2021 Sea Turtle Season Report
Since 2015 the Virgin Islands National Park (VINP) Sea Turtle Program, funded by the Friends of VINP (FVINP), has been coordinating nest protection efforts through volunteer-based beach monitoring on the island of St. John, USVI. The main objectives are to document nesting activity, promote conservation through education outreach, and mitigate threats to sea turtles that utilize the beaches and waters of the VINP.
Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), green (Chelonia mydas), and leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) sea turtles have been recorded nesting on St. John, with the critically endangered hawksbill producing the majority of nests. Over the past seven years, the program has been built on the core foundation of volunteer-based monitoring, nest protection, research, and education outreach. From 2015-2019 beaches within the VINP were monitored semi-regularly by trained volunteers yielding 76 hawksbill nests. During the first three years the program revealed high nest depredation and loss of nests to storms. To reduce these threats, protective screening of nests began in 2017, and nest relocation efforts were established in 2019. In 2020, the volunteer team tripled to 100 beach monitors, and the number of beaches regularly patrolled expanded to 47 beaches including nearby cays. This resulted in the highest number of hawksbill nests being recorded with 35 confirmed nests. Thanks to the funding and support of the FVINP, the program has two part-time FVINP employees (Adren Anderson and Willow Melamet) who serve as the coordinators year-round to uphold the program’s mission. The continued evolution of the program has led to a multifaceted approach that now has a strong foundation to sustain island wide sea turtle conservation initiatives and documentation of nesting activity on St. John.
