Ecological Associates, Inc.

Last week, our turtle team was lucky enough to witness this gorgeous leatherback sea turtle finishing up her nest on South Hutchinson Island.

Leatherbacks are the first species that show up to nest along our beaches in South Florida each season, with our first nests being reported as early as February.

As we get later into the summer, our leatherback nest numbers begin to dwindle on our southern routes (Martin County) and increase on our northern routes (Indian River County) as the turtles begin to head north towards their foraging grounds.

While we’re definitely sad to see them go, we’re excited to see just how far they will travel! This year, our friends at Sea Turtle Conservancy
and Florida Leatherbacks Inc. have tagged several nesting leatherbacks to track them during their migration for the annual Tour de Turtles Marathon.

Interested in observing the journey from nesting grounds to feeding grounds? You can follow along at tourdeturtles.org or on the STC Turtle Tracker App as they swim hundreds and thousands of miles searching for the perfect foraging spot!

Earlier this month, EAI’s Director of Operations stopped by the Environmental Studies Center (ESC) to hand deliver a check from our Dune to Lagoon Earth Day 5K proceeds. 🌎

The proceeds from the race are being used to support scholarships for local students to attend summer camp at the ESC! Through their summer camp program, students in kindergarten through high school get hands-on opportunities to explore the Indian River Lagoon and Hutchinson Island beaches and learn about the importance of our local habitats.

We are so thrilled to be able to support this program! Thank you to the ESC for implementing such an incredible program and thank you to everyone that participated in the 5K for making this possible! 🙌

EAI frequently participates in surveys to monitor and map seagrasses and algal habitats throughout Florida in support of permit requirements for projects such as marina development, dredging, seawall and dock construction, coastal restoration, utility corridor improvements, and power plant operations.

Because these submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) surveys are performed by multiple organizations throughout Florida and are used in the development of statewide policy, annual calibration exercises are required to ensure consistency across all agencies.

Last month, our team attended the Annual Interagency SAV Calibration Exercise in Key Largo hosted by the South Florida Water Management District.

We had a great time out on the water catching up with colleagues from FDEP, FWC, Miami-Dade County, the National Park Service, University of NC, and more!

This past weekend, our team celebrated World Ocean Day and the kick off of Sea Turtle Week at FAU Harbor Branch’s International Ocean Film Festival!

For over two decades, the International Ocean Film Festival (IOFF) has provided a global platform for ocean literacy and education through independent film.

We had a great day educating everyone about sea turtles and enjoying short films from around the world, inspired by the ocean and its marine life. 💙

Thank you to FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute for hosting another great event!

Sea turtle lays eggs, hatchlings released during biologist led turtle walk Sea turtle lays eggs, hatchlings released during a night turtle walk hosted by EAI on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, at Jensen Public Beach.

Recently, our team assisted our friends from the Marine Megafauna Foundation: Americas with an aerial survey.

Jessica Pate, the founder and lead scientist of the Florida Manta Project, has been studying a local population of manta rays in south Florida since 2016 when she first discovered them cruising along our coastline while working as a sea turtle biologist (with EAI!).

Surprised to learn that manta rays were unstudied in Florida, Jessica started the Florida Manta Project in order to understand the environmental drivers of spatial and temporal distribution, life history traits and anthropogenic impacts on Florida’s manta rays.

We were thrilled to help Jessica with her survey and couldn’t have asked for better conditions! We saw 3 manta rays (zoom in to see the manta!), 4 hammerhead sharks, 12 manatees, 17 spotted eagle rays, and 183 sea turtles!

Last month, our biologists visited different bird nesting sites in order to become Imperiled Beach-Nesting Bird (IBNB) Permitted Monitors.

IBNB Permitted Monitors are trained, dedicated individuals with proven shorebird and seabird identification skills and avian survey experience. They are qualified to assist FWC Incidental Take Permittees with minimizing and avoiding harm or harassment of imperiled beach-nesting birds (American oystercatchers, snowy plovers, least terns, black skimmers) during project activities.

By becoming IBNB Permitted Monitors, our biologists will be able to conduct Breeding Activity Checks, establish disturbance-free buffer zones, and conduct education/identification programs with project staff.

As part of the certification process, you must participate in a minimum of 3 surveys observing active nests of Imperiled Beach-Nesting Birds (IBNBs) with experienced mentors. With guidance from our colleagues from FWC, our team was able to observe nesting least terns and American oystercatchers. We also saw a bonus black-necked stilt pair!

