Effective conservation of endangered species relies on the characterization of habitat use and tracking of long-term population trends, which can be especially challenging for marine species that migrate long distances and utilize a diversity of habitats throughout their lives. Since 2012, citizen science volunteers at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California, have been monitoring an urban population of East Pacific green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) that resides near the mouth of the San Gabriel River (SGR) in Southern California, USA, in order to gain insights about how the population uses this area. Here, we collate and analyze nine years of citizen science data, including observed sightings collected across 10 observation stations. Our results confirm that green sea turtles are frequently present around warm water effluent from power plants, similar to research results reported for other locations in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Importantly, observational data also show notable green sea turtle activity around the outfalls for a small wetland habitat bordering the SGR, highlighting the importance of wetland ecosystems as a key habitat and foraging area for this threatened population. Finally, our results showcase the benefits of using citizen science to monitor sea turtle populations in easily accessible nearshore habitats.

Port Hedland is 1,800km north of Perth, in the resource rich Pilbara region of Western Australia. Local Aboriginal rock carvings depicting sea turtles have been dated to approximately 12,000 years of age. Today with a population of 15,000 people, Port Hedland beaches are a far cry from what they once were. The lifting of the iron ore export embargo in the late 1960s, the subsequent dredging and transformation, sees Port Hedland harbour now being the largest bulk tonnage export port in Australia. Prior to 2003, little was known or documented of flatback turtle (Natator depressus) activities from October to March, on local town beaches. In 2004, our community volunteer organisation, the Care For Hedland Environmental Association, commenced its’ monitoring and conservation program specifically for our flatback turtles. Today, three town beach areas are monitored. Each are predisposed to a number of threatening factors, that could detrimentally impact turtle nesting: high level of disturbance by people (direct contact, off road vehicles, tourism, disturbance of nests, harbour dredging and landside developments including marina and rock sea wall), commercial and residential lighting and feral animal predation. The monitoring methods used are track identification, mark/recapture and nest excavation/success. These methods have enabled the documentation of seasonality, numbers, inter-nesting rates, recruitment rates, spatial distribution, familial relations, successful hatch rates, hatchling emergence, hatchling orientation and any disturbance. From the data collected, Cemetery Beach for an 800m section of beach, is unparalleled to any other turtle nesting residential town beach in Australia. Population modelling indicates a relatively stable medium sized female population (200-450 per season). Analysis of our data shows that the Port Hedland rookery is regionally important within the WA North West Shelf Flatback population, DNA analysis has genetically linked our turtles with the Barrow Island and Mundabullangana populations. Consistent small percentage of tagged individuals are nesting on other regional beaches and nesting in Port Hedland. Annually new recruits are 14% and 25% of our tagged females return to nest the following year, providing evidence for an annual nesting migration in our population. Concerningly, nest excavation data shows Port Hedland beaches are some of the warmest, with nest success varying widely from 64%-20%, often correlating with extreme weather events. Consequently, Cemetery Beach records some of the lowest hatch success rates when compared to other regional habitats. Over the past two decades, the data collected has been able to guide local management decisions, particularly regarding the impacts of negative human-turtle interactions, lighting of surrounding infrastructure, impacts of fox predation, timing of dredging campaigns, managing recreational activities and proposed new developments. It is commonly thought in our local community, that there would be no turtles still nesting today, if it were not for our Association’s efforts, intervention, continued ongoing monitoring, data collection and communication of findings. While still more to do, importantly on the cusp of our 21^st season, much has been done to ensure that the turtles of Port Hedland continue to have a long association with local people for the next 12,000 years and beyond.

The Pantai Sausapor Nature Reserve and the surrounding coastline in northwest Papua, Indonesia is home to critical turtle nesting beaches. Unfortunately, these beaches are under significant threat due to habitat degradation, abrasion, extant poaching, and low effectiveness of MPA management, as evidenced by the METT (Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool) score, which has remained at 56% since 2021. To address these challenges, plans to prioritize protection, research, and natural resource management practices are necessary. These plans should also focus on increasing the capacity of community resources and engagement in habitat conservation and developing a sea turtle monitoring system. This approach will foster a mutualistic relationship as well as provide environmental service benefits for the surrounding communities. Flora & Fauna, in collaboration with the Regional Natural Resources Conservation Agency of West Papua, has designed a three-step development strategy to streamline area management. The first step is to strengthen the community’s capacity and conservation knowledge in and around the area. The second step is assisting KTH (Forest Farmer Group) Klafli in establishing Megame Village as a pilot site for sea turtle monitoring. The final step is to initiate a sustainable financing mechanism through a small grant to support sea turtle monitoring. Results from written pre- and post-tests have shown that training activities have increased the knowledge of 22 locals (18 men and 4 women) from seven villages in the area, including two men from KTH Klafli, from 44.74% to 57.92%. This improvement in capacity has become a valuable asset in conducting patrols and monitoring. KTH Klafli routinely monitored sea turtles for 105 days in 2023 (February 28 – June 12) at Megame Beach, which is 2.2km long. This period has been identified as the primary nesting season in the Pantai Sausapor Nature Reserve and its surroundings for olive ridley, leatherback, green, and hawksbill sea turtles. During this period, the greatest number of turtle activities and encounters were recorded in May. Olive ridley turtles had the greatest number of tracks and nests recorded (17), and hawksbill turtles had the greatest number of individuals encountered (5). Regarding sustainable financing, 11 priorities were identified in Megame’s Village Strategic Plan of which three are related to sea turtle conservation actions. These include training on sea turtle and nest protection, shelter construction, and SMART patrol implementation for monitoring. These activities have been scheduled and group members have been trained to measure activity achievements in written reports. In addition, strategic planning activities have resulted in the development of research sites, ensuring the sustainability of monitoring efforts. Implementing these three strategies is expected to significantly enhance the efficacy of protection measures in Pantai Sausapor Nature Reserve and its surrounding areas while fostering self-reliance among community groups engaged in the region’s sea turtle conservation activities. These collaborative monitoring efforts are also expected to provide essential data to strengthen conservation area management efforts and formulate relevant recommendations for future action.

