Join the Volunteer Ground Crew of Sea Shepherd’s 2015 Sea Turtle Defense Campaign Operation Jairo
Sea Shepherd volunteers assisting the hatchlings
Photo: Sea Shepherd
Have you always wanted to join a Sea Shepherd campaign to defend ocean wildlife but have not been able to go to sea or spend a month or more away from home? Operation Jairo might be the perfect campaign for you!
Volunteers will join Sea Shepherd on the ground, conducting beach patrols to protect sea turtles and their hatchlings in three nesting regions critical for these endangered marine animals: southeastern Florida, Honduras and Costa Rica.
The time commitment for volunteers is only one week for Honduras and Costa Rica, and two weeks for Florida. Housing will be selected by Sea Shepherd and food will be provided, but volunteers may be responsible for the cost of their housing. Applicants should plan for this expense in case it is not covered.
With six of seven sea turtle species on the brink of extinction, and an average of only one in 1,000 hatchlings surviving to adulthood, we need your help now to protect these fragile species! In order to ensure that we will have enough volunteers to safely and effectively patrol the beaches, we need to crew up for this summer! The number of onshore crew we have on campaign directly affects the number of sea turtles we can protect. Simply put, more onshore crew equals more lives saved!
A turtle hatchlings shell is being measured for research before release Photo: Sea Shepherd
All Operation Jairo volunteers must be:
- At least 18 years of age
- Able to commit to participating in the campaign for at least one week (Honduras and Costa Rica) or two weeks (Florida)
If that’s you, please submit your application to volunteer as part of Operation Jairo! Sea Shepherd is also seeking volunteers with training and/or a professional background in videography and photography to assist with campaign media production, and those who are fluent in Spanish.
Please note that beach patrols will require a certain level of physical fitness needed for long hours of extensive walking through the sand. They will also require eight (8) hour shifts, working from late at night into the early hours of the morning.
Can you spare a week or two this summer for endangered sea turtles? If so, please join us! For full details, a campaign schedule, and to submit your Operation Jairo Ground Crew application (available in both English and Spanish), please visit: seashepherd.org/get-involved/ground-crew/. We’ll see you on the beaches!
