Workshops
Call for Workshops!
We are no longer accepting workshop submissions for the 2027 meeting.
Workshops are meant to provide a forum for community members to discuss emerging topics and challenges relevant to sea turtles. There is no standard structure, although we highly encourage interactive and engaging workshop formats (as opposed to traditional lecture style). We will consider half-day and full-day workshops.
Please see below for the workshops available at the 2027 Southeast Regional Sea Turtle Meeting held February 8-11th, 2027, in Wilmington, North Carolina.
NEW! – 2027 Field Trips
Bald Head Island
Monday, February 8, 2027 | 7:45 am – 4:00 pm | $75
The Bald Head Island Conservancy (BHIC) champions the sustainability of barrier islands through environmental research and conservation stewardship of the island’s habitats and wildlife species. BHIC partners with numerous scientific organizations and universities to monitor and investigate the health of the island’s ecosystem and offers a range of recreational and educational activities for the public.
The Island Nature tour is an excellent opportunity for visitors to explore the natural beauty of the island and learn about the unique wildlife habitats present there. During the tour, participants will be taken to the various ecosystems on the island, including the maritime forest, salt marsh, and coastal dunes. As participants explore the island’s diverse ecosystems, they will have the opportunity to see a wide variety of wildlife in their natural habitats.
The tour is an unforgettable experience for anyone interested in wildlife, conservation, or the natural world. Visitors will gain a deeper appreciation for the beauty and complexity of Bald Head Island’s ecosystem and the importance of protecting it for future generations.
Participants are encouraged to wear comfortable clothing and shoes, bring sunscreen, water, and a hat, and be prepared to walk on uneven terrain. Binoculars will be provided. Lunch will also be provided.
Karen Beasley Turtle Center
Monday, February 8, 2027 | 8:30 am – 5:00 pm | $75
This workshop intends to explore some current challenges presented in sea turtle rehabilitation settings from state to state in the Southeastern US and other allowed areas. The day will begin with a private field trip to tour the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Surf City, North Carolina, followed by a bag lunch.
The afternoon will feature a roundtable discussion on topics such as water quality, life support systems, volunteer management, outreach, enrichment and feeding protocols, post-hatchling care, long-term resident issues, and successful merchandising. This workshop will allow the North Carolina facilities and experts to highlight their efforts.
The goal of this workshop is to encourage person-to-person collaboration amongst students, rehab technical staff, and veterinarians, with the intention of taking ideas back to facilities and utilizing them in a constructive manner, and opening up communication pathways for future discussion. This program will function as both a field trip and a workshop.
2027 Workshops
Monday, February 8, 2027
Workshop 1 | Part 1: Field Trip Offsite – Veterinary Rehabilitation at Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Center – Collaborating in an Environment of Constant Change
Full Day | 8:30 am-5:00 pm | $75
Note: This workshop is also being offered as an offsite field trip. There will be an onsite session held on Tuesday for those who do not want to attend the field trip.
This workshop intends to explore some current challenges presented in sea turtle rehabilitation settings from state to state in the Southeastern US and other allowed areas. The day will begin with a private field trip to tour the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Surf City, North Carolina, followed by a bag lunch. Transportation and lunch will be provided. The afternoon will feature a roundtable discussion on topics such as water quality, life support systems, volunteer management, outreach, enrichment and feeding protocols, post-hatchling care, long-term resident issues, and successful merchandising. This workshop will allow the North Carolina facilities and experts to highlight their efforts. The goal of this workshop is to encourage person-to-person collaboration amongst students, rehab technical staff, and veterinarians, with the intention of taking ideas back to facilities and utilizing them in a constructive manner, and opening up communication pathways for future discussion.
Presented by: Maria Chadam, DVM
Workshop 2 | Partners on the Beach: A Workshop for Strengthening Communication and Shared Understanding Between Sea Turtle Volunteers and Program Coordinators
Full Day | 9:00 am-5:00 pm
Sea turtle conservation across the Southeast relies on a network of government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and dedicated volunteers. Successful outcomes depend on these relationships, yet they are rarely examined. As a result, groups pursuing the same mission may have an incomplete understanding of one another’s needs, contributions, and challenges. This workshop is designed to close that gap by treating collaboration not as an add-on, but as the foundation for improving shared programs. Its central premise is simple: the strongest volunteer programs are not created through top-down design. They emerge when coordinators and volunteers work together as co-authors of solutions.
The workshop combines evidence-based presentations with structured dialogue among equal partners and hands-on planning time. The day is organized around three themes:
1) Organizational needs and goals: What roles do volunteers play in achieving program goals, and what impact do they have? How can organizations and volunteers better support one another? Where do fiscal responsibilities fit?
