|
DISL Staff Helps Share the Beach
|
||||
"Share the Beach" is a volunteer organization in Alabama dedicated to monitoring and protecting sea turtles and their nests during the nesting season, which lasts from May-October. Volunteers patrol the beaches at dawn every morning, hoping to find signs of sea turtle activity from the night before. The prize - finding a nest! Members of our own Sea Lab family are part of the Share the Beach family. Jessica Hewitt, a summer counselor for Discovery Hall Programs, found the first nest of the season for Dauphin Island while patrolling with one of our high school students. Marine educator Stephanie Wright, and DHP registrar Sara Johnson, stepped in to help with moving and marking the nest. The nest was found on Sand Island, a long, thin strip about one-mile long jutting off the south side of Dauphin Island. Because Sand Island floods easily and has a high water table, the nest was excavated and moved to a safe, dry spot on the Dauphin Island public beach. Posts, brightly colored tape, and signs mark the nest's location, and warn others from disturbing it. Unfortunately, members of Share the Beach will not get to see the hatching this year, due to the oil spill. About one week before the eggs are due to hatch, the nest will again be excavated and transferred to a safe location on Florida's east coast. The baby sea turtles will then be able to hatch and enter clean, safe ocean waters, and get a fresh start to a new life. |
 Happily posing near the relocated sea turtle nest are, facing camera, left to right, Sara Johnson, Stephanie Wright and Jessica Hewitt. |
|||
|
||||