Need community service hours for your Bright Futures scholarship? Or do you just want to lend a hand? A few hours of your time each month would go a long way towards helping sea turtles. The only requirement is a good attitude and being a current member of STPS. Listed below are some of the areas of need:
Public Awareness Turtle Watches
Turtle Watches (Walks) are conducted in June and July to educate the public about the sea turtles that nest on Brevard County beaches. Our Florida State Permit allows us to guide groups to observe nesting loggerhead sea turtles. Special training, held in the spring, is required for our guides.
Strandings and Salvage
The Florida State Permitted activity allows us to rescue stranded or injured sea turtles. Our team is on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
You will be trained to respond to calls for turtles in distress, and may need to transport the turtles to a rehabilitation facility. We are the only organization in Florida that rescues new hatchlings and hatchling was in ins, saving over 10,000 in 2003. Training is held in the spring each year.
Nesting Surveys
We conduct nesting surveys in Cocoa Beach from May through August during turtle season. A Florida State permitted activity with results contributing to state surveys. You will be trained to identify crawls (tracks) to determine species and locate the nest. In July through October, sea turtle nests that have hatched are excavated and evaluated. Training is held in the spring each year.
