Florida Leatherback Association

 

Florida Leatherback Association is a volunteer-based,  turtle loving nonprofit organization located in southeast Florida. They specialize in leatherback turtle research as well as rescue and safe hatching. They tag and track nesting females to understand the population, their survey area covers approximately 40 km of beach and each night a team of 3-4 volunteers is responsible for documenting all leatherback nesting activity. 

 

They conduct an intensive night time study utilizing mark recapture, satellite tracking, and genetic studies to unravel the mystery of the leatherback sea turtle. By tagging individual turtles and documenting every encounter, they can better understand the size and health of the population as well as basic parameters like nest frequency, individual size, migratory patterns, and survival rates

 

The Turtleman Foundation were able to donate an ATV to this great organization to help them run across the beaches and make their surveying and rescue process faster to help them tag, rescue, and rehabilitate turtles in their area.