in these beaches. Our plastic recycling program supported this project with US $2,500.

Plastic Recycling Grants

Kishoka Youth Community Based Organization, Mombasa Kenya

Sea turtle populations in Kenya are declining due to degradation of critical nesting habitats with plastic marine litter. This is enhanced by the growing population associated with increasing human activities in the area. This project is an expansion of Kishoka’s plastic management project currently taking place in Mtongwe. It will be conducted in Likoni sub-county with a shoreline of about 25km with an aim of restoring five critical (Denyenye, Pungu Villa, Timbwani, Shelly Beach, and Mtongwe) turtle nesting beaches in the area. The students and community members will be trained and mentored through waste segregation processes, creation of artefacts like bangles, stools etc. and also connected with recyclers like Kwale Plastic Plus to purchase their excess plastics, rubber and glasses collected. The project will establish plastic collection points in each site and provide the community members with basic clean-up materials and transport for their wastes besides marketing their created products. Capacity building activities will be provided through interactive indoor lectures and active practical sessions in the field. Education and awareness materials (banners, charts, brochures) will also be produced and shared with them to enhance their environmental ambassadorial activities. Creation of artefacts and sell of the excess litter will boost the local communities’ household income and creating an alternative livelihood than the current reliance on tourism and fishing activities.

Volunteers with Kishoka after a beach cleanup in Africa

Wildlife Conservation Association. Nosara, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

This project aims to consolidate the existing recycling efforts of the community of Nosara. By selling products and offering educational workshops, they will promote a circular economy in the area, increasing awareness, helping manage waste from development and creating new and innovative sources of income to support conservation. At the Ostional National Wildlife Refuge, solid waste and recycling have been collected by a community-based initiative in the area since 2008. Currently, more than 6.5 tons of PET and HDPE plastic are collected and recycled annually. This project will benefit sea turtle conservation by keeping plastic out of the oceans and consolidating local initiatives to create a more sustainable and circular economy with local plastic waste. By giving a percentage of sales to the Ostional National Wildlife Refuge, they will further support sea turtle conservation by providing additional resources to carry out and enforce conservation in the area. Our plastic recycling program supported this project with US $4,500.

Comunidad Protectora de Tortugas de Osa (COPROT). Carate, Rio Oro and Pejeperro beaches, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

COPROT has been our partner for several years through our Billion Baby Turtles program. Now we are happy to be able to extend our support to their beach cleanups and recycling program. Their goal is to link sea turtle conservation research with community engagement and sustainable practices. Additionally to the turtle monitoring and awareness, with this grant they plan to support the next step in the development of their plastic project: to provide a salary for a local employee, to expand their recycling center, and to host an educational workshop to familiarize the community with plastics and their threats to sea turtles and ecosystem health. Our plastic recycling program supported this project with US $4,500.

Osa Conservation. Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

The Osa Conservation Sea Turtle program monitors and protects two important nesting beaches stretching 6.5 km in the Southern Pacific of Costa Rica. High predation rates by native and domestic wildlife, nest poaching, plastic pollution, and sea level rise and erosion are the main threats at these nesting beaches. Along with their turtle monitoring and hatchery program they are also executing regular beach clean ups and plastic recycling workshops with local, national, and international volunteer participation. With our Plastic Recycling grant of US $4,500 they will create light guardians (light covers to reduce light pollution) from recycled plastics to implement in hotels close to nesting beaches, to turn plastics into “second-chance souvenirs” to provide extra income for local people, and to increase awareness on plastic pollution and implementing alternatives to single-use plastics.

Centro de Rescate de Especies Marinas Amenazadas (CREMA). Nandayure, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

In 2015, CREMA began a sea turtle research and conservation project in coastal communities from the canton of Nandayure, Guanacaste in Costa Rica. In this area 4 different species of sea turtles nest. Local communities have supported research initiatives and volunteer programs as a way to activate the economy and tourism in the area. However, the lack of political will and the growing urban development on the coasts of Costa Rica has caused the beaches of Nandayure to become affected by large amounts of both recyclable and non-recyclable wastes, which directly affect the adult turtles that frequent these beaches, as well as development of hatchlings in nests. Taking this into account, since 2019 CREMA began a collaboration with a community initiative led by Aníbal Cortés García, a community leader in charge of collecting, classifying, and sending solid wastes from 14 coastal communities to recycling centers. In this way they have managed to carry out more than 100 beach clean ups, collecting and transporting to collection centers almost 7 tons of waste. Our plastic recycling program supported this project with US $4,500.

