Jean Petitt, Administtrative Assitant and Educator at Sea Turtle, Inc. Photos by Jim Lowenstein, STI

Successful Sea Turtle Release!

by Megan Chilcutt

The weather and water temperature finally warmed up enough to release 19 sea turtles back into the Gulf of Mexico on February 15^th. The turtles were a combination of rehabilitated turtles from various injuries and cold stunned turtles from several fronts that came through the area in early January.

The weekend was full of love with Valentine’s Day being the day before. Spend Saturday with your honey, then come on out to the beach on Sunday to spread the love vibes to the sea turtles returning back to their natural habitat was the resounding theme for the release. And boy-o- boy did folks respond. We estimate there were at least 1,500 people in attendance, as well as others who could not even make it into the park. Traffic was actually backed up onto the Causeway, and the Sea Turtle, Inc. crew had to have a police escort into the park due to the amount of  well-wishers in attendance. Success indeed! The turtles sped through the waves as soon as they touched the water, and so many on-lookers got to experience one of the end goals here at Sea Turtle, Inc. – to return these incredible and resilient creatures back into the wild!

All of the turtles were Atlantic greens, which by and large, inhabit the Laguna Madre bay side of our island. The reason we released these turtles on the Gulf side was to give them the option of rounding the jetties and returning to the bay or heading offshore into the much larger, and warmer, body of water, the Gulf of Mexico.
 

Volunteers advocating for marine life and clean beaches. Photos by Jim Lowenstein.

“Kill Litter” Beach Cleanup

Litter kills marine life, so let's kill litter

By Doris Meinerding

Sea Turtle, Inc. and Respeta Tu Playa Group organized a beach clean-up on South Padre Island on January 17, 2015, as part of the call for volunteer service over Martin Luther King weekend. The clean-up covered 3.7 miles from County Access #6 to one mile north of where State Highway 100 ends. This area is heavily populated by tourists and locals, yet, there are no trash drums or pickups this far north on the beach. The three annual Adopt-A-Beach cleanups of the Texas General Land Office focus on Isla Blanca and areas south of access #6. The area north of the city, where this event took place, is prime Kemp’s ridley nesting grounds.

From left to right: Bill Hoenes, Dick Hoenes, Madeleine Sandefur, and Doris Meinerding. Photo by Madeleine Sandefur

Construction workers move the last of the solar lights into place on a foggy June day, 2014. Teresa Shumaker photos. 

We dream of darker skies

By Teresa Shumaker

Last July we unveiled our new solar amber lights on Turtle Drive, purchased with a $30,000 grant from Green Mountain Energy and their customers. Sea Tutle, Inc. was the first on the island to have solar street lamps and use amber color, turtle-friendly lights and we couldn't have done it without Green Mountain and their Sun Club customers!

Why are these new lights so important? Reptiles cannot see amber or red light wavelengths. Because of that, it does not disturb the sea turtles when they are trying to orient themselves on the beach after dark. Jeff George, STI's Executive Director, said he sees a not-too-distant future, when the sea turtles recover their numbers enough that their will be too many nests to move into our corral. When that happens, we will need turtle-friendly lights across the island, so the hatchlings will not become confused when they try to make their way to the ocean at night.

We may have been the first to change our lights to amber, but we definitely hope others join us soon. And by the time we see such a recovery in the sea turtle numbers that Jeff envisions, most of the night lights on the island have that amber glow.

Recognition Corner

by Mary Laddis

Pam Cornett

Saying goodbye