2) Mutual value: How does each group perceive the value it provides, and how does that perception compare with its actual impact? Where could recognition, communication, and understanding improve?
3) Motivation and sustainability: What inspires volunteers to participate, keeps them engaged, and brings them back? Where are programs succeeding, and where do volunteers and coordinators feel overwhelmed?
Each presentation module draws on established research on volunteer engagement and management in wildlife conservation, as well as a recent Florida case study of a sea turtle emergency-response program. After each theme, mixed groups of coordinators and volunteers participate in open, respectful dialogue to build mutual understanding and identify common ground. The workshop concludes with groups presenting shared goals and action plans.
By giving both groups equal weight, the workshop gives volunteers a meaningful voice, insight into how programs operate, and confirmation that their perspectives and contributions matter. Coordinators gain a clearer understanding of where programs lose volunteers, why certain decisions are received as they are, and which low-cost improvements to training, recognition, and communication could strengthen retention and performance. Through greater transparency, organizations and agencies can also explain the constraints and pressures they face. Every participant leaves with stronger mutual understanding and a jointly developed action plan.
When volunteers feel heard and organizations feel equipped, both become stronger, as does the outreach connecting sea turtle conservation with the public. This session offers a practical, replicable partnership model that programs across the region can adapt and take home.
Presented by: Cyndi Stinson (University of Florida IFAS/SFFGS, Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research, Sea Turtle Preservation Society)
Workshop 3 | Session 1: Important Marine Turtle Areas in the Northwest Atlantic: Building a regional habitat prioritization framework within a global effort
Half Day | 8:30 am-12:30 pm
Note: This workshop is being offered on both Monday and Tuesday for more people to attend. You do not need to sign up for both.
A globally coordinated process to prioritize marine turtle habitats for conservation and management is underway. By designating key habitats as Important Marine Turtle Areas (IMTAs), the marine turtle community is synthesizing diverse sources of knowledge and data into a single, actionable framework to guide conservation decision-making. Guidelines for the IMTA process were developed by the IUCN-SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group in 2021, modeled after the success of predecessors such as Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs), Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) and Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRAs). Now, momentum is building for the implementation of a process for marine turtles, delineating IMTAs region by region.
This workshop will work toward two objectives related to IMTAs. (1) The first portion of the workshop will offer background on Important Area processes and build capacity specific to IMTAs, including how to apply the selection criteria that guide designation. (2) The second block of the workshop will feature breakout group sessions to discuss and draft IMTA proposals for relevant areas in the Northwest Atlantic. That is, participants will discuss, and ideally begin developing, preliminary ” Area of Interest” (AoIs) submissions that will later be reviewed during a formal Regional IMTA Workshop. The proposal of AoIs may be informed by a suite of data and information types – not limited to telemetry, genetics, nesting locations, and traditional ecological knowledge – but must entail the delineation of boundaries for a specific, discrete area. To make this session as productive as possible, participants will be encouraged to thoroughly review preparatory materials provided ahead of the workshop.
The IMTA process will be driven by, and depend on, the global marine turtle community. As such, anyone who wishes to participate in the broader process and contribute to proposing AoIs for the Northwest Atlantic are strongly encouraged to join for one of the half-day workshops. We will run the workshop twice to enable as many as possible to engage with the regional IMTA process.
Presented by: Joe Pfaller, Andrew Maurer, Daniel Dunn, Christine Madden
Workshop 4 | Genetics and Genomics for Sea Turtle Biology & Conservation
Half Day | 1:30 pm-5:30 pm
Global sea turtle populations are facing unprecedented anthropogenic challenges, driving an urgent need to incorporate modern genomic tools into conservation and management planning. This workshop will provide an overview of how advanced genetic and genomic tools are being used across broad sectors of sea turtle biology, providing unprecedented insights into population dynamics, foraging ecology, illegal wildlife trade tracking, non-invasive biomonitoring, and wildlife medicine. Recent advances harnessing epigenetic markers that attach to DNA may soon make it possible to accurately sex hatchlings and estimate the age of living turtles from a small blood sample.
This workshop will explore the past, present, and future of modern molecular tools for addressing questions of conservation concern for marine turtles. Topics will include: a) application of traditional and high-throughput sequencing of mitochondrial D-loop haplotypes and fine-scale nuclear markers to resolve long-standing questions in population genetics and natal origin; b) the rapid rise of environmental DNA (eDNA) as a non-invasive surveillance mechanism from waterborne, airborne, and nesting beach sand eDNA that allows for the rapid assessment of local biodiversity, cryptic species detection, and macro-ecological mapping; c) the emerging field of ecological epigenetics that examines patterns of DNA methylation to examine age, sex, migratory behavior, and more; and d) genomics of sea turtle diseases, including the genomic drivers, environmental exposures and therapeutic vulnerabilities of fibropapillomatosis (FP) tumors, and metagenomic techniques to rapidly detect causative agents of sea turtle disease.
