Sea Turtle Grants Program Awards More Than $300,000 to Research, Conservation, and Education Projects in Florida

April 19, 2017

The Sea Turtle Grants Program (STGP), funded by the sale of Florida’s Helping Sea Turtles Survive specialty license plate, recently awarded $362,564.95 to 29 different projects benefiting Florida sea turtles as part of the 2017-2018 grant funding cycle.

Each year, the Sea Turtle Grants Program distributes money to coastal county governments, educational and research institutions and nonprofit groups through a competitive application process. The sea turtle specialty license plate is also the primary source of funding for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Marine Turtle Protection Program.

The following organizations received grants for their approved projects for the 2017-2018 cycle:

• Loggerhead Marinelife Center: All-Terrain Vehicles for Beach Monitoring on a High Density Nesting Beach
• Friends of St. Joseph State Park: UTV for St. Joseph Peninsula State Park Sea Turtle Surveys
• Museum of Discovery and Science: MODS Sea Turtles Schools/Community Education
• Florida Atlantic University: Incubation Temperature Effects on Sea Turtle Hatchling Fitness
• Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve: Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta) Incubation Temperatures on a Florida Panhandle Beach, USA
• Clearwater Marine Aquarium: Clearwater Marine Aquarium Nesting Patrol ATVs
• Florida State University: The Effects of Local Climate Change on Caretta caretta Hatchling Output
• Florida State University: Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Coastal Construction: Implications for Marine turtle Nesting Grounds in Florida
• University of Central Florida: Diet Characterization of Green, Loggerhead, and Kemp’s Ridley Turtles in Florida, Year 2
• University of Central Florida: Identifying Genetic and Pathogen Drivers of Firbropapillomatosis in Florida’s Juvenile Green and Loggerhead Sea Turtles
• University of Florida – Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research: Reclaim Our Coasts: Improving Sea Turtle Nesting Habitat in Florida
• Hidden Harbor Marine Environmental Project (The Turtle Hospital): Scientific-Grade Deep Freezer for Blood Plasma and Research Samples
• Gulf Specimen Marine Lab: An Audio Tour of Sea Turtles: Sounds and Stories
• Sea Turtle Conservancy: Sea Turtle Conservancy’s Statewide Lighting Workshop: Code Enforcement, Planners, Builders, City/County Officials
• Gulf World Marine Institute: Heaters for Rehabilitation of Cold Stunned Sea Turtles
• Gulf Specimen Marine Lab: Improvements to Quarantine System
• University of Florida: Establishing Circulating Red Blood Cell Volume and Plasma Volume Reference Intervals for Loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and Green (Chelonia mydas) Sea Turtles
• Brevard County Environmentally Endangered Lands Program: Providing Sea Turtle Educational Experiences for Students in Coastal, Low-Income Schools
• Friends of the Marine Science Center: Marine Science Center Anesthesia and Surgery Equipment Upgrade
• University of Florida – Whitney Laboratory: Development of an Improved Scoring methods and a Simple Blood test to predict Rehabilitation Outcome of Fibropapilloma-Afflicted Sea Turtles
• Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center: No Hooks Left Behind
• Florida Atlantic University: Investigating Aspects of Chelonid Herpesvirus 5 Pathobiology in Green and Loggerhead Sea Turtles
• Mote Marine Laboratory: Enhanced Surgical Monitoring, Surgical Tools, and Supplies for Mote Marine Laboratory’s Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital
• Friends of the Marine Science Center: Acquisition of an Ultrasound at the Marine Science Center Turtle Hospital
• Loggerhead Marinelife Center: Promiscuity in Marine Turtles: Evolutionary Push for Population Stability?
• Inwater Research Group: Long-Term Monitoring of Sea Turtles in Florida’s Big Bend
• Inwater Research Group: Characterization of Marine Turtles within Biscayne National Park
• Inwater Research Group: Dark Sky, Dark Beaches: A Statewide Lighting Program for Classrooms
• Inwater Research Group: Continued Monitoring of Florida’s Main Adult Green Turtle Foraging Site

The sea turtle plate is the number two overall selling specialty tag in Florida, and the number one environmental specialty plate. By purchasing the sea turtle specialty license plate, Floridians are voluntarily funding important programs to save endangered sea turtles and their habitats.

To learn more about the Sea Turtle Grants Program and the “Helping Sea Turtles Survive” specialty license plate, please visit www.helpingseaturtles.org.

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