Turtle Island Restoration Network is a finalist for the best non-profit organization award from Galveston.com
The Turtle Island Restoration Network, a Galveston, TX based non-profit advocate for sea turtles, is a top finalist for Galveston.com’s 2019 best of the Island Awards.
Voting for best non-profit is underway and will continue through December 31. The network’s office in Galveston protects and restores sea turtles and marine biodiversity in Texas and throughout the Gulf of Mexico. So far this year the network has:
- Recruited more than 300 volunteers to look for nesting sea turtles from April-June. More than 18,360 miles of beach was patrolled and 190 nests were located and protected throughout the entire Texas coast.
- Managed 49% of the fishing line collection tubes in Galveston County, collecting 1,081 pounds of fishing line that would otherwise end up in the ocean.
- Installed 19 sea turtle statues designed by local artists around Galveston Island as part of its Turtles About Town campaign to raise awareness of the importance to protect the world’s most critically endangered sea turtle, the Kemp’s ridley.
- Expanded a community-based microplastic pollution research through student and volunteer engagement, a project that is contributing to a growing need to collect, report, and share publicly accessible data on microplastics and plastic pollutants Gulf-wide.
- Submitted more than 7,000 petitions to request state and federal agencies acknowledge the record-breaking number of stranded sea turtles and the need for Turtle Excluder Devices on all fishing vessels in the Gulf of Mexico.
You can vote for the Turtle Island Restoration Network on the Galveston.com website.