Inwater Research Group IRG has been conducting sea turtle research in the Big Bend region of Florida since 2012. The habitat surrounding Citrus, Pasco, and Hernando Counties has been identified as critical foraging habitat for endangered sea turtle species. Recognizing the need for marine conservation in this region, IRG partnered with the three underserved school districts located adjacent to the Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve to create the Sea Turtle Ambassadors for the Gulf (STAG) program. Our goal was to create local conservation ambassadorships with students and teachers by harnessing the power of place-based learning and sharing our research in real-time.

Select K-12 students and teachers from three school districts joined us in nearshore waters where they experienced sea turtle research first-hand from the biologists in their own “backyard.” This type of experience increases knowledge retention, tethers emotions to anthropogenic impacts, changes behaviors, and creates a sense of local environmental stewardship.

After the field experience students and teachers joined IRG educators in the classroom for both a brainstorming student workshop and a teacher professional development. The student workshop served to expand on what the students learned in the field, discussing ways they could become sea turtle ambassadors and share conservation messages with their peers. The teacher professional development walked teachers through IRG’s hands-on, real-world applicable traveling trunk programs, which were donated to the districts that participated in the field experience.

Afterwards student ambassadors began working on campus projects that would amplify what they learned in the field and workshop to bring those lessons to other students. Teacher ambassadors began utilizing our trunk programs in their classrooms, sharing their experiences through realistic simulations based on the research they witnessed.

Student projects were shared with IRG as well as other participating groups from across the Big Bend region. Projects include conservation clubs, composting efforts, poster campaigns, reusable water bottle programs, and more. Teachers continue to utilize our trunk program with new students in perpetuity, and reach thousands of additional students.

Approximately 60 educators and 65 students were directly reached by this program, with its influence extending to thousands more through ambassadorship efforts. Program efficacy was measured using feedback from participants and focus groups. Place-based learning bridges the gap that frequently separates scientists from the public, playing a vital role in our efforts to mitigate behaviors and activities that contribute to sea turtle mortality.

The STAG program not only shares with students the incredible wildlife that lives in their communities but it helps students grasp challenging scientific concepts they struggle with. In the state of Florida, only 44% of K-12 students test “proficient” in science. This program, including student projects and the trunk lessons, allows students to learn about the scientific world not through a textbook, but through hands-on instruction, increasing their understanding.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND. Campamento Tortuguero Ayotlcalli A.C. is located in Playa Blanca, Zihuatanejo, Gro México. The area is an important nesting zone for three endangered species of marine turtles. Traditionally, in the past, it was a practice for people to consume eggs and meat of sea turtles. Also, the turtle fat and carapace were used for medicinal and ornamental purposes. In the 1960s, a German entrepreneur built a sea turtle sausage factory; millions of sea turtles were slaughtered, and the product was shipped to Europe. Fortunately, Europeans didn’t particularly enjoy the taste of the sea turtle sausage and eventually the factory closed.

In 2011, Campamento Tortuguero Ayotlcalli was established in the area of Playa Blanca. The purpose was to protect the three species of marine turtles that nest within 15 kilometers of three beaches, Playa Blanca, Playa Larga and Barra de Potosi.

The initial activities consisted of locating the sea turtle nests and transporting the eggs to a hatchery to protect them from poachers, stray dogs and high tides. All these actions are performed by local, national, and international volunteers. We realized that no transcendent change could be possible without properly educating the public. The community suffers from severe social problems, lack of education, high crime rate, inadequate infrastructure, and pollution. The idea of an educational program was developed. The first step was to provide educational presentations to visitors and local school children. Later, an annual summer camp for children was created, and “Warriors of the Rainbow” was born in 2017. It is a two week program with the participation of 30 to 35 children between the ages of 7 to 12 years old.

