Photo Credit: FWC Research

On Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, from 10a.m.-noon, Keepers of the Coast will host its first Right Whale Education Event.

Each year North Atlantic Right Whales return to waters off FL/GA coast — the only known North Atlantic right whale calving grounds. Sometimes the whales swim close to shore making it easy to observe them. By learning to observe these magnificent animals from afar your participation in this event may help biologist so you know what the clues are to identify and report them. Participants will meet with local Right Whale FWC biologists to get a better understanding of how to identify these fascinating mammals. If we are lucky enough to see whales be sure to bring your binoculars and cameras to document this experience. At the conclusion of the event we will clean the beach of debris.

Green Road walkover is located approximately 1/4 mile south of the Crescent Beach parking lot. Look for Pelican Inlet condos and Green Road on your right, beach access is located directly across the street. Signs will be posted to identify the location of the event. Parking is available on Green Road and on beach. Access can be obtained at the Crescent beach access, two way traffic on the beach will allow for easy on and off access. We are looking forward to seeing you.

William Zeits
Tara Dodson

Keepers of the Coast, St. Augustine, FL
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During re-occurring weather patterns in the SE Atlantic Ocean, wrack can form along the tide line of beaches located in North East Florida with considerable amounts of marine debris such as plastics, latex, rubber, rope, fishing gear, etc. entrapped in the line of sargassum. Marine debris has the potential to harm ocean wildlife including marine turtles because these items can be mistaken as potential food sources. If ingested this may block their gastrointestinal tract and slow down their metabolic rate, which may cause sickness and death. When these items are picked up off the beach or if they are never allowed to enter the ocean they no longer pose a threat to wildlife. During opportunistic beach cleanups by volunteers during and after these significant wrack events marine debris such as plastic containers which hold various liquids, plastic bottle caps and Styrofoam encased radiosondes were collected. Each year the National Weather Service releases 75,000 radiosondes for the purpose of collecting weather data. Twice a day 365 days out of the year these sondes are released from multiple stations across the country and may land in various ocean locations. They are small, expendable packages suspended by a 2 meter (6 feet) wide balloon linked to a battery powered radio transmitter with heavy gauge string and other plastics. The Styrofoam casing with batteries still intact is a prominent piece of the collections thus far. Other items found such as plastic bottle caps and other plastic containers were tracked back to their manufactured country of origin. These countries of origin are found in the SE Atlantic and Caribbean, which includes Venezuela, Haiti, Brazil and others not noted here. The items collected from the beach displayed signs of algae and barnacle growth therefore revealing that they had been adrift at sea for some time. After further review of the collected items potential evidence of bite marks and depressions from various marine wildlife organisms were evident. In the event these items drifted from the manufactured countries of origin and landing locations of the radiosondes they could have been carried by ocean currents and passed through critical foraging habitat for marine turtles. We are not aware of any published reports that demonstrate that these suspect bites are from marine turtles. However, further research could confirm. Additional review of collected materials may also suggest that the absence from the SE Atlantic Ocean of Styrofoam casing, and batteries of the radiosondes along with an array of plastics will reduce or eliminate the potential for marine turtles to mistake these items as a potential food source.

More information will be available at the Southeast Regional Sea Turtle meeting in Jekyll Island, Feb. 1-4

Join Today!

Individual $25 : Family $40

[annually]

• Receive Quarterly newsletter
• Access to members-only discounts at participating area restaurants & stores
• Member’s limited edition decal
• Charter membership e-certificate

Your tax deductible membership fee allows Keepers of the Coast to fund beach clean-ups, educational activities, and create awareness about marine conservation efforts.

Make payment to PayPal or send check to:
Keepers of the Coast
P.O. Box 840239
St. Augustine, Florida 32080

Memberships

Individual $25.00 USD Family $40.00 USD

WHAT:  Barefoot Wine is teaming up with the Keepers of the Coast to help to keep Florida’s shorelines clean by hosting a public beach cleanup for volunteers at St. Augustine Beach.

