Page 72 - Panama City Living Magazine September-October 2019

TURTLE WATCH
The sea turtle nest excavations attract large numbers of specta- tors. Questions are asked, and the Turtle Watch volunteers take the opportunity to educate the public on important details about nesting season. All eggs are carefully inspected and catalogued. Unhatched eggs will be counted, some examined for embryonic development, and a number of the eggs along with the collected information are sent off for research to the FWC. All this is done under strict guidance and permitting by the FWC, the governing body that also provides training and permitting to the surveyors and volunteers of Turtle Watch and dozens of similar organizations in Florida. Strict rules and guidelines are in place that ensure prop- er surveying, handling, and documenting of all turtle nests, eggs, and hatchlings, and is based on the latest research.
Panama City Beach Turtle Watch was founded in 1991 by local environmental organization St. Andrew Bay Resource Management Association, which is still its parent organization. Turtle Watch di- rector, Kennard Watson, was there from the beginning. What start- ed out as a hobby is now a full-time job for him after retiring from the research laboratory of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Pana- ma City Division a few years ago.
Throughout the years, PCB Turtle Watch has raised awareness and implemented new ordinances that help turtles survive. “It has been a big effort to reduce the main threat to turtles, the lighting on the beach that is affecting both nesting and hatchling sea turtles,” he says. “We started out trying to encourage voluntary compliance
72 • September–October 2019 • www.PanamaCityLiving.com