This workshop aims to break down traditional silos by bridging gaps between laboratory genomics, field conservation biology, community science, and clinical veterinary medicine. By fostering large-scale, multidisciplinary collaborations, this session will equip participants to integrate genetics and genomics approaches into regional turtle monitoring networks, offering tangible tools to safeguard these charismatic endangered marine species.
Presented by: Katrina Phillips (Dauphin Island Sea Lab), David Duffy (University of Florida Whitney Lab), and Brian Shamblin (University of Georgia)
Workshop 5 | Advocacy for Sea Turtles in Today’s Political Climate
Half Day | 1:30 pm-5:30 pm
In recent years, the protection laws that have contributed to sea turtle recovery, as well as the agencies that enforce them, have come under threat at all levels of government. Although thousands of individuals in the Southeast U.S. carry out sea turtle research and education projects, few are directly engaged in influencing policy decisions that affect sea turtles and their habitats. As U.S. sea turtles face mounting impacts from coastal development pressure, climate change, and other anthropogenic threats, the need for sea turtle experts to engage in policy change (and defense) is stronger than ever.
In this half-day workshop, attendees from all career stages will learn about the changing policy landscape sea turtles are facing, hear case studies from practitioners who have helped enact positive policy change, learn successful communication strategies, interact with their peers facing similar challenges, and complete an exercise to apply what they have learned. By the end of the workshop, attendees will feel empowered to advocate for sea turtle protection within their communities and beyond.
Presented by: Stacey Gallagher & David Godfrey (Sea Turtle Conservancy)
Tuesday, February 9, 2027
Workshop 1 | Part 2: Onsite – Touchpoints of Sea Turtle Medicine
Half Day | 1:30 pm-5:30 pm
Note: This workshop is the ongoing discussion of the Monday offsite field trip. You do not need to attend both sessions to be present at the onsite discussion.
Building upon the discussions made during Workshop 1, Part 1, this workshop will feature short lecture-style presentations from invited speakers addressing topics such as PK studies and anesthesia/pharmacokinetics. Invited speakers will be Drs. Papich, Christiansen, Balko and Burkhalter. There will be a 30-minute Q&A panel and discussion where attendees are encouraged to participate. The second half of the workshop will focus on cold-stunning from the perspective of rehabilitation centers, with invited speakers followed by a panel of experts.
Presented by: Maria Chadam, DVM
Workshop 3 | Session 2: Important Marine Turtle Areas in the Northwest Atlantic: Building a regional habitat prioritization framework within a global effort
Half Day | 1:30 pm-5:30 pm
Note: This workshop is being offered on both Monday and Tuesday for more people to attend. You do not need to sign up for both.
A globally coordinated process to prioritize marine turtle habitats for conservation and management is underway. By designating key habitats as Important Marine Turtle Areas (IMTAs), the marine turtle community is synthesizing diverse sources of knowledge and data into a single, actionable framework to guide conservation decision-making. Guidelines for the IMTA process were developed by the IUCN-SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group in 2021, modeled after the success of predecessors such as Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs), Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) and Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRAs). Now, momentum is building for the implementation of a process for marine turtles, delineating IMTAs region by region.
This workshop will work toward two objectives related to IMTAs. (1) The first portion of the workshop will offer background on Important Area processes and build capacity specific to IMTAs, including how to apply the selection criteria that guide designation. (2) The second block of the workshop will feature breakout group sessions to discuss and draft IMTA proposals for relevant areas in the Northwest Atlantic. That is, participants will discuss, and ideally begin developing, preliminary ” Area of Interest” (AoIs) submissions that will later be reviewed during a formal Regional IMTA Workshop. The proposal of AoIs may be informed by a suite of data and information types – not limited to telemetry, genetics, nesting locations, and traditional ecological knowledge – but must entail the delineation of boundaries for a specific, discrete area. To make this session as productive as possible, participants will be encouraged to thoroughly review preparatory materials provided ahead of the workshop.
The IMTA process will be driven by, and depend on, the global marine turtle community. As such, anyone who wishes to participate in the broader process and contribute to proposing AoIs for the Northwest Atlantic are strongly encouraged to join for one of the half-day workshops. We will run the workshop twice to enable as many as possible to engage with the regional IMTA process.