METHODS“Warriors of the Rainbow” is an integrated educational program which focuses on preparing local children as future leaders and decision makers. Utilizing the areas of reading, writing, math, environmental science, logical thinking, problem solving and values. Students are educated on the knowledge of their natural surroundings. Students understand that our planet is suffering from extreme and unconscious exploitation. Radical measures need to be practiced. The summer school group of 40 students are instructed by professional educators, volunteers and young leaders who have graduated from previous summer program.

Since sea turtle conservation is the main area of concern, one of the most exciting activities for the students is to camp out one night and patrol the beaches in search of sea turtle nests and if found, relocate the clutches into the hatchery. On some occasions, female turtles have been spotted during the nesting process.

The summer school program has been in place for eight (8) years. Several former students have become leaders in the program and practice what they learned. In average, 5 to 6 students return to serve as leaders.

CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the summer program, “Warriors of the Rainbow”, has had an extraordinary impact on the education of local children. Our vision is to contribute to the formation of strong leaders and decision makers that protect the environment and while focusing on marine turtles.

Traditionally the study and monitoring of sea turtle populations in Australia has been conducted through capture-mark-recapture methods, where turtles were individually tagged with unique identification codes provided either by metal flipper tags or by passive integrated transponders. Emerging technologies have made the individual identification process less invasive and equally effective. Sea turtles have a unique scale pattern which allows the implementation of high-resolution photography to identify characteristics and distinguish among individuals.

Well known within the tourist industry as an easy place to spot sea turtles, Fitzroy Island, Cairns, Australia, is an area with a previously unmonitored sea turtle population. Primarily a foraging ground for both juvenile and adult turtles, the ‘rodeo’ method of mark-recapture would typically be the desired method of choice for such an area, however this method is resource heavy and skill dependent, something not all smaller-scale projects have access to. The shallow reefs surrounding the island, however, are accessible for snorkelling and thus photo-ID capture surveys are an emerging tool for monitoring which can be utilised at low cost, training volunteers and citizen scientists to gain an understanding of the local sea turtle population.

Over the past three years, in-water photo-ID capture surveys were conducted monthly to collect video footage of sea turtles within the ‘Welcome Bay’, ‘Coral Gardens’ and ‘Shark Fin Bay’ sites surrounding Fitzroy Island. Volunteers used GoPro cameras to record video footage of sea turtle behaviour from within 1-3m of the target animal. For every encounter we aimed to register both facial profiles and the overall body composition, prioritizing images from the left side facial scutes to use these for identification. These images were then sorted and identified alongside the database to determine new records and recaptured individual turtles by trained groups of volunteers. An experienced staff member later confirmed the same identifications to mitigate the risk of false positives and negatives.

Within the study period, 57 individual sea turtles were identified; 54 green turtles (Chelonia mydas) and 3 hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata). 23% of individuals were identified in each year of study, 56% were seen consistently for over a year, 84% were seen more than once and 16% were only identified on a single occasion, which reflects the high fidelity of these populations to this particular area. For those seen more than once, the average time between sightings was 4.39 months (±4.3 SD). All 3 E. imbricata were seen consistently throughout the study period.

Successful monitoring of sea turtle populations through photo-ID recapture is a simple and cost-effective approach to assess otherwise unstudied populations. Implementing simple surveys allows for the involvement of passionate volunteers who would otherwise not have access to the turtle monitoring process. With the continuation of this study, a more accurate representation of residency and migratory movements can be determined as the dataset increases, reducing the invasive components of traditional turtle monitoring practices. Future avenues of interest are the movements and bodily changes of the juvenile turtles who are abundant within this population.

In the sea turtle conservation world, we put a lot of effort and energy in designing, collecting, processing and analyzing data, but we usually forget about the most important part of this process: how can I share all this information in the most effective way in order to reach people’s awareness.

Translating scientific data into a visual format is a crucial strategy for raising environmental awareness, as it makes complex information accessible and engaging to a broad audience. Whether explicating intricate scientific concepts or elucidating the beauty of the natural world, the use of visual elements is an indispensable tool in enhancing comprehension and appreciation.

In this context, visual communication acts as a universal language, transcending linguistic and cultural barriers, and fostering collaboration among researchers worldwide. Thus, visual communication, whether through single illustrations, infographics, or illustrated narratives, plays a significant role in shaping public perception and driving positive change in environmental awareness, behaviors, and policies. Communicators can distill intricate concepts such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and habitat destruction into easily understandable and emotionally resonant narratives. These narratives can evoke empathy and inspire viewers to engage with environmental topics on a personal level.

In the present case, we will make a preliminary analysis of the current communication strategies existing in the conservation world by taking a look at a few case studies. Plus, we will expose basic concepts around design and human perception of the information, as well as highlighting the most common obstacles found by organizations when communicating. We will also analyse the current valuation existing around outreach and communication in the scientific world to, finally, take a look at different successful approaches that use illustration and storytelling in order to approach to society.

All these in order to suggest effective and practical tools to the audience, so we can improve our present skills when communicating science, creating awareness among society.