April 2019 Newsletter

CEO Chatter with Jack E. Lighton

Dear Friends of LMC,

I hope you are enjoying your Springtime!  Here in Juno Beach, we are rapidly preparing to enter May and moving swiftly towards June and July’s peak sea turtle nesting season.  Did you know the 9.5 mile stretch of beach our Center manages is one of the most important sea turtle nesting beaches on our planet? Please join with us as we strive to keep our beaches cleaner and darker during this most important time of the year!

Earth Day – Global Theme: Protecting Endangered Species Earth Day is a wonderful annual global tradition which started in 1970.  Now in its 49th year, this annual celebration serves as the reminder for the importance of preserving our planet for future generations.
LMC celebrated a record breaking number of Earth Day Partners for our annual #StrawFreeWithLMC event.  This year 55 restaurant / bar partners joined with us to educate their patrons by not providing straws in their business establishments on Earth Day – of course paper straws were available upon request. 

These wonderful community partners also advertised the growing challenges our planet – in particular our oceans – are having with single-use plastics by displaying educational table signage.  We thank our partners for helping us educate our community!  Please help us reduce single-use items.  If you don’t need a straw (paper or plastic) please let your servers know not to bring one – together we can make a big difference.

Earth Day Every Day Pro Tip: Want to continue helping us protect and preserve our planet?  Please join us this Saturday, April 27 at 8:30 a.m. for the Great American Cleanup! LMC will serve as one of a handful of Palm Beach County locations for this fun annual event. Here at LMC, we will host a beach clean up of our important sea turtle nesting beach!  For more information and to sign up for this event, visit our website.

Sea Turtle Nesting Season:
Did you know that sea turtle nesting season in Palm Beach County runs from March 1 to October 31 annually?  LMC’s PhD-lead research laboratory manages a prolific stretch of sea turtle nesting beach and, in addition to collecting data on the wild sea turtle population, they collect data on the health of our beaches, dune ecosystems, shore bird populations, and a tremendous amount of ocean data. As of April 23, LMC has recorded: 46 Leatherback Sea Turtle Nests, 26 Loggerhead Sea Turtle Nests, 0 Green Sea Turtle Nests.

Fast Fact: 
LMC’s 9.5 mile stretch of beach hosts on average between 12,000 – 19,000 sea turtle nests each season!  How many nests will we have this year?  Send your guess to [email protected] the closest guess to the actual number will win a fantastic sea turtle swag bag!

Run 4 The Sea: Now in it’s 8th year, Run 4 The Sea returns on Saturday, June 15!  Runners (and walkers) get ready to celebrate a morning sea-side while enjoying a run or walk in support of ocean and sea turtle conservation.  This year’s event is presented by Downtown at The Gardens. 

Waves of Progress Capital Expansion – Groundbreaking: On Wednesday, April 3 LMC took a bold step forward with our expansion and hosted the first event for our expansion’s groundbreaking!  Our campaign is designed to amplify and accelerate our conservation and education impact – here in FL and around our beautiful blue planet. We need your help to reach our fundraising goal.  From custom inscribed brick pavers, seats in our new auditorium to impactful exhibits, please consider supporting our campaign and helping us to expand upon our legacy.  For more information about our campaign and to view the many exciting naming opportunities that are available, please visit: https://marinelife.org/expansion/

For a link to our groundbreaking celebration please visit our Facebook

Thank you for being an incredibly kind member of the LMC Family.  Your support is allowing us to save more sea turtles, educate more students, protect more nests, and better connect with like-minded collaborators across our beautiful blue planet.  We look forward to visiting with you on campus soon!

With Gratitude,
Jack E. Lighton
President & CEO

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8th Annual Run 4 The Sea – June 15, 2019

Enjoy running along scenic A1A at the 8th Annual Run 4 The Sea and support Loggerhead Marinelife Center’s mission of sea turtle and ocean conservation! This timed four-mile racebegins at 7 a.m. on Saturday, June 15, and is open to runners and walkers.

