Sea Turtle and Manatee Intern, Pinellas

Founded in 1936, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF or Federation) is America's largest and most trusted grassroots conservation organization with 52 state/territorial affiliates and more than six million members and supporters, including hunters, anglers, gardeners, birders, hikers, campers, paddlers, and outdoor enthusiasts of all stripes. The Federation's mission is to unite all Americans to ensure wildlife thrive in our rapidly changing world through programming focused on conserving wildlife, restoring habitats and waterways, expanding outdoor opportunities, connecting children with nature, and addressing the causes and consequences of climate change.

The Gulf Program of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) seeks a part time Sea Turtle/Manatee Intern for a three to four month internship to help implement work on manatee education and outreach with Manatee Awareness Coalition (MAC), sea turtle model lighting ordinances, wildlife friendly lighting outreach program, and associated sea turtle conservation activities.

Manatees in the greater Tampa Bay area are at risk from loss of seagrass beds and from collisions with boats.  Nutrient pollution from stormwater runoff, coupled with changes in salinity and increased temperatures, can lead to loss of seagrass beds which deprives manatees of an essential food source and can lead to manatee mortality.  Social science-based education and outreach to area residents and businesses can change behaviors which in turn can reduce the use of fertilizers and nutrient rich stormwater runoff.  Additionally educating and motivating recreational boaters, recreational fishermen, and charter fishermen/boaters can both protect manatees from boat injuries and reduce prop scarring in critical seagrass beds.

Sea turtle hatchling and nesting females face numerous challenges from artificial light.  Artificial light from sources like homes, businesses, roadways and pools disrupts these natural nesting and emergence cues, which can lead to harmful impacts on both nesting females and hatchlings. Adult females are often deterred from nesting on heavily lit beaches, resulting in fewer nests or the selection of poor sites to lay eggs. For those that do try to nest on these artificially lit beaches, artificial light can cause false crawls (non-nesting emergences) and disorientations (inability to successfully locate the water) of both nesting females and just born sea turtles, which can result in death. This project aims to build awareness about sea turtles, their habitat, how to protect them, and how to improve lighting conditions for nesting sea turtles.