Braving the Storm

Surveying Sea Turtle Nests During Tropical Storm Debby

On August 5^th, a group of intrepid STPS volunteers braved the wind and rain of Tropical Storm Debby to conduct their weekly nesting survey. With no lightning warnings in the area, Joel Cohen, Terri Watkins, Julie Albert, Rachel Homza, and Sandy Cuddeback hit the beach and got their survey done.

Joel described the difficulties of working in the harsh conditions: “It was really hard to write down anything because of the rain.” Even using a large black permanent marker to write on the nest stake was hard to do because everything was soaking wet (see below).

But the results, shown below, were worth all the extra effort.

Four Loggerhead Nests

Six Loggerhead False Crawls

STPS Nesting Survey teams follow the Statewide Nesting Beach Survey (SNBS) program of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). Every day, volunteers submit their data through an app and paperwork to the STPS Nesting Survey Permit Holder Sherrie Williams. All STPS nest survey activity is conducted under Marine Turtle Permit (MTP) 067 and Sherrie keeps track of all the findings and sends in all the data to the FWC. She also schedules all the nest dig evaluations and has contact with the FWC.

Many Thanks to All Our Nesting Survey Volunteers for Their Hard Work!