Each night, you and your teammates will walk the sand beaches, patrolling for the most massive reptiles on Earth. When a female hauls its cumbersome shell up the beach to nest, you will record the nest location, turtle size, any injuries, and number of eggs laid. If the nest is below the high-tide line or is in danger of erosion, you will catch the eggs as they are being laid and help relocate the clutch to a safer area. Later teams will also help hatchlings reach the sea safely and dig up hatched nests to track hatching success and save any stragglers. Your efforts will become an important part of one of the longest-running sea turtle research and conservation projects of its kind in the world. Relax and enjoy the beautiful Caribbean waters in your time off.
Description:
Research Mission:
Help protect the eggs and hatchlings of these ancient reptiles
Situation Report:
St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands — Leatherback sea turtle populations around the world are on the brink of collapse, threatened by egg poachers, beach development, and indiscriminate fishing practices. But here on St. Croix, at the Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge, nesting leatherbacks are staging a dramatic recovery, with numbers in the past few years doubling or tripling those of the early 1980s. This is largely due to the many years effort by dedicated scientists and Earthwatch teams. Every year, volunteers monitor and collect data on nesting adults and hatchlings. They help move doomed nests, and usher thousands of turtle hatchlings safely to the ocean. In the past two decades, the research teams have helped eliminate poaching and reduce nest loss due to erosion. Thanks to these efforts, numbers of nesting turtles have started to increase in recent years....
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