The Caretta Project

Hatching Season Off ers Hands-on Conservation Opportunities

The Caretta Research Project (CRP) has openings for eco volunteers, ages 15 and up, to help with loggerhead sea turtle research, nesting and hatching during the busy sea turtle season, mid-May through August, on Wassaw Island in the Wassaw National Wildlife Refuge.

Throughout the summer, volunteers from all over the world gather for one-week sessions to patrol six miles of beaches on the lookout for female turtles that have emerged from the ocean to lay their eggs. Each turtle is measured and tagged. At-risk nests are relocated to a safer place in the sand dunes. All nests are covered with screens to protect them from raccoon and hog predation. Because turtles usually lay their eggs at night, daytime is when the team sleeps and has free time to explore the island, relax or catch up on any reading.

“Multiple record seasons have occurred in recent years, showing that more than 40 years of concerted conservation eff orts has helped the loggerhead sea turtles spring back from the brink of extinction,” says Kris Williams, CRP’s executive director.

The CRP was founded in 1972 by a family member of the Wassaw Island Trust, herpetologists at the Savannah Science Museum and staff of the USFWS Savannah Coastal Refuges. Initially the work was done by the Savannah Herpetology Club and it expanded to the volunteer-based program it is today. The primary goals of the CRP are to: monitor loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) activity and study reproductive biology and population trends on Wassaw, protect eggs and hatchlings from spring tides and predation, to release as many hatchlings into the water as possible, and to educate the public on issues related to conservation and management of marine turtles via hands-on participation or public programming.

During the summer of 1972, nesting turtles were observed but no protection was given to nests. A tagging program, which continues to date, was implemented in 1973 with nest protection beginning in 1976. This makes the CRP one of the longest continuously running marine turtle monitoring projects in the United States. Data collected since 1973 have been used to monitor population trends in Georgia and the southeastern USA.

Today, volunteers monitor the protected nests for signs of hatching and collect data from late-July through late-August. Three days after the hatchlings emerge, nests are carefully excavated, and the unhatched eggs counted. Hatching success is determined for each nest. The work varies with the turtle activity, weather and crew experience.

Accommodations are provided in rustic (no electricity) one-room cabins that sleep up to six people, who share an indoor bathroom and an outdoor shower. Meals are provided in a common cottage that does have electricity. Volunteers must be at least 15 years old, in good health and have a positive attitude to put up with bugs, humidity and group living accommodations. The cost is $825 per person per week, which includes boat transport to and from Wassaw Island, room, board and conservation training. Because the project has little in the way of extensive funding, volunteer fees go a long way in allowing the project to continue.

A loggerhead sea turtle making her way back out to sea after nesting on Wassaw Island. Photo provided by The Caretta Project

ABOUT THE CARETTA RESEARCH PROJECT:

The CRP has been protecting loggerhead sea turtles on Wassaw National Wildlife Refuge for 45 years through handson research, conservation and environmental education. Volunteers from all over the world journey to Wassaw Island for 17 weeks between May and August to enhance the survival of eggs and hatchlings on a pristine nesting beach while gathering valuable biological data to help understand population trends and nesting habits of engendered sea turtles. Since 1973, the Caretta Research Project has tagged more than 1,685 individual sea turtles, monitored 4,290 nests containing more than 489,860 eggs, successfully released more than 301,900 hatchlings and trained more than 3,000 volunteers in sea turtle conservation. To learn more, and to volunteer, visit carettaresearchproject.org.