Recently, our team has been helping The Nature Conservancy and The Treasure Coast Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (TC-CISMA) with plant surveys along the beaches in Indian River County and Martin County.

For these surveys, we are looking for an invasive plant that grows on the beach dunes known as Scaevola taccada. The goal of these surveys is to get a general idea of the abundance of this invasive plant along our coastline. Once we have an idea of its abundance, we can begin the process of reducing Scaevola taccada’s overall presence and improving management of beach dune habitat.

Why are these surveys important? Scaevola taccada, also known as beach cabbage, sea lettuce, or beach naupaka, is invasive in Florida. It displaces native dune vegetation and consumes open spaces on the dune that are important for the endangered sea lavender (Argusia gnaphalodes), beach peanut (Okenia hypogaea), beach clustervine (Jacquemontia reclinata), and threatened inkberry.

Did you know that flashlights and other lights are often banned on beaches where sea turtles nest?

Sea turtles use natural light cues to orient themselves towards the ocean after laying eggs or emerging from their nests. Because artificial light can disrupt a turtle’s ability to navigate properly and cause them to become disoriented, many local governments and municipalities have adopted beachfront lighting ordinances to protect our turtles.

Throughout the nesting season, our team performs beachfront lighting evaluations to locate and photograph individual light sources that are in violation of the local ordinances. Our detailed reports contain interactive maps, descriptions of each violation, and suggestions for bringing lights into compliance so that property owners can quickly and easily resolve their lighting issues and make the beach more turtle friendly. 🐢🙂

Want to ensure YOUR lights are sea turtle friendly this nesting season? Remember to keep it LOW, keep it SHIELDED, and keep it LONG (wavelength).

💡Low: Mount fixtures as low to the ground as possible and use bulbs that produce the lowest wattage/lumens
💡Shielded: Shield fixtures to ensure that the light source will not be visible from the beach and will direct light downward
💡Long: Utilize long wavelength light (560 nm or greater, which is amber, orange, or red)

Your interior lighting can also be sea turtle friendly by simply remembering to close window coverings at night, turning lights off when you leave the room, moving lamps away from windows, using fixtures with shades instead of exposed bulbs, or applying window tint so interior lights are not visible from the beach.

Happy Mother’s Day! ❤️

It’s always a treat when our team spots native wildlife during our environmental surveys!

One of our favorite animals to see? The gopher tortoise! 🐢

Gopher tortoises are an important keystone species in Florida. They play a crucial role in the ecosystem by providing critical habitat for over 350 species with their burrows. 🐍🐁🐸

They’re also really cute.

Registration for our Nighttime Sea Turtle Walks is officially open!

Tuesday nights in June, EAI is offering an amazing opportunity for the public to observe a nesting sea turtle under the direction and guidance of a trained and permitted sea turtle biologist.

We highly encourage everyone, locals and tourists alike, to participate in a guided turtle walk program, whether with us here at EAI or with another one of the many qualified organizations along our coast.

We know, we know — why pay for something when you can just go out and find turtles on your own? 🤔Well, there’s actually quite a few good reasons…

1. It’s illegal to look for nesting sea turtles unless you are listed on a State Marine Turtle permit. 🚫

2. It’s not good for the turtles. Going out and looking for sea turtles on your own, with no professional training, often results in turtles getting spooked and heading back to the water without nesting. All of the sea turtle species we see nesting here in Florida are endangered or threatened. Every single nest and every single hatchling is vital to the species’ survival, so interfering with any nesting turtles could have huge consequences. 🐢

3. Every organization that conducts guided turtle walks is trained on protocols and procedures to minimize any negative impacts to nesting turtles. So, you’ll be in good hands! 👍

4. All proceeds go towards sea turtle conservation. Just by participating, you are helping save sea turtles! 💸

5. You’ll probably learn something new and have fun doing it! 🥳

If you’re interested in participating in one of our guided Nighttime Sea Turtle Walks in Jensen Beach, you can register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/eais-2024-nighttime-sea-turtle-walk-tickets-814205960947

To find another program closer to you, head to: https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/wildlife/sea-turtle/where-to-view/

Don’t wait to register! These programs are very popular and will fill up quickly! 🐢 💨

Registration opens tomorrow (5/1)!

St. Lucie County’s Port, Inlet and Beaches Department is partnering with Ecological Associates, Inc. (EAI) to offer three nighttime sea turtle walks on Wednesday, June 5, 12, and 19.

