Caribbean Conservation Corporation
Encyclopedia
The Sea Turtle Conservancy (STC), formerly known as Caribbean Conservation Corporation is an American
not-for-profit 501(c)(3) membership organization based in Gainesville
, Florida
. STC was incorporated, based on an earlier informal organization known as The Brotherhood of the Green Turtle, in 1959 by Mr. Joshua B. Powers in response to renowned ecologist Dr. Archie Carr
's award-winning book, The Windward Road
, which first alerted the world to the plight of sea turtle
s. Dr. Carr served as Scientific Director of STC from 1959 until his death in 1987. Since its founding, STC's research and conservation initiatives have been instrumental in saving the Caribbean green turtle from immediate extinction, as well as raising awareness and protection for sea turtles across the globe with 50 years of experience in national and international sea turtle conservation, research and educational endeavors. The organization began its work in Costa Rica
, but has expanded its research and conservation efforts throughout Central America
and the wider Caribbean
.
Habitat Preservation & Advocacy
STC works to enact protective laws and establish refuges for the preservation of sea turtle habitats and coastal environments. The organization was instrumental in creating the Tortuguero National Park in Costa Rica. In the United States, STC worked with other groups and agencies to establish the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge in Melbourne, Florida and continues to lobby Congress and government agencies to purchase the lands necessary to complete the refuge. STC's international efforts include advocating for sea turtles at the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, and protecting one of the most important sea turtle nesting beaches in the world by helping prevent off-shore oil-drilling in Costa Rica.
Turtle Studies in Tortuguero, Costa Rica
STC continues the work of Dr. Archie Carr every year on the 35 km black sand beach of Tortuguero, Costa Rica, the nesting site of more endangered green turtles than anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere. For more than 40 years, this monitoring program has provided much information on the reproductive ecology and migratory habits of sea turtles. Researchers, who are based at STC's John H. Phipps Biological Field Station, continue to monitor nesting trends, growth rates and reproductive success.
Turtle Studies in Chiriquí Beach, Panama
In 2003, CCC began working to protect and restore the once globally significant hawksbill sea turtle nesting population at Chiriquí Beach, Panama. The program consists of intensive monitoring of hawksbill and leatherback sea turtle nesting activity, protection of nesting females and their nests, and public education in the region.
Other Research
STC has supported hundreds of research projects on the biology and conservation of sea turtles around the world. Recent studies have focused on impacts of tourism on nesting beaches, the levels of turtle harvesting at feeding grounds, satellite tracking of turtles, and monitoring of juvenile turtles around Bermuda.
Birds of Tortuguero
STC also supports a bird banding and monitoring project that was begun in Tortuguero in 1991 as part of the "Partners in Flight" program, in association with Costa Rican and North American ornithologists. Resident and neotropical migrant bird species are surveyed in natural and disturbed habitats of the area and vital statistics are collected. The project also seeks to train Latin American wildlife biologists in ornithological field techniques.
Education and Training
Environmental Education
STC works with coastal residents, businesses, conservationists and governments to increase awareness of the threats facing sea turtles, including coastal development, pollution, poaching and accidental capture in nets. STSL developed an educational program that uses the internet to allow school children and others around the world to learn about sea turtles as they follow the movements of turtles being tracked by satellite. More than 300,000 children around the world have been reached by this program already.
In Tortuguero, Costa Rica, CCC operates the H. Clay Frick Natural History Visitor Center to inform the more than 40,000 people who visit every year about the importance of the region's habitats to the survival of sea turtles, manatees and other tropical wildlife.
The STC is also a partner in a new environmental education center at the heart of Eastern Florida's Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge.
Training
STC provides training in the management and stewardship of sea turtles and coastal ecosystems. Graduates of previous training programs now lead conservation efforts in over 25 countries around the world.
August 26, 2009 letter with 300+ Groups Ask Senate for Stronger Climate Bill, included the STC.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
not-for-profit 501(c)(3) membership organization based in Gainesville
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. STC was incorporated, based on an earlier informal organization known as The Brotherhood of the Green Turtle, in 1959 by Mr. Joshua B. Powers in response to renowned ecologist Dr. Archie Carr
Archie Carr
Archie Fairly Carr, Jr. was an American herpetologist, ecologist and a pioneering conservationist. He was a Professor of Zoology at the University of Florida. In 1987 he was awarded the Eminent Ecologist Award by the Ecological Society of America...
