SCCF Works with Charter Boat Captain to Rescue Sea Turtle

The Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation Sea Turtle Hotline received a call on Friday, Aug. 9, that Captain Dayron Plana, a local charter boat captain, observed a loggerhead sea turtle struggling to dive.  Plana and his charter guests helped pull the loggerhead into their boat then met up on the water with SCCF staff.

Transferring the injured turtle aboard the R/V Norma Campbell, SCCF’s Sea Turtle team worked with its Marine Lab scientists to rescue the sea turtle, which is now receiving medical attention.  Captain Plana’s early identification of the problem, the swift action of SCCF staffers and use of SCCF’s new research vessel led to a great result.

In other happy news for sea turtle season, there are 800 loggerhead nests and over 24,000 hatchlings have emerged on Sanibel and Captiva!  You can track this year’s nesting by visiting sccf.org, click on Our Work, then Sea Turtles and the seaturtle.org link.

Call the SCCF Sea Turtle Hotline at 978-728-3663 for any sea turtle issues. Help provide a safe beach for nesting and hatching sea turtles by keeping the following tips in mind:

Shield or turn off lights near the beach

Take all beach furniture, tents, and umbrellas off the beach with you

Fill any holes you dig

Do not approach or disturb nesting turtles

Never take a flash photo of a sea turtle

Limit your use of flashlights on the beach at night. If you see a sea turtle, turn the flashlight off immediately.

Pick up trash on the beach, especially plastic (sea turtles mistake plastic bags in the water for jellyfish)

Honor the pet leash law