"A Beachcomber's Guide to Turtle Tracks" is a dvd produced by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, to train volunteers who participate in the agency’s nesting surveys for marine turtles. These volunteers (>3,000 in 2010) contribute data to FWC’s Statewide Nesting Beach Survey and Index Nesting Beach Survey. In 2010, surveys were carried out on 203 beaches that extended 1314 km. The video shows nesting behavior of loggerheads, green turtles and leatherbacks and relates that behavior to the evidence left in the sand-the tracks and nest. Volunteers learn how to identify which species of sea turtle made the track, and to determine whether a turtle nested or not. All participants are permitted by the agency to conduct activities related to sea turtles in Florida. For more information, see http://myfwc.com/research/wildlife/sea-turtles/nesting/sea-turtle-monitoring/

However, a bit of planning is required when traveling internationally with an iPhone or it could end up costing you a lot of money. I thought I would share some of the tips and tricks I have picked up over the years.

First, add the AT&T MyWireless app to your iphone if you haven't already. That will help you manage your phone's features.

I always have AT&T World Connect and Expanded International Roaming turned on. AT&T World Connect is $3.99 per month and provides reduced rates on international calls from the US. You can also turn it off and on as needed. Expanded International Roaming is free and lets you make and receive calls while traveling in supported countries. You may need to call AT&T support to enable international calling if you haven't done so already.

When I am traveling I add...

AT&T World Traveler - $5.99/mo and gives you slightly reduced per minute rates when using your phone to make calls while traveling internationally. Check AT&T's website to see if your destination is covered. For example, in India normal international rates are $2.49/min, and $2.29/min with the World Traveller plan. So it would take about 30 minutes of phone calls to pay for this feature.

Data Global Add-On - This provides access to data while you are traveling outside the US. There are a number of plans ranging from $24.99 per month (20 MB) to $199.99 per month (200 MB). Check AT&T's website to see if your destination is covered. When I went to Australia I added the 100 MB plan and used almost all of it over a 2 week period, browsing the internet, checking e-mail and using Google Maps to navigate. I will use the 100 MB plan when I go to India this week. The nice thing about having the AT&T app on your phone is that you can upgrade plans if you start to run out.

The key to both of these features is to turn them off when you get home so you don't get charged for extra months. AT&T suggests that you wait until all of the international charges show up on your account before turning features off or you might be charged higher rates. What I do is turn the services on the day before I leave and then turn them off 30 days later right before the next month starts.

Finally, don't forget to put your phone in airplane mode or turn off international data roaming (in Settings) when you are not actively using the phone so that your phone and apps will not secretly consume your data plan. Airplane mode will block prevent the phone from using data and making or receiving calls. Turning off international roaming will turn off data usage, but allow you to make and receive phone calls.

Also check out the iPhone Travel Tips on AT&T's website.

Due to a series of delays this year, citizen lobbying for U.S. appropriations in support of the Marine Turtle Conservation Act (MTCA) and other Multinational Species Conservation Funds (MSCF) for some of the world’s most charismatic species has only just begun. The deadline for Congressional signatures on a letter to Interior Appropriations in support of MSCF programs is Wednesday, March 17^th.

Around the world, these programs make a huge difference to conserve marine turtles, rhinos, tigers, great apes, African and Asian elephants and neo-tropical migratory birds.

Please consider sending an electronic letter or making a call to your Congressional Representative asking that he/she support appropriations for these small but critically important funds by signing a letter to Interior Appropriations. More information, and the opportunity to send a letter, are provided on CCC’s website. The office of your Representative can be reached through the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121.

The MTCA was passed in 2004. Since 2005, it has provided 113 grants totaling $ 3.733 million to marine turtle conservation programs outside theUnited States and leveraged an additional $5.946 million in matching or in-kind funds. As many of you in our community live in the Southeast, we are asking for your help in encouraging your congressional Representatives to sign a letter to Interior Appropriations by the March 17^th deadline.

As constituents and interested citizens, your calls make a huge difference. Remember, in addition to everything else the MTCA supports, it also provides critical funding for the International Sea Turtle Symposium. This year Members of Congress signing the letter to Interior Appropriations will be requesting $2.5 million for the MTCA.

(Disclaimer: these quotes may be slightly out of context, a practice Limbaugh approves of but rarely warns listeners of when practiced on his show)

Radio star Rush Limbaugh is worried about sea turtles and is doing something about it. He and his neighbors in Florida know that just one light can kill thousands of sea turtles. "Giant sea turtles lumber out of the ocean, they trundle up to the beach, they dig the nest, they lay the eggs, and they trundle back to the ocean", says Limbaugh. "And then some weeks later the hatchlings hatch and they burrow up out of the sand and they are supposed to go to the ocean." But, says Limbaugh, "lights on the beach distract the hatchlings and cause them not to go to the ocean but inland. So, those of us who live on the beach have to turn the lights off."

During the sea turtle nesting season female sea turtles crawl on to beachs around the world to lay eggs. When they are finished they used light reflected off of the water to find their way back to the ocean. When the baby sea turtles emerge from the nest about 60 days later they also use the reflected light to find their way to the ocean for the first time.

As we develop coastal communities, building beach houses, shopping centers and high rise hotels and apartment buildings, we are splashing more light on to these sea turtle nesting beaches. Unfortunately these lights are coming from the wrong direction and can cause sea turtles to follow the wrong light source, becoming disorientated, and end up on a roadway, in a pool, an easy snack for a racoon or cat, or simply get lost and bake in the morning sun.

For this reason, many coastal communities have "lights out" regulations during sea turtle nesting season. These regulations often require home and business owners to take modest steps to install turtle-friendly lights, draw curtains, or turn lights out after dark.