's award-winning book, The Windward Road
The Windward Road
The Windward Road: Adventures of a Naturalist on Remote Caribbean Shores, was written by Archie Carr and originally published in 1956. It is an account of Dr. Carr's travels around the Caribbean to study sea turtles and their migratory and behavior patterns, especially Kemp's Ridley, a species...
, which first alerted the world to the plight of sea turtle
Sea turtle
Sea turtles are marine reptiles that inhabit all of the world's oceans except the Arctic.-Distribution:...
s. Dr. Carr served as Scientific Director of STC from 1959 until his death in 1987. Since its founding, STC's research and conservation initiatives have been instrumental in saving the Caribbean green turtle from immediate extinction, as well as raising awareness and protection for sea turtles across the globe with 50 years of experience in national and international sea turtle conservation, research and educational endeavors. The organization began its work in Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, but has expanded its research and conservation efforts throughout Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
and the wider Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
.
Habitat Preservation & Advocacy
STC works to enact protective laws and establish refuges for the preservation of sea turtle habitats and coastal environments. The organization was instrumental in creating the Tortuguero National Park in Costa Rica. In the United States, STC worked with other groups and agencies to establish the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge in Melbourne, Florida and continues to lobby Congress and government agencies to purchase the lands necessary to complete the refuge. STC's international efforts include advocating for sea turtles at the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, and protecting one of the most important sea turtle nesting beaches in the world by helping prevent off-shore oil-drilling in Costa Rica.
Turtle Studies in Tortuguero, Costa Rica
STC continues the work of Dr. Archie Carr every year on the 35 km black sand beach of Tortuguero, Costa Rica, the nesting site of more endangered green turtles than anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere. For more than 40 years, this monitoring program has provided much information on the reproductive ecology and migratory habits of sea turtles. Researchers, who are based at STC's John H. Phipps Biological Field Station, continue to monitor nesting trends, growth rates and reproductive success.
Turtle Studies in Chiriquí Beach, Panama
In 2003, CCC began working to protect and restore the once globally significant hawksbill sea turtle nesting population at Chiriquí Beach, Panama. The program consists of intensive monitoring of hawksbill and leatherback sea turtle nesting activity, protection of nesting females and their nests, and public education in the region.
Other Research
STC has supported hundreds of research projects on the biology and conservation of sea turtles around the world. Recent studies have focused on impacts of tourism on nesting beaches, the levels of turtle harvesting at feeding grounds, satellite tracking of turtles, and monitoring of juvenile turtles around Bermuda.
Birds of Tortuguero
STC also supports a bird banding and monitoring project that was begun in Tortuguero in 1991 as part of the "Partners in Flight" program, in association with Costa Rican and North American ornithologists. Resident and neotropical migrant bird species are surveyed in natural and disturbed habitats of the area and vital statistics are collected. The project also seeks to train Latin American wildlife biologists in ornithological field techniques.
Education and Training
Environmental Education
STC works with coastal residents, businesses, conservationists and governments to increase awareness of the threats facing sea turtles, including coastal development, pollution, poaching and accidental capture in nets. STSL developed an educational program that uses the internet to allow school children and others around the world to learn about sea turtles as they follow the movements of turtles being tracked by satellite. More than 300,000 children around the world have been reached by this program already.
In Tortuguero, Costa Rica, CCC operates the H. Clay Frick Natural History Visitor Center to inform the more than 40,000 people who visit every year about the importance of the region's habitats to the survival of sea turtles, manatees and other tropical wildlife.
The STC is also a partner in a new environmental education center at the heart of Eastern Florida's Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge.
Training
STC provides training in the management and stewardship of sea turtles and coastal ecosystems. Graduates of previous training programs now lead conservation efforts in over 25 countries around the world.
August 26, 2009 letter with 300+ Groups Ask Senate for Stronger Climate Bill, included the STC.