CCA March Meeting

Jaynie Gaskin, the Executive Director of the Georgia Southern University’s (GSU) Sea Turtle Program at St. Catherine’s Island Center, will be the speaker at the March CCA of Skidaway meeting and seminar on Monday, March 11, at St. Peter’s Church beginning at 7 p.m. She will discuss the Center’s conservation efforts to protect sea turtle nesting on the island.

The St. Catherine’s Island Foundation owns the island, which is 10 miles long and one-to-three miles wide, and runs the St. Catherine’s Island Center. The organization focuses on creating an undisturbed habitat for the animals living there, like sea turtles, osprey, and lemurs. The Center was founded in 1974 as a pilot program that’s often called a “Noah’s Arc”. Essentially, animal species that are facing extinction are represented on the island and bred to build up population numbers.

One of the most successful programs at the St. Catherine’s Island Center has been the Sea Turtle Conservation Program, along with Aldabra tortoises, which are a rare form of the endangered Galapagos tortoises. The Center is home to loggerhead sea turtles, leatherback sea turtles, Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles, green sea turtles, and a few other endangered species. Since visitation to the Center is permissible only under special circumstances, a mobile sea turtle exhibit, which focuses on educating children and adults about these endangered reptiles, has been created. The conservation efforts of the Center have helped researchers learn more about the different kinds of sea turtle species.

Gaskin earned her Bachelor’s Degree with a major in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and a minor in Public Health from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia. She then received a Master’s of Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology from Georgia Southern University’s Jiann Ping-Hsu College of Public Health in Statesboro, Georgia. She joined the GSU Sea Turtle Program in 2012, participating in nesting beach conservation, assisting with education programs, and engaging in research activities. In 2016, she was asked to assume the responsibilities of Executive Director of the Center.

Attendees at the March CCA meeting will have to opportunity to win one of four raffle prize $50 gift certificates to Bass Pro Shop.

CCA is a nonprofit organization with chapters on the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf Coasts. For more information about CCA of Skidaway, call Joe Tyson (598-8765). For more information about CCA’s Georgia District, call Tom Rood (598-9753). For information about this March’s meeting and seminar, call Dave Devore (330-329-6457). Area residents are invited to attend the CCA of Skidaway meetings and seminars held on the second Monday of the month at St. Peter’s Church.