70
SEA TURTLE CONSERVATION >> ARCHIE CARR CENTER
TURTLE POWER
Sea Turtles on the Rise Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research Proves Conservation Is Working W R IT TE N BY PEGGY M AC DON A LD
I
n 1956, a chapter from Archie Carr’s award-winning book, “The Windward Road,” brought international attention to the plight of the sea turtle and launched global efforts to save it from extinction. Carr compared the green turtle’s dwindling presence in the Caribbean to the disappearance of the buffalo on the western plains nearly a century earlier. In his book’s final chapter (titled “The Passing of the Fleet”), Carr warned that these gentle marine herbivores would “soon be extirpated as a breeding resident of American waters” unless action was immediately taken to protect the “fleet” of green sea turtles. Archie Carr witnessed the aftermath of the wholesale destruction of sea turtles firsthand. Throughout much of his 50-year career as graduate research professor of zoology at the University of Florida, Carr never encountered a nesting green turtle in Florida. Karen Bjorndal—Distinguished Professor and
70 |
OUR TOWN MAGAZINE
MAY/JUNE 2021