Hot Chicks, Cool Dudes: Jacksonville University Launches Sea Turtle Program on World Sea Turtle Day

Florida Marine Conservation Program Expanded

Lucas Meers 06162025 Photo Credit Kristine Bellino
Sea Turtle Swimming in the Virgin Islands March 2025 Photo Credit: Larry and Sharon Pasikowski (used with permission by Kristine Bellino for WOKV, Cox Media Group)

[UPPER PHOTO: Sea Turtle swimming in the Virgin Islands March 2025; Photo Credit: Larry and Sharon Pasikowski, used with permission by WOKV/Cox Media Group LOWER PHOTO: Sea Turtle Program at Jacksonville University Photo Credit: Greg Minton, Jacksonville University]

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Jacksonville University is announcing an expansion to its marine conservation program, as it works to help a species currently threatened in the United States.

[UPPER PHOTO: Lucas Meers Photo Credit: Kristine Bellino, WOKV/Cox Media Group LOWER PHOTO: Sea Turtle swimming in the Virgin Islands March 2025; Photo Credit: Larry and Sharon Pasikowski, used with permission by WOKV/Cox Media Group]

Five species of sea turtles call Florida home, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and June 16th is World Sea Turtle Day, a day to celebrate them all.

[Sea Turtle swimming in the Virgin Islands March 2025; Photo Credit: Larry and Sharon Pasikowski, used with permission by WOKV/Cox Media Group]

Jacksonville University is honoring the day by partnering with Mickler’s Landing to establish a Sea Turtle Program which, according to a JU press release, “is designed to protect and conserve sea turtles and their coastal habitats through collaborative research, education, and community engagement.”

[Sea Turtle swimming in the Virgin Islands March 2025; Photo Credit: Larry and Sharon Pasikowski, used with permission by WOKV/Cox Media Group]

The effort will be directed by JU alumnus Lucas Meers, who spoke with WOKV on “Jacksonville’s Morning News.”

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Meers says the new Sea Turtle Program is, “a privately funded program that gets students involved on the beach, data collection, and working in marine turtle conservation, along with a lot of our community volunteers..”

He says that they have about 50 people who are on the beach every morning, during the 200-day-long nesting season. The mostly volunteer team, which receives extensive training, collects data to better understand sea turtles and engage the community in the protection of sea turtles.

As Director of JU’s Sea Turtle Program, Meers says he approached Jacksonville University with the idea to “provide an opportunity for students to really understand robust data collection, the scientific process, and get involved in environmental conservation and sea turtles.”

Sea Turtles have an almost universal appeal. “We often call them a charismatic megafauna,” Meers says, “something that people really love.”

People really are attracted and attached to sea turtles and it’s a great way to not only empower but provide experiential learning opportunities for students, but also provide the manpower for our team to go out there on a daily basis, collecting data every single morning 30 minutes before sunrise to collect data on all of these sea turtles and sea turtle nests.

[Sea Turtle swimming in the Virgin Islands March 2025; Photo Credit: Larry and Sharon Pasikowski, used with permission by WOKV/Cox Media Group]

Meers has been monitoring sea turtle nests for the past 15 years in Ponte Vedra and Mickler’s Landing.

He says he started volunteering with the Mickler’s Landing Turtle Patrol right after graduating from college in 2012.

Deciding to partner with his alma mater was an easy choice, he says, “I wanted an academic institution to not only provide leverage, but also provide leverage for our data, but also provide opportunities to give back to the students and provide those opportunities that JU had provided me. And so, JU was obviously my first choice as a JU alumnus. It was my home away from home and I was so excited to pitch this idea to JU and of course they jumped at the opportunity, it’s privately funded. And so, we’re just bringing this program to JU and already fantastic marine science program to bolster and expand student experience and student opportunity.”

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Right now there are six students involved in various levels of study from the undergraduate and graduate programs.

[Sea Turtle swimming in the Virgin Islands March 2025; Photo Credit: Larry and Sharon Pasikowski, used with permission by WOKV/Cox Media Group]

The Sea Turtle Program, will monitor sea turtle nests every day through October 31st. The initiative will begin each year on April 15th. JU says the monitoring area will include 4.6 miles of beach from Sawgrass Beach Club to the northern boundary of the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (GTMNERR).

[Sea Turtle Program at Jacksonville University Photo Credit: Greg Minton, Jacksonville University]

[EDITOR’s NOTE: Audio of the full interview appears at the end of this post.]

[Sea Turtle Program at Jacksonville University Photo Credit: Greg Minton, Jacksonville University]

When asked about the significance of the measurement of sea turtle population health as an indicator of the well-being of the ecosystem, Meers says, “We do often say that they are canaries in a coal mine.” He says that they are working “very closely” with the Sea Turtle Hospital at the University of Florida’s Whitney Lab.

Meers says they are starting to see the development of a new disease in the sea turtle population that is believed to originate from adverse environmental factors. Fibropapillomatosis, or “FP,” results in tumors. Researchers, he says, are studying the disease to understand, and hopefully treat, the underlying causes and the turtles themselves.

When looking at sea turtle populations throughout the world he says, “....[A] little more than half of the major sea turtle populations seem to be stable or increasing. There are certain areas of the world where they are declining based on several threats, but in Florida they seem to be pretty stable. Particularly Loggerheads, we seem to be in seeing an increase in Green Sea turtle and Leatherback nests the past several years but Loggerheads as a whole are stable and sometimes increasing in certain areas of Florida.”

[Sea Turtle swimming in the Virgin Islands March 2025; Photo Credit: Larry and Sharon Pasikowski, used with permission by WOKV/Cox Media Group]

There are guidelines for members of the public who come across sea turtles on beaches.

Meers says that female sea turtles who come ashore have the intention of laying eggs, and it is vital to leave them undisturbed.

  • Stay out of the way of sea turtles on the shore
  • Keep beaches clean, dark, and flat
    • beaches should be litter-free
    • lights, including cell phone lights or flashlights, should not be used
    • sandcastles should be flattened; holes should be filled in
  • Stay out of the path of hatchlings
  • Call FWC if you notice turtles in distress
  • Keep pets away from sea turtles

One important test that is currently being done involves monitoring the temperature of sea turtle nests. Meers says the sex of hatchlings is dependent on the nest incubation temperature:

“...[T]heir sex is temperature-dependent. So hot chicks, cool dudes. The hotter the temperature the nest incubates at the more females that nest will produce. The cooler the temperature the nest incubates, that the more males that will produce. That’s how we make it easy to remember. Hot chicks, cool dudes. So, there were some studies in South Florida. There were isolated studies down there that are where they sexed the turtles, and they found 99% female. So, there’s a lot of concern with increasing incubation temperatures. On our beach we’re even seeing a shorter incubation duration. Average for loggerheads is about 55 day incubation, so right at two months. Last year, our average incubation was 51 days. So, it was a four day drop. So that’s a pretty significant drop over two months in just one year. But we’re monitoring that from year to year just to kind of look and see are temperatures, is that something that we need to be concerned about? Are there enough males that are breeding with females offshore? Or we’re just trying to better understand the breeding sex ratio with that.”

For those wanting to volunteer with the Sea Turtle Program, or learn more about opportunities to study sea turtles at Jacksonville University, more information can be found be calling: (904) 256.7000, or by visiting Jacksonville University’s website.

Full Interview:

https://od-cmg.streamguys1.com/jacksonville-market/20250616082820-SeaTurtles1.mp3

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