Every day from May to October, rain or shine at the crack of dawn, teams of specially trained volunteers patrol the beach. They search for turtle tracks in the sand, stake out turtle nests, move eggs to safer spots, all while explaining their work to passersby. They move obstacles, fill holes, retrieve eggshells from exhausted nests, and rescue tiny hatchlings left behind. The list goes on and on, with an array of joys and disappointments every day. It’s a labor of love, with solid results.
“When we started, little was known about sea turtles and how to protect them,” says Mary Duffy, who founded Amelia Island Sea Turtle Watch (AISTW) in 1985. A young teacher then, new to the island and looking for interesting challenges, Duffy signed up as a volunteer to learn about endangered sea turtles. She has been an inspiration ever since.
In those days, you could drive on the beach, so Duffy and a handful of others rode up and down along the surf counting nests and reporting their findings to the Florida Wildlife Commission. As the data grew, Duffy recruited more volunteers, and their responsibilities expanded. Now, 150 volunteers walk the beach weekly. They cover 11.5 miles of shoreline between Fort Clinch and Amelia Island State Park. That’s at least 1,748 miles of beach walking every year. Over 70,000 miles over 40 years.
Twenty-one extra-committed volunteers have earned Florida and U.S. Marine Turtle Permits. They survey the beach not just weekly, but daily during nesting seasons. They coordinate operations, assist other volunteers, record data, attend workshops, excavate nests after most eggs have hatched, and much more. They only are authorized to move eggs, touch nests, or handle emerging hatchlings.
This summer, beach renourishment by the Army Corps of Engineers made the work especially challenging, says new AISTW President Ronda Bokram. Dozens of nests had to be moved to safer locations.
“We measured the size and depth of each nest and reproduced it in a safer spot. Then we carefully removed the eggs, transported them immediately to their new nest, and positioned them bottom to top in the same order the mother laid them.” Hopefully, this effort will be as successful as a similar project in 2021, when 47 nests were relocated and the eggs appeared to hatch normally.
Protecting turtles on our beaches is just one part of AITSW’s important mission. The volunteers are year-round educators. They are advocates for healthy beaches. Data they collect is meticulously recorded and sent to researchers around the world. One breakthrough study they were involved in lasted ten years. It confirmed that females return to their home beaches to nest, that they lay eggs three to five times in one summer, that nearby food supplies influence nesting frequency, and much more.
According to AISTW Vice President Bill Bokram, the group has documented 4,640 nests over the past 40 years, mostly Loggerheads, but also 106 Greens; 18 Leatherbacks, and one Kemps Ridley. Despite storms that destroy about 11 percent of nests annually, Bokrum estimates that 369,400 hatchlings clambered up through Amelia Island sand, crawled into the surf, and paddled out to sea.
Life in the ocean is full of challenges, many of them human-related. Only 1 to 2 percent of hatchlings will survive the 20 to 30 years needed to reach sexual maturity. That’s why AISTW’s work is so critical.
Sea turtles have given birth on our beaches for over 100 million years, but today they are in danger. Beachgoers can help them by removing beach furniture at night, turning off household lights visible from the beach, filling holes dug during the day, disposing of fishing line responsibly, producing less plastic garbage, and opposing the release of balloons.
In recognition of AISTW’s 40th anniversary, thank the volunteers you see, visit their informative website at ameliaislandseaturtlewatch.com, and if you can, support their efforts to help sea turtles win the race to survive.