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The Sea Turtle
Survival League (STSL), a program of the
non-profit Caribbean
Conservation Corp., is dedicated to the protection
of sea turtles through outreach, advocacy and
education. The league has begun a new Sea Turtle and
Coastal Awareness Campaign that will help
promote a greater understanding of the relationship
between inappropriate development in five of Florida's
coastal counties and the loss and degradation of both
the coastal dune ecosystem and sea turtle nesting
habitat.
Florida's natural coastal regions are
being put under increasing pressure as the
population in coastal cities and towns continues to
grow in size and requires additional resources.
Coastal areas contain some of the most fragile
ecosystems in Florida and provide habitat to many
threatened and endangered animal species.
STSL began the campaign to
increase awareness about the threat to coastal
habitats with a focus on five counties: Lee,
Sarasota, and Manatee on the Gulf Coast, and Brevard
and Volusia on the Atlantic. The campaign is
being funded through a grant from the Florida Fish and
Wildlife Conservation Commission Advisory Council on
Environmental Education. The campaign will
include information on coastal habitats, threats to
coastal areas by unwise development, the importance of
protecting Florida's coasts and helpful ways people can reduce
their impact. STSL will be working in cooperation with
the Sea Turtle Preservation Society in Brevard County,
Turtle
Time, Inc. in Lee County, Anna Maria Island Turtle
Patrol in Manatee County, Mote Marine Laboratory and
the Coastal Wildlife Club, Inc., in Sarasota and the
Volusia Turtle Patrol in the Daytona and N.W. Smyrna
Beach area.
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