The Baird Foundation donates $120,000 dollars to UVI for endangered sea turtle research
A Caribbean hawksbill cruises the artificial reef of the Cyril E. King runway. The donated funds will allow researchers to continue to track the endangered animals. Photo credit: Scott Eanes.
On the southwest side of St. Thomas is a unique and important habitat for the Caribbean hawksbill sea turtle. Brewer’s Bay, Hawksbill Cove, and the artificial reef created by the Cyril E. King Airport runway are home to a thriving population of juvenile hawksbill sea turtles. Not only are hawksbills listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, but little is known about this stage of a sea turtle’s life. According to IUCN, there is a continued decline of mature (reproductive) turtles and their populations are severely fragmented. A better understanding of the juveniles and their foraging habitats, especially one dominated by a large manmade structure (the airport runway), is crucially important.
“You are looking at one of the most unique sea turtle habitats in the world because the Brewers Bay and Hawksbill Cove turtle habitat is dominated by an artificial reef. We need to understand what it is about this environment that is attracting and holding so many juvenile hawksbill and green sea turtles. The support of donors like the Baird family is huge and much-needed for us to continue this crucial research.”
As an airplane preapres for landing at the Cyril E. King airport, Scott Eanes and Victoria Beasley, works with one of the areas endangered hawksbill sea turtles. File Photo. Research conducted under NMFS Permit 15809.
Although the hawksbills have made the Brewers Bay area their home for quite some time, the airport runway extension, completed in the early 1990s, appears to have created an artificial habitat that is extremely attractive to the turtles. Dr. Paul Jobsis, Director of the Center for Marine & Environmental Studies, and Associate Professor of Biology at the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI), and his students have been conducting research and studying this unique phenomenon since 2014, they have made some interesting findings which has piqued the interest and support of the Cameron and Jane Baird Foundation.
One person who knows the importance and uniqueness of the turtles along the Cyril E. King runway is UVI Marine Masters of Environmental Science (MMES) Alumni Scott Eanes. Eanes has worked closely with Dr. Jobsis on this research and played a vital role in securing the donation from the Baird Foundation. “The large number of hawksbill turtles, at least 100, in this habitat is extremely significant. It is a very compact habitat and very densely populated for a total area of about 6 hectares” he says.
“Through our personal relationship with Dr. Jobsis and Scott Eanes, we now share the belief the habitat on St. Thomas is one-of-a-kind, and we were happy to donate the necessary funds to continue this crucial research.”
The Baird family has in the past made several smaller donations to the University for sea turtle research, but this donation signifies a major increase in support from the Foundation and will have a dramatic effect on UVI’s sea turtle research. The donation will be spent on continuing sea turtle research along the runway, in Brewer’s Bay, and within Hawksbill Cove by supporting graduate students in this field of study. Previous research has already illuminated how many sea turtles are in residence, their home ranges, seasonal activity and their movement before, during and after the 2017 Category 5 hurricanes, Irma and Maria. Other work includes research on what might attract them to the area and where they come from. Graduate Lora Johansen found that the roughness, or rugosity, of the area, may be important in the high density of turtles found here, and preliminary work using genetic samples by current masters student Jessica Levenson suggest that these juvenile hawksbills are coming to Brewers Bay from areas throughout the Caribbean, as far away as Barbados and Nicaragua and as close as St Croix. A future question is “where do they go once they reach maturity and move on to their adult foraging grounds?”
Dr. Paul Jobsis holds a large juvenile hawksbill. If you look closely, you can see its fin tags with ID numbers. File photo.
Scott Eanes has had a successful day capturing juvenile turtles. It is however illegal to touch them without proper permitting. This sea turtle work is done under National Marine Fisheries Service permit 15809. File photo.
Ongoing research into the Caribbean hawksbill sea turtle is off to a great start in 2020, thanks to the generosity of the Baird Foundation, UVI’s MMES program and the dedicated individuals at UVI’s Center for Marine and Environmental Studies (CMES). According to Dr. Jobsis, a least five times as many students have expressed interested in working with him on sea turtles research since the scholarship was announced. However Dr. Jobsis and Mr. Eanes see this a just the start, they have a fundraising goal of $240,000 which would support two students per year for the next four years. As Dr. Jobsis said, “this will be a game-changer for sea turtle research at UVI and the Caribbean.”
To donate to the University Sea Turtle Research Fund please contact: Dr. Jobsis at pjobsis@uvi.edu or Mr. Eanes at scotteanes@yahoo.com.