One light in the wrong place can dissorient nesting female sea turtles and hundreds or thousands of their hatchlings.

Rush even says he is "seriously considering founding the forthcoming Turtle Preservation Society of Palm Beach".

Take the "Lights Out for Limbaugh" pledge!

Thanks for your support, Rush!
M. Coyne
WJ Nichols
(environmental wackos)

Tips for keeping light off the beach

• Reposition or shield necessary lights so they are not visible from the beach.
• Put lights on a timer or motion sensor.
• Replace current fixtures with "turtle-friendly" fixtures.
• Reduce wattage of outdoor lighting.
• Turn off lights in rooms that are not being used.
• Relocate movable lights away from windows.
• Keep curtains or blinds closed after 9 p.m.
• Apply window tinting.

Last 10 photos

<script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript"> var slidewidth=110 //set to desired width of photo widget in pixels var slideheight=120 //set to desired height of photo widget in pixels var slidebgcolor='#FFC' //set to desired background color of photo widget var slidedelay=6000 //set to desired delay between image rotations (in milliseconds) </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.seaturtle.org/jslib/imagelib.js"></script>
copy and paste code to your web page

Last 10 photos in plastic category

<script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript"> var slidewidth=120 //set to desired width of photo widget in pixels var slideheight=120 //set to desired height of photo widget in pixels var slidebgcolor='#FFC' //set to desired background color of photo widget var slidedelay=6000 //set to desired delay between image rotations (in milliseconds) </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.seaturtle.org/jslib/plastic.js"></script>
copy and paste code to your web page

Last 10 photos in hawksbill category

<script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript"> var slidewidth=110 //set to desired width of photo widget in pixels var slideheight=120 //set to desired height of photo widget in pixels var slidebgcolor='#FFC' //set to desired background color of photo widget var slidedelay=6000 //set to desired delay between image rotations (in milliseconds) </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.seaturtle.org/jslib/hawksbill.js"></script>
copy and paste code to your web page

Note that you cannot put more than one photo widget on a page or they will conflict with each other.

If you are interested in including other categories from the Image Library in your website just let me know.

Similarly you can include a news widget that includes the latest sea turtle related headlines from seaturtle.org's news section.

Last 10 news headlines

<script language="JavaScript"> var newswidth=460; //set to desired width of news widget in pixels var newsheight=32; //set to desired height of news widget in pixels var newsbgcolor='#CFC'; //set to desired background color of news widget var newscolor='#000'; //set to desired text color of news widget var newsborder='#090'; //set to desired border color of news widget var newsdelay=5000; //set to desired delay between news rotations (in milliseconds) </script> <script src="/jslib/headlines.js" language="JavaScript"></script>
copy and paste code to your web page

You can also get nesting widgets by following these instructions from the Sea Turtle Nest Monitoring System.

I am looking for help in describing more specifically how seaturtle.org helps individuals and organizations around the world involved in sea turtle research and conservation.

If you use seaturtle.org, I would greatly appreciate if you could send along a short description of how one or more of the resources has helped to improve your sea turtle work. If English is not your first language, it would be great to receive a version in your first language as well!

Please note that I may use your contribution as an endorsement in seeking public support for seaturtle.org in the Giving Challenge (http://www.causes.com/seaturtle) or on the seaturtle.org website, so please let me know how you would like to be recognized (name and organization).

Please send feedback to mcoyne@seaturtle.org.

Thanks very much for your help!

I was invited to speak at the Duke University Marine Lab this week as part of their Seminar Series. The PhD students invite a different speaker each week. I recorded my presentation on "Education, Outreach and Collaborative Networks", or how seaturtle.org is working to network the global sea turtle community. The presentation is included below.

Google just announced an expansion of its popular Google Earth application to include seabed maps and underwater imagery. This new "Google Ocean" provides a powerful new tool for sea turtle researchers.

SEATURTLE.ORG's wildlife tracking tool allows researchers to open satellite tracks in Google Earth with the click of a button. By incorporating the sea floor in to Google Earth, Google has provided an exciting new way for researchers to visualize their wildlife tracking data.

Swim with Adelita

Take an 8-minute tour across the Pacific Ocean with Adelita the sea turtle.

Adelita was the first turtle ever tracked across an entire ocean basin using satellite telemtry...maybe even the first marine animal! Millions of kids shared her migration on the internet. Her migration helped to prove that loggerheads born in Japan cross the Pacific and feed in California and Mexico, before migrating back home to nest in Japan. She also reminds us that the oceans are connected and that we need to work together to protect sea turtles and their habitat.

Animals and the Environment

The Gabon Olive Ridley Project aims to determine foraging strategies and oceanographic habitat, determine multi-species turtle hotspots, and assess the potential impact of fisheries on olive ridley sea turtles nesting in Gabon (West Africa). Animating the turtle tracks through time and overlaying them with sea surface temperature offers a glimple at the future potential of the new Google Earth as oceanogrphic layers are added and improved. Google Earth promises to be a valuable tool in visualizing how marine animals interact with their environment.

Peñasquita is an adult female hawksbill turtle being tracked as part of the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Initiative. Essentially nothing is known of the biology, distribution, abundance, or conservation needs of the eastern Pacific hawksbill. This initiative hopes to provide critical information for local and regional conservation management plans that will ultimately determine the feasibility of the turtles' recovery in this region of the world.

To learn more about these and hundreds of other projects visit SEATURTLE.ORG's satellite tracking web sites:

http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/

http://www.wildlifetracking.org/

Get the new Google Earth.