Snyder 1 Case Statement: Sea Turtle Conservancy Needs Statement A two-week-long U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sting operation at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport netted 12 people who illegally smuggled sea turtle meat and eggs into the United States aboard international flights from Costa Rica, Guatemala, and El Salvador. The investigation resulted in the confiscation of 764 eggs and about 75 pounds of sea turtle meat. One arrest during the operation was of a Costa Rican citizen, Franklin Delano Reid, who was found to have stashed in his luggage eight sea turtle flippers, 490 sea turtle eggs, and about 30 pounds of smoked sea turtle meat. Each year thousands of hatchling turtles emerge from their nests along the southeast U.S. coast and the Caribbean to enter the Atlantic Ocean. Sadly, only an estimated one in 1,000 to 10,000 will survive to adulthood. The natural obstacles faced by young and adult sea turtles are staggering, but it is the increasing threats caused by humans that are driving them to extinction. Today, all sea turtles found in U.S. waters are federally listed as endangered, except for the loggerhead which is listed as threatened. Protecting Sea Turtles & Coastal Habitats Sea Turtle Conservancy’s advocacy program is addressing the threats that face U.S. and International sea turtle populations in a wide variety of ways. Drawing on our organization’s five decades of international sea turtle conservation experience, our projects work to improve the survival of sea turtles in the United States and the Caribbean by raising national awareness, by advocating for protection of sea turtles and their habitats, and by empowering small, local sea turtle conservation groups. Our representatives regularly provide testimony to Congress, federal agencies, and state officials on issues affecting sea turtles and their habitat. We closely monitor all issues related to the survival of sea turtles and inform activists and conservationists working in the field, the media, and our members about steps that should be taken to ensure sea turtle survival. We also engage in direct advocacy designed to influence legislation or other policy decisions that will affect sea turtles. Habitat Preservation We work to enact protective laws and establish refuges for the preservation of sea turtle habitats and coastal environments. Our organization was instrumental in creating the Tortuguero National Park in Costa Rica. In the United States, we worked with other groups and agencies to establish the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge and continue to lobby Congress and government agencies to purchase the lands necessary to complete the refuge. Our international efforts include advocating for sea turtles at the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and protecting one of the most important sea turtle nesting beaches in the world by helping prevent off-shore oil-drilling in Costa Rica. Snyder 2 Education & Outreach We work with coastal residents, businesses, conservationists, and governments to increase awareness of the threats facing sea turtles, including coastal development, pollution, poaching, and accidental capture in nets. We also had the opportunity to help develop an educational program that uses the internet to allow school children and others around the world to learn about sea turtles as they follow the movements of turtles being tracked by satellite. More than 500,000 children around the world have been reached by this program already. In Tortuguero, Costa Rica, we operate the H. Clay Frick Natural History Visitor Center to inform more than 40,000 people who visit every year about the importance of the region’s habitats to the survival of sea turtles, manatees, and other tropical wildlife. Our organization is also an educational partner of the Barrier Island Ecosystem Center, an educational center & nesting site for sea turtles, at the heart of Eastern Florida’s Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge. Publications Our members receive the newsletter, Velador, which keeps readers up-to-date on our programs, education, research and advocacy efforts directed at sea turtle preservation. In addition to the Velador, we publishe research reports, action alerts, and other educational materials. In particular, our organization widely distributes an Educator’s Guide that helps teachers incorporate sea turtle awareness programs into their classroom curriculum. Training We provide training in the management and stewardship of sea turtles and coastal ecosystems. Graduates of our previous training programs now lead conservation efforts in over 25 countries around the world. Sea Turtle Conservancy The Sea Turtle Conservancy (STC) is the oldest and most accomplished sea turtle organization in the world! STC is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) membership organization based in Gainesville, Florida. STC was founded in 1959 by Mr. Joshua B. Powers in response to renowned ecologist Dr. Archie Carr’s award-winning book, The Windward Road, which first alerted the world to the plight of sea turtles. Dr. Archie