2018 Go Blue Awards Nominees – Lifetime

Eleanor Fletcher Lifetime Achievement Award Finalists:

The recipient of the Eleanor Fletcher Award exemplifies a lifelong, extraordinary commitment to marine conservation education through their work or volunteer activities similar to Loggerhead Marinelife Center Founder Eleanor Fletcher.

Dr. Charles Manire

To the young guests who press their noses to the hospital window at Loggerhead Marinelife Center, he is simply “Dr. Charlie” who helps sick sea turtles get well.

To Center volunteers and staff, Dr. Charlie, LMC’s director of research and rehabilitation, is a beloved force and daily inspiration.

To his peers — researchers, biologists and veterinarians who study and treat marine species — Dr. Charles Manire sets a global standard for scientific innovation and impact on sea turtle health.

“Charlie Manire has been a consistent and fearless innovator in marine animal medicine throughout his career, working to improve the health of sick or injured sea turtles, whales, manatees, and sharks,” says Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, and world-renowned authority on sea turtles.

“Focusing on sea turtle health full-time at Loggerhead Marinelife Center has allowed Dr. Charlie to build upon his diverse and deep body of knowledge and clinical practice to benefit some of the most valuable members of the sea turtle populations.  His innovative approaches result in more patients recovering and so incrementally increasing chances of the species recovering from their imperiled status.”

Dr. Wyneken underscores the importance of Dr. Manire’s innovations. “Juvenile and adult turtles have the highest chances of contributing to the growth of depleted populations simply because they have outgrown most predators.  So, taking sick and injured turtles and making them well means his subadult patients have a second chance at reaching adulthood and breeding, or if adults, breeding.  The more healthy sub-adults and adults we can return to the ocean the better the chances to build the populations back up.”

Dr. Manire developed a game changer for sea turtle treatment — a novel method of injecting nutrients called total parenteral nutrition (TPN). Thanks to TPN, LMC now saves once untreatable patients with chronic debilitation syndrome, a condition that prevents turtles from eating or digesting food or medicine. Since implementing TPN, Manire has succeeded in saving and returning to the ocean nearly 90% of chronically debilitated patients that previously would not have survived.

Discover Magazine, profiling Dr. Manire in 2015, called TPN “similar to IV nutrition for hospital patients whose digestive systems aren’t functional. For turtles, Manire has developed a custom mix of amino acids, fatty acids and sugars for each sea turtle species. Treatment lasts one hour, twice a day, and gives the turtle 2 ounces of fluid – a rate that would be deadly for a human being. But it’s just what the sea turtles need. After a few treatments, most turtles regain enough strength and begin eating their usual diet of solid food again. The procedure minimizes the amount of time turtles must stay out of water and gives them complete nutrition in fluid form.”

By mixing the ratios of the ingredients, Dr. Manire is testing ways to use the IV system to address other turtle health hazards such as treating intoxications that might arise if a turtle gets into a harmful algae bloom like red tide toxin. He has also worked closely with veterinarians in South America to adapt the procedure for penguin chicks facing starvation and is testing ways to use it to save other aquatic animals.
Dr. Manire edited and co-authored Sea Turtle Health and Rehabilitation, (Ross Publishing). This 1010-page textbook is the first for veterinarians working with sea turtles. In Fall 2017 more than 200 of Dr. Charlie’s family, fans and friends celebrated the book’s launch. At the event, LMC President and CEO Jack Lighton called “Dr. Manire a world-class scientist whose passion and tireless commitment to advancing sea turtle health has helped veterinarians and institutions across the globe improve their treatment of this critically important marine species.”

Dr. Charlie hosts veterinarians from other countries where sea turtles nest and when time permits, travels to deliver papers and discuss his research.

LMC’s expansion plans aim to broaden Dr. Charlie’s reach: there will be more space to welcome visiting veterinarians who wish to train with him, and new digital equipment to assist with diagnosis and allow remote consultation with other institutions treating sea turtles.

