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Top off this season of spring training and March madness with the sporting event where all ages can take steps to help endangered species — Mote’s 27th Annual Run for the Turtles on April 6.

The Run, which includes a 5K sanctioned by the Manasota Track Club and a 1-mile fun-run/walk, has provided major support for Mote Marine Laboratory’s Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program — an internationally recognized program that will soon begin its 32nd year coordinating sea turtle conservation along 35 miles of Sarasota County beaches.

Registration is open for Run for the Turtles: download and print a registration form at www.mote.org/turtlerun or register online at www.active.com. Participants can also register on-site starting at 6:30 a.m. Saturday, April 6 at the Siesta Key gazebo south of the pavilion.

All sea turtle species are considered threatened or endangered under federal law. Mote’s research provides crucial information to help resource managers protect these ancient reptiles and Run for the Turtles helps to support these efforts.

Mote scientists tag nesting sea turtles for identification and use state-of-the-art satellite tracking systems to follow the turtles as they swim hundreds of miles in the sea. In addition, Mote scientists, interns and more than 300 volunteers in Mote’s Sea Turtle Patrol monitor local sea turtle nesting each day during nesting season, May 1 through Oct. 31, on beaches from Longboat Key through Venice.

In 2012, nest numbers broke a 31-year record in Mote’s patrol area, totaling 2,462 loggerhead sea turtle nests and seven of the more rare green sea turtle nests. Even though tropical storms washed out a significant number of nests, the high numbers helped offset those losses and appear to be part of a recent upward trend statewide for loggerheads, a threatened species. Loggerhead nesting in Florida has increased and decreased over decades-long cycles, likely influenced by long-term climate patterns.

“Sea turtles are long-lived species whose population trends and migration patterns require years or decades of research to understand,” said Dr. Tony Tucker, manager of the Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program. “Studying and conserving these turtles over the long run is only possible with help from our community. We’re grateful that hundreds of sea turtle supporters come together each year in our Run for the Turtles.” Tucker, a Florida Marine Turtle Permit Holder, coordinates Mote’s sea turtle research and satellite tagging efforts and is a member of the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group, an internationally recognized body that works for the conservation of marine turtles.

Here are some of Mote’s sea turtle highlights from 2012:

• Mote’s Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program tagged 321 loggerhead sea turtles nesting on local beaches with flipper tags and microchips for identification. Of these, 57 had been tagged at least once before.
• Seven turtles from Casey Key were fitted with satellite tags to track their migrations at sea.
• Six turtles received prototypes of tags called accelerometers, which are designed to measure fine-scale movements and can document the turtles’ diving behaviors when they return to the sea between each time they emerge to nest. The devices were able to document dive behaviors that changed during a tropical storm passage.
• “Bayshore” was satellite tagged in 2012 and tracked to her feeding grounds in Florida Bay. Bayshore, originally given an ID tag by Mote in 1988, has the longest historical record of any turtle tagged by Mote (24 years).
• “Annie,” satellite tagged in 2010 on Casey Key, was still being tracked in early 2012 and is the first turtle from nesting beaches in Southwest Florida to be tracked over a complete “remigration interval” — the journey from her nesting beach to feeding grounds and back. Annie’s satellite transmitter tracked her in 2010 to the Florida Keys, and in spring 2012 she headed back north to the coast of Southwest Florida. In May, her tag transmitted for the final time, and in June she was seen crawling on the nesting beach at Manasota Key.
• “Marilyn” was satellite tagged in 2010 and is still sending signals from her foraging ground on the west Florida Shelf at 977 days and counting — a record for turtles tagged by Mote.

• “Virginia2,” originally satellite tagged in 2005, received her second satellite transmitter in 2012. Each time, the turtle has traveled from the nesting beach on Casey Key to feeding grounds in the northern Gulf near the area of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Mote scientists have collected biological samples from the turtle and unhatched eggs in her nest to support several lines of research, including studies of how the oil spill might have affected sea turtles.
  

Cumulatively, Mote’s sea turtle research efforts add up: During its history, the Program has monitored 30,012 sea turtle nests and documented 27,205 false crawls (adult females that return to sea without nesting) along our 35-mile patrol area.

Run for the Turtles has succeeded through a partnership between Mote, Sarasota County Parks and Recreation and the nonprofit Manasota Track Club, which has sanctioned the Run from the start.

Once again, 5K runners will have their race times automatically captured through a chip-timing system at the finish line.

Mote thanks our sponsors for this year’s Run: ABC 7, Bright House Networks, Mote Scientific Foundation, United Natural Foods, Inc., Zephyrhills and New Balance.

If You Go:

• Date: Saturday, April 6, 2013
• Times: Race-day registration begins at 6:30 a.m., followed by a 1-mile fun run/walk at 7:30 a.m. and the 5K run at 8 a.m.
• Place: Siesta Public Beach, 948 Beach Road, Siesta Key (registration at the gazebo south of the pavilion)
• Awards: Prizes will be given to overall male and female winners in each event. Awards for the 5K will also be given to winners in specific categories, including age groups from 9 and younger to 85 and older and Masters categories.
• Register at www.active.com through April 1 or download a PDF registration form at www.mote.org/turtlerun. (Pre-registered runners have the option to pick up their race packets the day before the Run: from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. April 5 at New Balance University Park, 8204 Tourist Center Drive, Bradenton. Others will receive their shirts and bibs on race day, April 6.)
• Registration Fee: Adults: $30; Children 10 and younger: $20
• Information: Visit www.mote.org/turtlerun or contact Paula Clark at 941-388-4441, ext. 357, or pclark@mote.org.