AMITW volunteer Bill Booher enjoys learning about and helping sea turtles.
He’s in his fifth year volunteering with Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring, which monitors and collects data on sea turtles and shorebirds with regular beach patrols.
He became involved because AMITW is “very community-based and it’s so unique and different.” “It seemed to fit who I am,” Booher said.
He discussed with the Islander earlier this summer what it is like to volunteer with AMITW.
The Islander: What does an average day look like?
Bill Booher: We start at about six o’clock in the morning … at Manatee Public Beach. We have an ATV crew — a driver and rider — that goes north and a crew that goes south….
What we’re really doing is we’re looking for turtle tracks. Then, we’re identifying the species of turtle that made the track and determining whether she nested. If she did nest, we are staking out the nest.
Then, we document the nest. We load the nesting information into a tablet, including the species of turtle, the length of the crawl, the date, the observers identifying the nest and the location of the nest.
Then, we move on to the next one. If it’s a false crawl, we do everything the same except for marking it.
Today, we only had four new nets. Normally, we can get off the beach in a couple hours. Some days, it can take as many as three hours.
Q: How has the program changed over time?
BB: That’s kind of a funny question. Because today’s new way of doing it could be tomorrow’s old way of doing it. Every year, there are changes. Last year was extremely different because of COVID-19 restrictions and sand reclamation. Other major changes include the ATVs.
When I started, we had well over a hundred people in turtle watch. Now we’re down to maybe less than 20…
Q: Would you say you are still close with the people you met who are no longer part of AMITW?
BB: Yes. Even though they may not be doing turtle volunteering for AMITW, they’re still turtle folks. They still love turtles and they still walk the beach and look for tracks. Just because you don’t have a volunteer T-shirt does not mean you’re not part of the AMITW community…
Q: What is the best part about being a volunteer?
BB: We have two distinct parts of the season. We have nesting and we have hatching. Right now, the best part is finding the turtle tracks. Every turtle track that I get to identify brings me joy and a big smile.
When mama turtles stop coming up the beach, it turns into hatching season. Now, instead of these giant tracks, we have hundreds, and even thousands, of little tracks that are scurrying into the Gulf. Hatching season is a completely different thing. It’s like one play with two different acts…
Q: What have you learned about sea turtles?
BB: I’ve learned a lot because I’m interested. I look into different things. I’m sure there’s things that I don’t know yet and you haven’t even figured out the question for. I do like the fact that there are things that even the experts don’t know about turtles.
Recently, I learned that green turtles are the largest hard-shell turtles in the sea turtle family. I’ve learned a lot about myself.
Q: What have you learned about the beachgoers?
BB: Just like turtles, there’s percentages for everything. I’ve been doing it long enough that I’ve seen some unfortunate things. But what I can say is that a much greater percentage of our visitors to the island are very respectful of not only the nests, but the whole turtle experience.
Q: What do you do outside of AMITW?
BB: I’m semiretired. I’m part of the Anna Maria Island Dragon Boat team. I kayak. I go to the beach. I do what semiretired people do.
Q: What does being an AMITW volunteer mean to you?
BB: It’s more than just a reason to get out of bed. It’s more than just a reason to stay busy. There is a connection between the water, the sand, the turtles and people ….
For more information on AMITW, islandturtlewatch.com or call Fox at 941-778-5638.