Race participants are invited to stay and enjoy the post-race celebration with breakfast, vendors, kids’ activities, a D.J. and the awards announcement. Awards are presented to the top overall male and female, master male and female and top three male and female in 13 age groups. Runner Gift Bags and Finisher medals are given to ALL participants.
Cost – $40; price increase to $45 after May 14 (includes a sport style participant t-shirt and custom finisher medal)

1-Mile Kids Fun Run: will immediately follow the four-mile race at 8:15 a.m. Parents can cheer their child on from the finish line or run with their child at no additional registration fee.
Cost: $20 (includes a child’s t-shirt and medal)

Virtual Run: Can’t make it to Run 4 the Sea 2019? You can still support LMC and earn a race medal and t-shirt by participating as a virtual runner – plus, you’re given the flexibility to run anywhere at any time you desire. There are no age limits or restrictions on how you clock your virtual four mile run! You do not have to submit your time, but please feel free to share a photo on LMC’s Facebook event page. Medals and t-shirts will be mailed in July to all virtual run participants.
Cost – $40; (includes a sport style participant t-shirt and custom finisher medal).

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What’s New in Rehab?

It often takes a village when rescuing sick and injured sea turtles, and the effort and teamwork it took to save our new sub-adult loggerhead patient Chasey from the rough surf off Blowing Rocks Preserve, is a perfect example of just that.  Jeannie Sole, both an FWC volunteer and an LMC docent, first spotted the turtle in the surf, while conducting a shore bird nesting survey on the beach early in the morning. Jeannie alerted FWC staff, LMC staff and the Nature Conservancy, who quickly went to the beach to assess the turtle’s condition. The turtle was unable to dive, and remained floating at the surface, near the rock ledges along the beach. Due to rough surf conditions and the proximity of the dangerous rocks, it was determined to be unsafe for rescuers to enter the water at that time.

Jeannie spent several hours monitoring the turtle’s location, while the team made a plan that would be both safe for the turtle and people. With a changing tide, the turtle was pulled further out into the ocean, away from the rock ledges.  LMC staff from both the hospital and the research department worked closely with both the Nature Conservancy and FWC law enforcement to ensure a safe recovery plan. FWC officers Dillan Hudson and Ryan Ames bravely volunteered to swim out and retrieve the turtle, after a quick tutorial from hospital staff about correct and safe handling of injured sea turtles.  After about 45 minutes of swimming, the two officers were able to swim the turtle back to shore, where Sarah Martin and her Nature Conservancy team were waiting with LMC staff members to carry the turtle to an awaiting ATV and trailer. Once safely on the trailer, the turtle was transported down the beach to the LMC turtle ambulance. At the LMC hospital, the turtle’s condition was quickly evaluated. Bloodwork showed that the turtle was anemic, and in overall bad health. Radiographs showed an impaction within the digestive tract.  Chasey is slowly improving and eating very well, but has a long road ahead until full recovery. You can check out her progress at Marinelife.org/Chasey.

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Conservation Corner

#PlasticFreewithLMC on Earth Day!!!

On Earth Day,  Monday, April 22, as part of Loggerhead Marinelife Center’s #StrawFreeWithLMC campaign, more than 50 restaurant partners adjacent to the 9.5 miles of sea turtle nesting beach patrolled by LMC refrained from offering plastic straws to their patrons and/or use non-plastic alternatives! Single-use plastics, like straws, can enter the ocean and pose a threat to sea turtles and other marine life that mistake this plastic for food.