Carr served as Scientific Director of STC from 1959 until his death in 1987. Since our founding, our research and conservation initiatives have been instrumental in saving the Caribbean green turtle from immediate extinction, as well as raising awareness and protection for sea turtles across the globe with nearly 60 years of experience in national and international sea turtle conservation, research, and educational endeavors. Our organization began its work in Costa Rica but has expanded its research and conservation efforts throughout Central America and the Wider Caribbean. Turtle Studies in Tortuguero, Costa Rica Our organization continues the work of Dr. Archie Carr every year on the black sand beaches of Tortuguero, Costa Rica, the nesting site of more endangered green turtles than anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere. For more than 40 years, our monitoring program has provided much information on the reproductive ecology and migratory habits of sea turtles. Snyder 3 Researchers, who are based at our John H. Phipps Biological Field Station, continue to monitor nesting trends, growth rates, and reproductive success. Turtle Studies in Panama In 2003, we began working to protect and restore the once globally significant Hawksbill sea turtle nesting population at beaches around Bocas del Toro, Panama, including Soropta Beach and Chiriquí Beach. The program consists of intensive monitoring of Hawksbill and Leatherback sea turtle nesting activity, protection of nesting females and their nests, and public education in the region. Other Research We have supported hundreds of research projects on the biology and conservation of sea turtles around the world. Recent studies have focused on impacts of tourism on nesting beaches, the levels of turtle harvesting at feeding grounds, satellite tracking of turtles, and monitoring of juvenile turtles around Bermuda. In 2006, we began the Eastern Caribbean Hawksbill Tracking & Conservation Project to study the migration patterns of “critically endangered” Hawksbill sea turtles nesting along the Caribbean coast of Nevis in the West Indies. The study will reveal important information about the turtles’ migratory behavior, which will help both conservationists and natural resource managers to improve protection efforts for this endangered species. In 2008, we began the Pacific Sea Turtle Tracking Project to study the migration patterns of threatened Olive Ridley sea turtles nesting along the Pacific coast of El Salvador. The study will reveal important information about the turtles’ migratory behavior, including migratory routes, foraging grounds, and the areas of potential conflict with commercial fisheries or legal harvest of sea turtles. Our organization also supports the longest Bird Banding and Monitoring Project in Latin America. The program began in Tortuguero, Costa Rica in 1994 as part of the “Partners in Flight” program, in association with Costa Rican and North American ornithologists. Resident and neotropical migrant bird species are surveyed in natural and disturbed habitats of the area and vital statistics are collected. The project also seeks to train Latin American wildlife biologists in ornithological field techniques and conduct outreach in Tortuguero and throughout Costa Rica. Funding Our organization is proud to have programs that create a powerful impact for all endangered and threatened species of sea turtles. That impact is largely a result of our dedicated and loyal donors. We have been lucky to have highly committed members and donors who consistently give to continue Dr. Carr’s dream, and the mission of our organization. ▪ 90% of all funds that come into Sea Turtle Conservancy go towards operating and maintaining our programs ▪ 4% goes to administration of our purpose ▪ 6% goes towards further development in our programs and mission. While our funds are mainly distributed throughout our programs, a great focus is on lighting and predation expenses. These two areas are key in protecting sea turtles. The lighting of their habitat can cause them to be fearful of nesting as they are in clear view of predators. Sea Turtle Snyder 4 Conservancy has worked with locals in nesting areas to provide friendly lighting that functions for both human purposes as well as sea turtle nesting. Additionally, a great deal of effort has gone towards preventing poaching as well as natural predators from stealing sea turtle eggs from nesting sites. This requires 24-hour monitoring and even in some cases, human escorts for birthing turtles and newly hatched sea turtles. The below illustration shows a breakdown of our program expenses from 2015: The need to protect these marine creatures is great. Without the support of donors like yourself, our program would not have had the success it has had over the last 50 years. Unfortunately, this need continues every day and the programs we have created with your help continue to need support to exist. Your donations are appreciated more than we, at Sea Turtle Conservancy, will ever truly be able to express. Thank you, for your continued support for this magnificent cause! .