Direct Protection of Sea Turtles and Their Eggs from Poachers
Poachers come in the cover of night to rob her eggs. Sometimes they come for her meat, killing all turtles on a beach; sometimes they take them alive on cruel journeys to be sold on the black market.

The nesting process takes hours. A sea turtle must dig a hole 2 to 5 feet deep to deposit her eggs. Afterwards, she must carefully fill and camouflage the hole – her last attempt to protect the offspring she must leave behind.

Sea Turtle Patrollers make the difference. Patrolling is a direct protection, boots-on-the-ground job.
It’s difficult—sometimes dangerous—but a highly effective conservation tool. Countless sea turtles and habitats exist today that would not without community-based patrollers. They walk the beach through the night, often in tropical downpours. When they find a nesting turtle, they sit with her, protecting her until she returns to the ocean and safeguarding her eggs thereafter. When the hatchlings emerge, patrollers protect them on their first journey to the ocean.