Restaurants that Participated include:

1000 NORTH, Another Broken Egg, Baldino’s Restaurant, Bravo Cucina Italiana, BurgerFi, Café Sole, Calaveras Cantina, Café des Artistes, Carve Surf & Coffee, Chili’s Grill & Bar , Chowder Heads, The Corner Café & Brewery , County Line Pizza, Dive Bar Restaurant, Duke’s Lazy Loggerhead Cafe, Fresh Nation, Little Moir’s Food Shack, Garden City Cafe , Golden Pavilion Restaurant, Guanabanas, Hog Snappers , Hurricane Café, Jersey Mike’s (PGA), Jersey Mike’s (West Palm Beach), Jetty’s Waterfront Cafe, Jonathan’s Landing Golf Club, Johnny Swirls, Judy’s Highway Café, Jupiter Beach Resort, Jupiter Hills Golf Club, Juno Beach Café, Krave Restaurant, Lighthouse Diner, Lou’s Bar & Grill, McCarthy’s Irish Pub & Restaurant , Oceana Coffee, PapiChulo Tacos, Papa Kwans Coffee Shop, Phat Panda Street Food, Rancho Chico, Rock Steady Juice Joint, Schooners, Subculture Coffee, Surf Taco, Tequesta Brewing Co., The Cooper Restaurant, The Crafty Crust, The Juno Beach Fish House, The Woods Jupiter, Time to Eat Diner, Tommy Bahama, Too Bizaare, U-Tiki Beach, Vulcano’s Italian Restaurant

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Can gamification motivate us to clean our beaches?
Gamification is a successful motivational tool in many workplaces and
classrooms today. LMC board member Leanna Landsmann tells us of friend who may be the first to use gamification to clean plastic from a PBC beach. “My friend is one of the early morning folks who walk and clean the northern stretch of LMC’s 9.5 miles of surveyed beach.
“He is a marathoner who does his cool down walk along the shore. One day
when we greeted each other, he was counting — 98, 99, 100!’. He popped
the plastic pieces in a New Yorker tote bag and said, ‘Done for today!’
“He explained that each day he picks up exactly 100 pieces of plastic. No
more, no less. More it becomes a job. Less? He doesn’t ‘win’ for the day.
His goal? 10,000 pieces by early April 2019, when he would return north.  “Most people pick up willy nilly,” says Landsmann. “But he’s strategic, combing a defined area. He says finding 100 a day with a goal of 10,000 keeps him focused and engaged.” Some mornings (too many!) it goes quickly, because the tide has brought a lot of junk. Some days it takes longer.  And the plastic picked up might best be described as YUCK and AWE — from barnacled toothbrushes to the head of a Barbie doll. As he reached piece 9,999, he thought, ‘Let the last piece be something really interesting.’ He kicked at a dash of color in the seaweed and found a half of a plastic Easter egg, probably from a scavenger hunt years ago. As he was heading north for Easter the next day, “he took it as a sign from God that he’d done good work,” says Landsmann. To celebrate removing 10,000 pieces of plastic from one of the world’s most important sea-turtle nesting beaches, “My friend’s husband made a donation to Loggerhead Marinelife Center Capital Campaign in his honor,” says Landsmann. “All of his beach-walking buddies cheered his accomplishment!”

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Research Update

Our research team began their daily nesting surveys on March 1 along Juno, Jupiter & Tequesta beaches. On March 7, we recorded our first Leatherback nest of the season on Tequesta beach. As of April 23, we have recorded a total of 46 leatherback nests. If leatherback nesting continues at the current rate, we should record between 150–200 leatherback nests this season. The leatherback activity will peak in May, so we should know if this year will be record breaking for leatherback nesting by late April.

The loggerheads typically begin nesting in mid-April and we are anticipating this year to be a high nesting season for loggerheads, due to record breaking nesting activity in 2016 (15,234 nests). Loggerheads typically nest every 3 years, so we are expecting a high number of turtles from that season to return to our beaches this year.

We are currently monitoring two construction projects on our beaches. The Jupiter Reef Club is repairing their seawall and the Jupiter Inlet District is dredging and pumping sand at the Jupiter Inlet. For both of these projects, our staff are contracted to monitor the impacted beach area for nesting turtles and protect or relocate nests if laid within the construction areas. Both projects will not be permitted to extend later than the end of April, and as of April 9, we have not had to relocate any newly laid nests within either project sites.

We have hired a wonderful crew of seasonal field technicians and interns to collect data for LMC this nesting season. Look for their bios in next month’s report!