Dr. Charlie’s hospital treats and releases an average of 100 sub-adult and adult sea turtles annually and shelters and releases hundreds, sometimes thousands, of hatchlings stranded or dislocated by storms.

With his innovative thinking, high level of care, rigorous science, and commitment to sea turtle conservation, Dr. Charlie has put Loggerhead Marinelife Center at the forefront of sea turtle medicine.

As an LMC board member, I’m proud to nominate Dr. Charlie for the Eleanor Fletcher Award: He fits perfectly into the list of previous winners. Dr. Charlie is a tireless innovator doing world-class work right in our own back yard.

Biographical Sketch – Charles Manire, DVM
Director of Research and Rehabilitation, Loggerhead Marinelife Center

(a) Professional Preparation
Texas A&M University College Station, TX Veterinary Medicine DVM, 1973
Texas A&M University College Station, TX Veterinary Science BS, 1971

(b) Appointments
Mote Marine Laboratory (MML) Sarasota, FL – Adjunct Scientist 2008–present
Atlantis Resort Bahamas – Staff Veterinarian 2008–2011
MML Sarasota, FL – Animal Care Manager 1999–2008
MML: Dolphin, Whale, and Sea Turtle Hospital Sarasota, FL – Director 1999–2008
Symposium on Non-fisheries Related Human Impacts on Elasmobranchs – State College, PA Co-chairman 2001
Mote Marine Laboratory Sarasota, FL – Staff Scientist 1997–1999
Elasmobranch Endocrinology Symposium Seattle, WA – Co-chairman 1997
Mote Marine Laboratory Sarasota, FL – Senior Biologist 1992–1997
University of Miami Miami, FL – Chief Scientist 1988–1991

(c) Selected Publications
(1) White EM, Clark S, Manire CA, Crawford B, Wang S, Locklin J, Ritchie BW. In review.
Quantitation and characterization of ingested micronizing plastic in wash back sea
turtles. Target: Science Advances.

(2) Stacy BA, Chapman PA, Foley AM, Greiner EC, Herbst LH, Bolten AB, Klein P, Manire
CA, Jacobson ER. Genetic diversity of the genus Neospirorchis (Spirorchiidae) in sea
turtles and correlation with anatomic location and definitive host species. Target:
International Journal of Parasitology.

(3) Manire CA, Anderson ET, Byrd L, Fauquier DA. 2013. Dehydration as an effective
treatment for brevetoxicosis in loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta). Journal of Zoo

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Kelli McGee

I would like to nominate Kelli McGee for the 2018 Eleanor Fletcher award because she is truly
an inspiring individual in both her accomplishments and personal character as well. Her passion
for ocean conservation has been a leading influence in her life and has led her to achieve a
remarkable career filled with ocean advocacy and marine education.

Kelli started out attending the University of Virginia and received her bachelor’s degree in Biology and Psychology. This led her to her first dream job of studying dolphins at the Dolphin Research Center in Grassy Key,Florida. It was here that she had the realization that while it is amazing and rewarding to save and rehabilitate individual dolphins, there were larger issues at stake that her current job didn’t allow her to solve. It was this thought that initiated her decision to go back to school and receive her law degree at The George Washington University Law
School.

Since then, Kelli has worked as the California Director of Oceana, The Director of Growth and Resource Management for Volusia County, and then started her own Environmental Consulting firm, Natua Strategies. Although her job titles have changed she always stayed true to her passions and advocated for healthier oceans through education of sustainable practices. Today, Kelli is the current President of Natua Strategies which is a consulting firm committed to promoting sustainable strategies and business practices that help businesses and nonprofit organizations prosper.

Kelli is a professional advocate with a background in strategic planning, fundraising, project management, grassroots organizing, media outreach, and partnership cultivation. As an Attorney and expert in natural resources conservation Kelli has written and implemented federal and local laws, drafted congressional testimony, produced effective media campaigns, and cultivated editorials across the United States.

