Vacations inspire a passion for preserving sea turtles
By Rebecca Gatewood, Special to the Orlando Sentinel (New Voices)
“Work hard and play hard” seems to be my family motto.
Fall through spring means demanding work on our farm and in my studies, school plays and church choir. Summer is time for fun, and beach vacations are a family tradition.
In 2004, my family took a trip to the Cayman Islands. While there, we visited a sea-turtle farm on Grand Cayman.
The turtle-farm employees explained to us that they released some of the endangered animals back into the wild. So, we all felt a little better. After all, increasing the number of sea turtles through such efforts could only relieve the threat of extinction. Nobody wants sea turtles to disappear.
This year, on another family beach vacation, we visited Jupiter. Palm Beach County is one of the top sea-turtle nesting sites in the world. So, we took time out from snorkeling, fishing and kayaking to visit Loggerhead Marinelife Center at Juno Beach and participate in sev
eral sea-turtle educational programs.
We took advantage of two permitted night turtle walks, one at the marine-life center and another at John D. MacArthur Beach State Park.
At both, we watched turtles nesting, and my younger brother, Ryan, and I even assisted the mother in covering her eggs.
Plus, we listened to lectures before the turtle walks.
At these lectures, I discovered that the Cayman Turtle Farm, the one my family and I visited so many years ago, does indeed release the turtles, but because of something called inbreeding, many of the released turtles are unable to survive in the wild.
Furthermore, I learned about the loss of eggs through natural predation and beach erosion. I learned that bright lights can confuse a baby turtle, and it is important to keep beach lights low during hatchling season.
Both baby and adult sea turtles can get plastic debris trapped in their stomachs and become sick or die as a result. Leatherback sea turtles, for example, eat jellyfish, and plastic grocery bags are easily mistaken for these jellyfish.
When I returned to the beach and found it filled with plastic caps, forks, bottles, flip-flops and endless trash, my family and I decided to do something.
During our vacation, we committed to daily beach cleanups. We cleared the shoreline of plastic and other debris that a turtle or other animal might mistakenly eat.
In all, we collected 61 pounds of trash, making our traditional beach vacation an eco-adventure.
We can all take part in saving the sea turtles from extinction:
•Get recycling. Recycle as much as possible. Monofilament fishing line, for example, takes more than 600 years to decompose. Meanwhile, the line entangles wildlife. Properly dispose of your fishing line.
•Get it out of the way. Obstacles on the beach create difficulty for nesting turtles. Remove lawn furniture, umbrellas and other heavy items from beaches at night.
•Get respectful. Avoid walking the beaches at night during prime sea-turtle nesting periods. Instead, take advantage of permitted sea-turtle walks. The guides are more apt to get you up close to a nesting sea turtle, anyway.
•Get informed. Brevard and Palm Beach counties are top sea-turtle nesting destinations. This makes it imperative for all beachgoers in the area to be well-informed in sea-turtle conservation.
•Get generous. Sea-turtle conservation groups rely on donations.
Rebecca Gatewood, 9, of Windermere is in fourth grade at Windermere Elementary School.
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