Nighttime Tagging  and Research

We are off to a great start with our annual Leatherback Project (see blog here where we provide weekly updates as the season progresses).

We began our nightly patrols on April 1 and have since encountered 12 individual leatherbacks in our survey areas (Juno and Jupiter Beaches).

Six of those individuals have never been observed nesting by the LMC research staff.

We had one very special turtle, “Juno,” who was one of the Leatherback Project’s first tagged turtles ever. She was first encountered and tagged on June 11, 2001. She has not been observed nesting on our beaches since June 2, 2011. We are very happy to have her back.

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Knowledge is Power!

Turtle Walk Registration begins May 1st at 10am!

A Turtle Walk is a unique program that allows our visitors to learn about, and observe, the nesting and egg-laying process of sea turtles. With the approval of State issued permits, experienced Loggerhead Marinelife Center scouts will patrol our designated section of Juno Beach searching for sea turtles while visitors enjoy an informative presentation on the plight of sea turtles and an after-hours experience to view our current patients in our outdoor Sea Turtle Hospital. Once a loggerhead sea turtle is found and begins her egg-laying process, the group is then led down to the beach to witness this unforgettable experience.

American Sign Language available on various dates

Cost: $20/nonmembers; $18 members
Ages: 8+
Time: June & July, Wednesdays – Saturdays at 9 p.m

To register or learn more, please visit: marinelife.org/summer-experience

Student Spotlight

Congratulations to the turtle-y awesome students of the Cumru K’Nex Innovators Team at Cumru Elementary in Shillington, Pennsylvania!

The students developed an amphibious machine that removes debris from rivers, bays and oceans. LMC provided information on how marine debris impacts marine life and sent beach trash from Juno Beach to be used in their presentation and journal. The 4th grade team presented their project at the K’Nex Competition and came in first place out of 46 teams! The students will be attending the Pennsylvania State K’Nex Competition in May to present again.

Thank you for including Loggerhead Marinelife Center in your project and good luck!

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Adoption Spotlight

As March is the start of leatherback nesting season, we are excited to reintroduce the adopt- a- nest program! For the months of March to October, nests from each species will be available to symbolically adopt. Once the nests hatch, adoptees will receive a notification with the status of their nest. With nesting season being one of the most exciting times here at LMC, we are looking forward to sharing this awesome phenomenon with all of you!

Don’t forget Mother’s Day is right around the corner! Make your mom feel special by adopting her a sea turtle or a nest! Deadline to order and receive in time is May 3.

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Volunteer Spotlight

This month we would like to recognize a volunteer who has made an impact in both the Operations and Pier departments. Scott Rosenstock has earned the title of Volunteer of the Month.
Scott began volunteering with LMC just six months ago, but he has already donated more than 130 hours of his time. Scott is a reliable worker and is willing to get his hands dirty to make sure he gets the job done well.
In addition to his regular two shift per week schedule, Scott came in bright and early to assist with TurtleFest parking and stayed well into the afternoon directing traffic in the hot sun without complaint.
Scott regularly exceeds expectations and does so with a great attitude. It is a privilege to recognize him as volunteer of the month.

Thank you for all you do, Scott!

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Mascot Corner “Be Kind Recycle Your Fishing Line!”

Hello Friends,
Fletch here, the lovable and huggable mascot for the Loggerhead Marinelife Center. In December, I had the opportunity to visit my friend Mia at Manatee Lagoon. During our visit we compared notes on one of the biggest problems, we both face from humans: “Improperly discarded monofilament fishing line.” The line creates a deadly environment every day of the year for sea turtles, manatees, and birds. We are injured from entanglement or ingesting the line, often resulting in death. Sea turtles and manatees are known to ingest monofilament line. The turtles may be attracted to the floating semi-transparent fishing line mistaking it for food or by ingesting a hook. For manatees, monofilament fishing line can drift into seagrass beds or snag onto floating vegetation. If a sea turtle or manatee ingests the line and is not able to pass it through its digestive system, it’s a sure path to a slow death. During necropsies, monofilament fishing line is the most common foreign object found in a manatee’s digestive system. Entanglement in monofilament line is also a common sea turtle and manatee injury. Fishing line wrapped around a flipper or fluke will cut into the skin causing a fatal infection and can amputate part of a flipper or the entire flipper. Monofilament fishing line is a long term deadly problem. It’s not biodegradable and can remain in the environment for hundreds of years.