Because of her incredible accomplishments, she was also asked to be a guest lecturer at Stetson University. This led to an Adjunct Professor Position because the students took so well to her. This is where I had the privilege of meeting Kelli. My junior year of college I was able to be her intern and learn about environmental advocacy in a way I wasn’t aware of before. Her passion
and knowledge is contagious and I was able to learn so much from her. Not only does Kelli have an impressive resume, she is also eager to teach others and share what she has learned.

While Kelli is always busy, she never turns down a chance to meet with a student who has questions about the conservation field and is always informing students of career opportunities. It is this quality that makes her truly inspiring to me and countless others who I know now have jobs in environmental conservation. This is why I believe she is a perfect candidate for the Eleanor Fletcher Award, and would love to give her the opportunity to be recognized for all of her inspiring work.

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Todd M. Steiner

Todd Steiner is an ecologist and the founder and executive director of Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN), a leading advocate for the world’s oceans and marine wildlife. He has more than 30 years’ experience in environmental protection and education.

Mr. Steiner has devoted his life to activism and saving aquatic creatures. He began his career working in Everglades National Park for seven years, later volunteering with Earth Island Institute after his move to California. He was hired as Director of the Dolphin Project shortly afterward. This was his inspiration to start the Sea Turtle Restoration Project (STRP), which later left Earth Island to become an independent organization. STRP grew and later expanded to Texas, Costa Rica and California.

In 1987, Mr. Steiner traveled to Nicaragua to learn more about a cutting-edge sea turtle conservation program that sought to engage local coastal communities in long-term preservation efforts to save sea turtles. Steiner started an all-volunteer grassroots effort to raise funds to purchase basic field supplies and research materials, and by 1989 launched the “Sea Turtle Restoration Project,” under the umbrella of the non-profit Earth Island Institute.

By 1997, the program had grown to include a full-time staff working at its headquarters in the Bay Area and an office and staff in Costa Rica and it became an independent organization called Turtle Island Restoration Network. Programs now span the globe from the coastal waters of the Galapagos Islands to the sandy beaches of Galveston, Texas and include projects to protect sharks, marine mammals, seabirds from a myriad of threats from industrial overfishing, destruction of coastal and riverine habitat, and the threat of climate change from fossil fuel projects. Each gives the public a chance to get involved in efforts to protect our blue-green planet.

Mr. Steiner also founded the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN) in 1997, an organization that protects endangered, wild coho salmon and the forests and watersheds they need to survive in West Marin, California. Over 15,000 juvenile coho and steelhead have been saved from drying pools by SPAWN since this effort began in 1999.

Mr. Steiner’s activism work in the Turtle Island Restoration Network has resulted in a multitude of positive change related to saving species, national and international law and policy changes, hands-on conservation, as well as public education and mobilization.

Read more here: seaturtles.org/about/accomplishments/

In addition to his outstanding accomplishments, Mr. Steiner has helped raise awareness about the importance of marine life and conservation through publishing and presenting in national and international journals and news media, National Geographic, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, as well as national and international symposiums. He is also an award-winning producer of several sea turtle videos broadcasted at The International Wildlife Film Festival and PBS.

Mr. Steiner has been awarded several grants through his work in the Sea Turtle Restoration Project and Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (both of which he founded and directs) from organizations including Supporting Foundation, California Coastal Conservancy, National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, California Fish & Wildlife, Marisla Foundation, California Water Board, Packard Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, Educational Foundation of America, Conservation, Food & Health Foundation, Sequoia Foundation, Goldman Fund, Patagonia, Oracle, and others.

Mr. Steiner serves on the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group, the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Counsel, NOAA-DFG Priority Action Coho Team: Technical Working Group, and on the Center for Biological Diversity Board of Directors. He holds an MS in Biology and lives in Forest Knolls, CA.