These free educational sea turtle walks along the beaches of Hutchinson Island will be led by a state-certified biologist, who will provide insight into the life of the different sea turtles that nest along our shoreline. St. Lucie County’s 21 miles of coastline are designated as critical nesting grounds for endangered and threatened sea turtle populations, including Loggerhead, Green and Leatherback Turtles, which nest between March 1 – Nov. 15.

Space is limited to 25 participants per nighttime walk. Each walk will begin with check-in at 8:30 p.m., followed by the presentation on a selected beach at 9 p.m. and last until roughly 11 p.m. Participants must be at least 6 years or older and be able to easily walk and/or stand for the duration of the program. Check-in will take place at the Jensen Beach Community Center, 1912 NE Jensen Beach Blvd. in Jensen Beach. The cost to reserve a spot is $13.39 per person including taxes and fees. A $10 credit will be refunded to each participant during check-in at the time of the event to promote attendance.

Registration will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis via Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2024-st-lucie-county-nighttime-sea-turtle-walks-tickets-890644249927. Registration will go live on Wednesday, May 1. Please note that there is no guarantee that participants will encounter sea turtles on these walks.

Last weekend, our team celebrated Earth Day at St. Lucie County’s 20th Annual Earth Day Festival at Oxbow Eco-Center! 🌎

The St. Lucie Earth Day Festival is a unique event with over 70 local organizations and businesses that are not only celebrating our Earth but also sharing resources and information on sustainability, resiliency, food systems, environmental conservation, Florida heritage, and water quality.

This is one of our favorite events to participate in (and sponsor!) and we look forward to it every year!

🌎 HAPPY EARTH DAY! 🌎

While we feel like every day is Earth Day here at EAI, we celebrated extra hard this year by hosting our first ever Dune to Lagoon Earth Day 5K this weekend!

After months of planning, it was so special to finally be able to see all of our hard work and effort pay off for such an incredible event!

We want to thank each and every one of you that participated in the race and helped support us, as well as all of the vendors and our sponsors who helped make this race possible. Because of YOU, not only did we get to celebrate our beautiful and unique local habitats, but we are also supporting environmental education for future generations by sending kids to summer camp at the Environmental Studies Center!

Another huge thank you to Game On Race Events for helping us put this whole thing together!

We’re already looking forward to next year!

🌎 Dune to Lagoon Sponsor Shoutout! 🌎

Thank you to CSA Ocean Sciences for being a Maritime Hammock sponsor!

CSA Ocean Sciences Inc. has served clients in the offshore energy, defense, and telecommunication markets, providing marine scientific consulting and operational support for a range of multidisciplinary marine projects in the U.S. and internationally.

The CSA team provides a wide range of services for Federal, State, regional, county, local, and international governments as well as a variety of commercial and industrial customers.

We couldn’t be more grateful for their contribution to the Dune to Lagoon 5K and supporting us in celebrating our local habitats and promoting environmental stewardship within our community!

🌎 Dune to Lagoon Sponsor Shoutout! 🌎

Thank you to Nancy Goethel for being a Maritime Hammock sponsor!

Nancy Goethel is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and holds IMCA's Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) designation, which is a stringent certification process assuring the highest standards in the profession. She also has the Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (CRPC) accreditation.

Nancy has been in the financial services business since 1994 and currently specializes in financial strategies and solutions in the areas of retirement, estate, financial and tax planning. She focuses on the use and analysis of managed money including individually managed accounts, mutual funds, closed end funds and exchange traded funds.

We couldn’t be more grateful for her contribution to the Dune to Lagoon 5K and supporting us in celebrating our local habitats and promoting environmental stewardship within our community!

Last week, our staff visited Palm City Elementary to participate in their Bee The Change Earth Day Fair.

We had a great time playing games and teaching the kids all about sea turtles. 🐢

Thank you to Palm City Elementary for inviting us to be a part of this super fun event!

Our Earth Day celebrations don’t stop there!
Don’t forget to join us on Saturday, April 20th — We will have a booth at the St. Lucie Earth Day Festival at Oxbow Eco-Center during the day AND later that evening we are hosting our first ever Dune to Lagoon 5K at Jensen Public Beach! 🌎

🌎 Dune to Lagoon Sponsor Shoutout! 🌎

Thank you to Computer Network Services for being a Maritime Hammock sponsor!