Barefoot Wine is committed to cleaning more than 40 Florida beaches throughout the summer and fall, keeping the beaches clean for all to enjoy.

WHO: Barefoot Wine, fun, flavorful and affordable wine and bubblies

Keepers of the Coast, an active community that works together to ensure that the beaches of Northeast Florida remain a beautiful part of the local environment and provide a safe place for coastal residents to recreate for future generations

WHEN:

Tuesday, November 15 2011

4:00 PM – 6:00 PM

WHERE: Mickler’s Landing Beach Park
Ponte Vedra Blvd. & Mickler Rd.
Ponte Vedra, FL 32082

Friday, December 16, 2011

4:00 PM – 6:00 PM

WHERE: St. Augustine Beach
A1A (Beach Blvd.) & A Street
St. Augustine, FL 32080

EVENT COST: Free and open to the public

For more information please email us at keepersofthecoast@yahoo.com

St. Augustine Eco Tours and Keepers of the Coast partner to offer local underserved youth free environmental education experiences

Education company, St. Augustine Eco Tours, and local non-profit, Keepers of the Coast partner to offer groups of area youth a once in a lifetime experience.  In the spring of 2012, private tours on St. Augustine Eco Tour vessels will be offered to schools in St. Augustine in order to facilitate underserved youth getting out of the classroom and into the local environment for a unique learning experience.

St. Augustine Eco Tours invites residents and tourists to hop aboard their Eco Explorer boat for a “Cruise for a Cause” on Thursday, November 10^th at 4:00pm.  All proceeds from this 1.5 hour tour will go toward helping to raise necessary funds to provide field trips for underprivileged youth.

Angie Golubovich, Program Manager of St. Augustine Eco Tours says, “It’s amazing how many local children have never been on a boat to experience the estuary or ocean habitats that are so important to this region’s economy and quality of life.  Hopefully this joint venture will be the first of many to come that helps provide high quality environmental education experiences to children that may not otherwise have the opportunity”.  Keepers of the Coast Outreach Coordinator, Aubrey Mulligan agreed by adding, “I have three children and it’s sad to see the field trip opportunities dwindling in area schools due to budget cuts.  This kind of partnership will allow some less fortunate local kids to participate in outdoor education that they just can’t experience in the regular classroom”.

To make a reservation for the November 10^th boat trip, call St. Augustine Eco Tours at (904) 377.7245. To learn more about this project and other education and conservation related initiatives, please visit www.keepersofthecoast.org or www.staugustineecotours.com.

SAINT AUGUSTINE – Keepers of the Coast, a local non-profit dedicated to promoting coastal stewardship and the conservation of coastal habitat, is recruiting volunteers to participate in the 26^th Annual International Coastal Clean-Up on Saturday, September 17^th. This event is spearheaded by the global non-profit Ocean Conservancy.

This community-wide effort will be held the morning of Saturday, September 17^th, from 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. at the Frank Butler Park West beach park located at 399 Riverside Boulevard, St. Augustine, FL 32080. Volunteers are encouraged to wear cool clothing, and lots of sunscreen. Plan to spend the morning cleaning up the beach area, or bring your kayak or paddle board, and help clean-up waterways and intercoastal areas. Keepers of the Coast will provide trash bags, data cards, gloves and bottled water. No pre-registration is required.

Keepers of the Coast volunteers have successfully prevented over 90,000 cigarette butts from entering our oceans since 2007. According to Ocean Conservancy, “cigarette butts account for 32% of trash collected during this one-day effort. Since the International Clean-Up Day efforts began in 1986, almost nine million volunteers have picked up some 144 million pounds of trash worldwide.”

“We are very excited about this clean-up. There’s something very special about not only gathering in our community to help keep trash out of the ocean and waterways, but knowing that volunteers around the globe are doing the same thing at the same time,” Outreach Coordinator for Keepers of the Coast, Aubrey Mulligan said.

For more information on how you can be involved and to learn more, please visit:  www.oceanconservancy.org or call 904.687.7694.