help endangered turtles

I just got back from living on Ingram Island, on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, which is a significant foraging spot for green and hawksbill turtles. I got to catch, tag, measure, weigh, and even assist with laproscopy of over 150 turtles altogether. Amazing!

Visit earthwatch.org to see currently running turtle projects. Volunteering is highly worth it!

I’m spending 12 days on the Great Barrier Reef participating in a research study about hawksbill turtles. We’re going to be surveying the juvenile population. Unfortunately it isn’t nesting season, so I won’t be catching eggs or digging up old nests the way I did last time, but it’ll still be a cool experience. I’ll be posting some photos when I return in August!

I had the opportunity to volunteer with Earthwatch at St. Croix USVI to help leatherback turtles. We walked the beaches at night looking for female turtles (some up to 800 pounds) to count their eggs and triangulate their nests. The turtles are truly majestic creatures—they really have a presence as they labor to lay their eggs. We moved some nests from areas that we knew would erode from wave action before the nestlings would hatch. It was a great two weeks and one of the highlights of my life. If you have the chance and don’t mind hard work, I highly recommend you try it.

I have loved turtles since I was a little girl. They have meaning in Hawaiian tradition, as the spirits of those who have past come back as a sea turtle to protect their ansestors. They are also beautiful, and magestic. Now they are endangered, and need our help to survive.

I hope to go in person to help turtles in some way. I am still figuring out what options are available.

Sea turtles are some of the most ancient creatures clinging to survival in the world today. Unfortunately they are under extreme threat from destructive fishing practices, habitat and nesting beach loss, climate change, and poaching. Two summers ago I spent several weeks at a wildlife reserve in the US Virgin Islands helping to conduct research on leatherbacks, which can grow 6-8 feet long and are truly spectacular animals. This summer I am going to be on the Great Barrier Reef doing a similar volunteer project with hawksbill turtles. It would be great for more people to get involved. These species have managed to survive since the time of dinosaurs… it would be a shame for them to become extinct now.