How can YOU Help?
– Don’t leave your line behind
– Cast with care
– Collect discarded line
– Maintain your line
– Participate in local cleanup efforts
– Recycle your line at monofilament recycling bins or participating tackle shops

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Brick Pavers

Purchase a brick paver, to be placed in the walkway of our new outdoor Sea Turtle Hospital during our campus expansion.The bricks can be engraved with a brief message (and turtle logo).8X4 – $250 – Limit 60 characters including spaces, 36 if including a logo8X8 – $450 – Limit 120 characters including spaces, 80 if including a logo

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Shop Where is Counts

Mother’s Day Sale! From Sunday 5/5/19 – Sunday 5/12/19 with the purchase of $49 or more of Inis Products a complimentary bag will be given! Also with a $50 purchase or more of LMC merchandise a complimentary mermaid bag will be given! While Supplies last. 1 per transaction. Make sure to show your mom how much you care!

Vendor Spotlight

Name: Ron Adolph

Company Name: Burn Studio

Location of business: My wife and I moved to Asheville, NC in 2015 but we still have a home in West Palm Beach where my wife grew up.

Website: I only sell my work through galleries, so I just have my Instagram: burnstudioavl

What was your first job, and what did you learn from it? One of my high school teachers got me a job working for her niece as a stock boy at an upscale women’s boutique. I discovered I had a pretty strong work ethic and loved the freedom a steady paycheck provided. I learned to take pride in my work no matter how trivial the task and how to deal with different personalities in a professional setting.

How was your current business founded? I had always wanted a laser but wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it. I spent 25 years in the business world but always had this creativity that wanted out. I didn’t want to do the usual production work, so I spent a couple of years pushing the limits on what I could create and stumbled across the work of artist Gabriel Schama, who creates the most beautiful relief sculptures. I was hooked and set out to develop my own aesthetic. I struggled with whether or not I was an artist, as I had no formal training or background in the art world. I came back from Florida last winter to an email about a juried exhibit at our local arts council and decided that life is too short not to pursue what makes you happy, sold my first piece and never looked back. It’s been the most surprising and rewarding professional venture in my life.

Where do you get ideas? What is your inspiration? Sometimes I start with a subject in mind, other times I play with shapes and patterns until an opportunity presents itself. I think I do my best work when I let the art choose the artist. I am endlessly fascinated by the natural world. Some of my fondest memories are of moments when I have had rare and intimate encounters with nature. There are so many profound lessons and opportunities for reflection when you allow yourself to be a part of it.

Tell us about your product and what separates it from similar products? My relief sculpture is made from 8-12 layers of FSC certified Baltic Birch. It takes north of 100 hours to create the design files for each piece. I seek to draw the viewer into a deeper reflection of my subjects through the use of color and depth while allowing the warmth of wood to complete our connection with the piece and the natural world.

What do you love about your work? Everything! I have truly found my passion. It can be a struggle to find balance between my creativity and the business of what I do, but when it comes together, it is very fulfilling. My studio is in our home, so I am able to spend more time with my wife, who also works from home, and our 18-month-old son (which can be a challenge at times), but I love it.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve heard when it comes to chasing your dreams?

I love this quote from Wendell Berry…

“It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work,

And when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey.”

And I’ll add…Follow your dreams, they already know the way.

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Thank You To Our Outstanding Supporters!

We are so grateful to have the community’s support in keeping our beaches clean! Thank you to our March and April beach cleanup sponsors: Nason, Yeager, Gerson, White & Lioce, P.A. (March) and Perez & Dubois Real Estate (April).