To Education About Local Turtle Safety

Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch...

According to Suzi Fox of the Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch, “One of our main functions of the AMITW is to educate residents and visitors to Anna Maria Island about nesting turtles and what we can all do to make them safe,”

For example, “We had a $10,000 grant to produce brochures to place in rentals and hotel rooms, and that worked pretty well.”

However, Fox said, "tourists take the brochures home, and towards the end of the season, the educational material may be gone from rental units, so the Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch will try some new things next year.

It's been suggested in the past that permanent posters outlining the local concerns over the turtle population, the rules and suggestions as to what can be done on an individual basis to help protect them during nesting season, be put in all vacation rental units and hotel rooms.

“I’m working on some grant applications right now,” Fox said. “We are planning to have some stickers to put on light switches in hotel rooms and rentals, and maybe some of those static cling things that we can put on doors that face the water.

Fox says she’s also booked for the next six months giving talks to school audiences and other venues about turtle safety and what needs to be done.

Remember, we must all do our part. The future of the sea turtle may very well depend on it.

Every location on this beautiful planet we call home is unique in its own way. Each is blessed with gifts unlike anywhere else. On Anna Maria Island we are gifted with an incredible diversity of marine life, among other things, and its up to us to protect it.

It's up to us to protect the local marine life, not just for us, but for future generations here on planet Earth.

The turtles that choose our shores as a place to nest and lay their eggs are the ultimate example of where we must do our part. We have been chosen, in a sense, as custodians to these amazing sea creatures, and its entirely up to us to make sure we live up to the responsibility we have been given.

An extra thanks to the volunteers with the Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch, and Suzi Fox for all their hard work in helping us meet that challenge.

If you have any comments or ideas of your own that may help ensure the safety of the local turtle population, feel free to leave a comment right here at the end of this post, or you can go to our Anna Maria Island interactive forum.