Presented by: Joe Pfaller, Andrew Maurer, Daniel Dunn, Christine Madden
Workshop 6 | Illuminating Strategies to Reduce Light Pollution
Half Day | 1:30 pm-5:30 pm
Artificial light is a widespread issue in coastal communities throughout the southeastern United States. Unshielded, full-spectrum lights can confuse and disorient both nesting females and hatchling sea turtles, resulting in reduced nesting success and increased hatchling mortality on artificially lit beaches. To address this challenge, the workshop will focus on the best management practices to reduce lighting impacts on nesting beaches, which include shielding light sources, keeping light low to the ground, and utilizing long wavelength LEDs (560 nanometers or longer). The workshop will bring together a group of diverse participants across the region to share experiences, discuss common lighting challenges, and explore successful solutions implemented in different communities. Through presentations and guided breakout sessions, attendees will have opportunities to collaborate with peers, ask questions, and develop practical strategies for addressing artificial lighting concerns.
Breakout sessions will explore effective approaches for communicating with property owners about wildlife lighting, addressing frequently asked questions and common concerns, selecting lighting fixtures that meet property needs while minimizing impacts on sea turtles, and developing outreach efforts that increase public awareness of sea turtle conservation and responsible lighting practices. By the end of the workshop, participants will have a stronger understanding of wildlife lighting principles, increased confidence in communicating with coastal community members, and access to outreach templates and educational resources that can be adapted for use in their own communities. These tools will help support ongoing efforts to reduce light pollution and protect sea turtles throughout the coastal southeastern United States.
Presented by: Rachel Tighe (Sea Turtle Conservancy), Abigail Vance (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission), Lucas Davis (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
Workshop 7 | The Mysterious Sex: Male Marine Turtles
Half Day | 1:30 pm-5:30 pm
Male marine turtles are understudied compared to females due to their relative inaccessibility. All species of marine turtles experience environmental sex determination, raising concerns about population feminization and male scarcity due to warming incubation temperatures. Expanded data on sex ratios across life stages, male spatial ecology, and demographics that integrate multiple methodologies are needed to inform population models and explore climate adaptation strategies.
This workshop will provide a forum for those conducting or interested in male-related research to synthesize knowledge, share lessons learned, explore novel techniques, and identify key remaining questions. The goal is to spread awareness of research underway or planned to provide collaborative opportunities. We will cover assessing fertility and egg failure, primary sex ratio estimation, abundance estimation and demographics, foraging site fidelity and migration via telemetry, fine-scale activity and dive patterns, natal homing, migration-mediated gene flow, and breeding sex ratio estimation. The format will consist of case study presentations, thematic breakout groups, and a final panel discussion where experts will field questions from the audience.
Presented by: Brian Shamblin (University of Georgia) & Kristen Hart (USGS)
Workshop 8 | Human Dimensions Awareness and Application in the Sea Turtle Community: A Progress Report and Roadmap for Improving Conservation Outcomes Through Social Science Integration
Half Day | 1:30 pm-5:30 pm
Conservation practitioners have long recognized “that multidisciplinary approaches will ultimately be the most fruitful” for solving conservation problems (Soulé 1985), yet natural/biological sciences have dominated conservation policy and practice while social sciences and other ways of knowing (including indigenous and local ecological knowledge) continue to be marginalized. In sea turtle science, human dimensions (HD) has been underutilized. One analysis of research abstracts looking at global trends in sea turtle research showed that social science methods were only used in 5.4% of studies (Robinson et al. 2023), and recent reviews have found that social sciences are still largely underrepresented in this field (Hamann et al. 2010, Rees et al. 2016). We explored the US-based sea turtle community’s knowledge of and perspectives about the utility of HD in their field through a mixed-methods approach consisting of qualitative data (key informant semi-structured interviews) and quantitative data (a survey). In this interactive workshop, we will 1) report on these findings, and 2) offer practical suggestions and a “toolbox” for incorporating HD into sea turtle conservation that can be used in a variety of professional settings.
Presented by: Rachel Smith (Human Nature Group), Nia Morales (University of Florida) & Kim Sonderman (Southeast Regional Sea Turtle Network)
Workshop 9 | Early Career Students’ Workshop – Hatching Science: From Emerging Questions to Effective Presentations
Half Day | 1:30 pm-5:30 pm
This workshop will help students and early-career researchers navigate the journey from developing a research question to effectively communicating their science. Participants will hear from leading experts about emerging questions in sea turtle research, conservation, and policy, as well as explore strategies and tools for staying up to date with the field, finding and working with collaborators, responsible data sharing and authorship, and effectively communicating research through talks and posters. The workshop will bring together perspectives and practical advice to help build research and communication skills.
Presented By: SERSTN Student Committee
For more questions about our workshops, please reach out to workshops@serstn.org.