Billion Baby Turtles Update - June 2023

June was an exciting month with all the events (virtual and in person) celebrating our beloved sea turtles. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. 

But the usual work protecting sea turtles also continues, as well as our Billion Baby Turtle Grants. June was also a great month because we were able to support 3 past partners with 4 different projects and a new partner with 3 projects in 3 different countries in Africa with a total of US$ 31,500. So far, this year we have given US$ 94,500 to support nesting beaches. 

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

Since 2000 ANAI and LAST nonprofit organizations have worked  for the protection and conservation of nesting females and baby sea turtles in Cahuita Beach. SEE Turtles president Brad Nahill helped to launch the first season of this work working for ANAI. 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 Caribbean hawksbill turtles in Costa Rica. For this season, through our Billion Baby Turtles program supported this project with US $3,500 to help continuing the protection of this beach

Leatherback hatchlings on Moin Beach. Credit: Latin American Sea Turtles

From March to September Moin beach is threatened by illegal human actions during nesting season (commercial trade with eggs, meat and turtle shell is common in this area). Without protection, almost all the nests would be taken and many adult turtles would be killed for their meat as well. We supported this project with US $4,000 to keep protecting adults and baby turtles to get back to the ocean.

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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 nonprofit 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.

A very important area of target is environmental education. For that reason, the implementation of diverse programs has been developed. Visitors and tourists attend an educational presentation that addresses the impact of plastic disposal in the oceans and marine life. Workshops are presented to fishermen and hotel employees. “Warriors of the Rainbow '' is a summer program where local children attend two weeks of intense environmental education and also integrates other educational areas. Billion Baby Turtles supported Ayotlcalli with US$ 3,500, helping to protect the 3 different species that nest on these beaches (olive ridleys, leatherbacks, and black turtles) and more than 15,000 baby turtles.

Olive ridley hatchling: Credit Ayotlcalli

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Chelonia, Playa Grande, Puerto Rico.

Chelonia group is in charge of monitoring and documenting the nesting seasons of the leatherback turtle in Playa Grande El Paraíso during the last ten years. It is also in charge of documenting and monitoring the hawksbill nesting season on the islands of Mona and Culebra in Puerto Rico. Billion Baby Turtles supported this program with US$ 500 to keep record of the number of nests in this area. 

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Réseau des Acteurs et Professionnels de la Sauvegarde des Tortues Marines en Afrique Centrale (RASTOMA - Central Africa Marine Turtle Network)

RASTOMA acts on the scale of the Central African sub-region because this is the minimum scale for effective action on marine turtles, which are migratory species. RASTOMA promotes conservation carried out by local communities and develops Income Generating Activities to ensure the sustainability of actions in the field. It also develops synergies between network members and strengthens their capacity, influence and impact on marine turtles and their habitats in Central Africa and beyond.

RASTOMA Cameroon

Cameroon hosts 4 species of marine turtles that nest and forage along its coastline (hawksbill,  green, leatherback and olive ridley turtles). These species are facing intense anthropogenic pressures such as eggs and females taken, bycatch, etc. This project aims to contribute to the reduction of these threats by engaging local people in securing nests and nesting beaches, training in the release of accidentally caught turtles and educating local communities on the need to preserve marine turtles. RASTOMA and partners are already working with 3 experienced beach patrollers on the site. They will identify and train 7 additional beach patrollers. The 2-day practical training will focus on species identification, biometry, nest and bycatch monitoring, education and sensitization techniques, and release of by-caught alive or stranded individuals. Billion Baby Turtles supported this project with US$ 10,000 to help them grow this amazing project. 

RASTOMA Gabon

The coastline of Gabon is 950 km long and is an important nesting site for three species of marine turtles in Central Africa: olive ridley, leatherback, and green turtles. This project aims to reduce threats affecting sea turtles and nests by conducting beach monitoring and nest transfer to the hatchery in the Gamba protected area complex (13 km). Regular patrols are carried out from October to March at night and in the morning on this beach. During this period, all turtles encountered are measured and all nests are recorded, turtle's tracks and nests are disguised to avoid illegal taking. Exposed or endangered nests are transferred to a hatchery. Billion Bay Turtles is supporting this project with US$ 5,000 for this upcoming season. 

RASTOMA Democratic Republic of Congo

Five species of marine turtles occur along the Atlantic coast of Democratic Republic of Congo including green, leatherback, hawksbill, olive ridley and loggerhead turtles. These species are threatened by poaching, bycatch and intentional by-catches combined with coastal erosion which damages nests and nesting habitat of marine turtles. The project intends to employ the local communities to protect nesting females and eggs to ensure the sustainability of nesting sites in the RDC. For this season we supported this project with US $5,000.

