The Tampa Bay Tour of Turtles was developed with the goal of helping to educate people about marine turtles and the work done at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium to rescue, rehabilitate and release them. The Marine Turtle Program at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium is a two-fold program involving the protection of marine turtles nesting on the beach as well as the rehabilitation of sick and injured marine turtles. Each summer from late May through August, marine turtles come ashore to deposit clutches of eggs on the barrier islands throughout Florida. In Pinellas County the responsibility for monitoring and protecting these endangered creatures has been the responsibility of the staff biologists at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium . The explosion of coastal development along the shoreline of Florida has created serious threats to the loggerhead, green, and leatherback sea turtles.
Coastal development affects marine turtles in many different ways.
Development results in loss of habitat directly through erosion, and loss of habitat indirectly through artificial lighting. The affect of artificial lighting on marine turtles is well understood and well documented, however the impact of artificial lighting many times is not observed. This is because many females simply do not nest on heavily lit beaches, choosing to try and find more suitable locations. Those females, who do deposit their eggs on heavily populated beaches, leave their nests and hatchlings to the destruction and disorientation that is associated with heavy development. It is the job of staff at CMA to ensure that the nests that are placed on our beaches are well protected from any threats that may occur.