Sea Turtle Program

Sea turtles are among the world’s oldest creatures. These ancient reptiles have long fascinated people around the world. On Sanibel and Captiva, where the beaches provide a subtropical nesting area for threatened loggerhead and endangered green turtles, more than 100 island residents volunteer each summer as part of the Conservation Foundation’s Sea Turtle Research and Monitoring Program. The program operates under a permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Each day during nesting season, May to October, the 18 miles of Gulf beaches from the Sanibel Lighthouse to the tip of Captiva are checked beginning at dawn.In some areas, volunteers walk designated zones of beach. On other stretches, the patrol is done by beach vehicle. Nests are identified and marked for monitoring and protection. Later in the season new hatches are evaluated and recorded. The statewide collection of data helps promote programs that improve the chances for sea turtles to survive.

Among other components of SCCF’s sea turtle program are projects ensuring that beach habitat is suitable for nesting and the co-ordination of data collection on local sea turtle strandings.