Computer Network Services (CNS) is a full service computer repair facility that specializes in network design, management, and support. Their mission is to help clients achieve their business objectives by custom-designing a network infrastructure that meets their needs. From simple system upgrades to complex installations, CNS provides high-tech solutions and outstanding customer service for businesses of all sizes along the Treasure Coast!

We couldn’t be more grateful for their contribution to the Dune to Lagoon 5K and supporting us in celebrating our local habitats and promoting environmental stewardship within our community!

For more information about Computer Network Services, visit www.computernetworkservices.com

Dune to Lagoon 5K finisher medals and placement awards are in! 🏅🌎

Only 11 more days until the race — Don’t forget to register before it’s too late! 🏃‍♀️

This weekend, some of our staff headed south to Fort Lauderdale to help our good friends at Florida Leatherbacks Inc. (FLI) with their booth at Rock The Ocean’s Tortuga Music Festival!

Tortuga Fest is a unique event that was created to generate awareness and raise funds for ocean conservation. Each year at Tortuga, Rock The Ocean hand selects 30+ leaders in ocean conservation to help educate fans on various ocean conservation topics including sea turtles, sharks, coral reefs, and more!

This year, FLI was selected as a leader in sea turtle conservation and was invited to host a booth at the festival. Made up of a small team of dedicated researchers devoted to understanding the population of nesting leatherbacks in SE Florida, they’re the perfect group for the job!

After many years of working together and collaborating on leatherback research, EAI was more than happy to help our friends!

Thank you to Rock The Ocean and Tortuga Music Festival for an incredible event and thanks to Florida Leatherbacks Inc. for letting us be a part of it 🙂🐢

We’re excited to announce that we are partnering with Project Kix for our upcoming Dune to Lagoon Earth Day 5k!

ProjectKix works hard to facilitate change for disabled athletes and the environment by collecting and recycling gently used sneakers.

Every pair of usable sneakers collected provides vital resources including wheelchairs, travel expenses, lodging, equipment, tournament fees, and more.

Along with raising funds for disabled athletes, it keeps these items out of our local landfills, while also creating micro-jobs and allowing people to have access to name brand sneakers in third world countries.

If you’re interested in donating your gently used sneakers, we will be accepting donations and handing out prepaid mailing bags at both packet pick-up on April 19th and at the race on the 20th! 👟🌎

For more information about Project Kix visit www.projectkix.com ProjectKix

🌎 Dune to Lagoon Sponsor Shoutout! 🌎

Thank you to Mulligan's Beach House for being a Maritime Hammock sponsor!

Launched back in 1997 by George Hart, Mulligan’s Beach House Bar & Grill was founded with the goal of bringing fresh, affordable seafood to local Floridians in a beautiful waterfront setting.

The Mulligan’s brand now includes seven Florida locations – all with waterfront views – in Sebastian, Vero Beach, Jensen Beach, Stuart, Lauderdale-By-the-Sea and their newest location in Singer Island.

We couldn’t be more grateful for their contribution to the Dune to Lagoon 5K and supporting us in celebrating our local habitats and promoting environmental stewardship within our community!

EAI’s electrofishing crews working in Lake Okeechobee and the Kissimmee River have a love/hate relationship with Florida’s native gar populations (they are the most abundant large fish that we catch, but also the wiggliest with the sharpest teeth 😩).

These ancient armored fish are found in two varieties in Lake Okeechobee: Florida Gar (Lepisosteus platyrhincus) and Longnose Gar (L. osseus). Florida Gar are smaller and the state record is less than 10 pounds, but Longnose Gar have been recorded to 138 cm (54 inches) and 41 pounds. The true Alligator Gar (Atractosteus spatula) and Spotted Gar (L. oculatus) are only found in Florida’s western panhandle.

Fun fact: Gar formed an important part of the Native American diet, but due to their eggs’ toxicity, few anglers now consume gar.

🌎 Dune to Lagoon Sponsor Shoutout! 🌎

Thank you to Space Coast Dive Center for being a Maritime Hammock sponsor!

Space Coast Dive Center has been serving the community of Palm Bay, Florida since 1988. For nearly 35 years, they have been providing professional training & diver development, expert gear sales & service, and both local and international diving opportunities for divers across the nation. Their mission is to continue to build a community of strong and competent divers who share a mutual love for adventure and the underwater world.

We couldn’t be more grateful for their contribution to the Dune to Lagoon 5K and supporting us in celebrating our local habitats and promoting environmental stewardship within our community!

For more information about Space Coast Dive Center, visit https://spacecoastdivecenter.com.