Sea Turtle Week Wrap

Sea Turtle Week 2023 was a huge success and we wanted to thank everyone who participated. It was amazing to see so many people around the world celebrate sea turtles. Here are some of the highlights from this year:

Volunteers with Agbo Zeque’s Sea Turtle Week beach cleanup in Togo

• 100 new Sea Turtle Week partners from around the world, bringing our total to more than 250 participating organizations.

• At least 8.4 million people reached across all platforms.

• 50+ beach cleanups for the Global Ocean Cleanup that helped to clean up tens of thousands of lbs of trash and involved thousands of volunteers.

• Our Photo Contest received 392 photos from 249 photographers of the 7 turtle species.

• Our Children's Art Contest received 194 pieces of children's artwork from 22 countries.

• Our Scientist of the Year Contest had 18 scientist nominees from 10 countries.

• New children's lessons, coloring sheets, and other resources and tons of new graphics created by our interns.

• We created a new Sea Turtle Week YouTube series with 5 fun episodes.

April & May Billion Baby Turtles Update

It has been a busy few months helping community organizations protect important turtle nesting beaches around the world. Many of our partners are in full swing in their seasons for the next couple of months.

During April we provided a total of US $20,500 to our partners through our Billion Baby Turtles program to turtle nesting beaches and $2,400 for one Inclusivity Fund grant to create a coordinator post for a woman from the community of El Jobo in Costa Rica working with our partner Equipo Tora Carey. In May, Billion Baby Turtles supported 4 different projects in Indonesia, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Cuba with US $23,500. So far this year, we have provided $73,000 for this program in 2023, helping to save an estimated 230,000 hatchlings.

June is the month of Sea Turtle Week and we are very excited with lots of fun things during the best week of the year! If you haven’t, please, check all them out here: seaturtleweek.com

BILLION BAY TURTLES GRANTS

Provita, Paria Gulf, Venezuela

Provita has protected marine turtles in Venezuela for almost 2 decades. During the 2022 season Provita protected 39 hawksbill nests, from 5 weekly patrolled beaches from April to September. They were able to maintain the illegal nest collection at 5% (7 nests), the most important threat in the area. The total number of baby hawksbills protected were 9,226, 27% more than in 2021. Billion Baby Turtles supported this project with US $4,000

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. In the present, local residents patrol 5 different beaches every night. SEETurtles has partnered with ETC since 2018, they protect around 250 nests of olive ridley, black and sporadic hawksbill nests. With US $2,500 this season, Billion Baby Turtles supports the protection of around 3,500 baby turtles. 

Ecosystem Impact, Bangkaru Island, Indonesia

This nonprofit organization works in Bankaru Island protecting especially 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, rangers training and social media education, all of these programs have as a goal the increase of global awareness of the conservation of marine turtles and other wild species included in the Bangkaru Project. With US$ 10,000 our Billion Baby Turtles program supported Ecosystem Impact for this upcoming season. With this, they may protect more than 11,000 baby turtles.

Photo courtesy Ecosystem Impact / Alex Westover

Sea Turtle Conservancy, 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). In the last 8 years and thanks to the protection of the area, the number of nests have been increasing from 688 in 2014 to 1104 last in 2021. With US$ 4,000 Billion Baby Turtles supported the protection of at least 10,000 baby hawksbills. 

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. During the 2022 season Billion Baby Turtles is supporting this project with US $10,000. Last season with the same amount they were able to protect 902 nests of hawksbill and 726 of  green turtles and helped to get into the ocean 40,819 hawksbill and 14,385 green baby turtles.

Sea Turtle Conservancy, Soropta, Panama 

This project is to address on-going threats facing the leatherback population at Soropta Beach, Panama, 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. For this season Billion Baby Turtles supports this project with US $5,000 helping to get into the big blue more than 5,000 baby leatherbacks. 

Photo courtesy Sea Turtle Conservancy

Vida Marina: Puerto Rico

The Sea Turtle Project of Western Puerto Rico is one of the projects operated by Vida Marina through the Center for Ecological Restoration and Conservation of the University of Puerto Rico at Aguadilla. This group is in charge of monitoring the beaches for sea turtle activity all year round. The program staff monitors beaches for nesting activity, performs night-time watches, to tag and measure female leatherback turtles, using metal and pit tags, and performs nest inventories. With US $5,000 our Billion Baby Turtles program is estimated to help with the protection of at least 10,000 baby turtles.  

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 support this organization with US $3,000 for this season, helping approximately 18,000 baby turtles to get to the ocean.