Ocean Spirits: Guarding Grenada's Leatherback Turtle Nesting Beaches

Ocean Spirits has monitored nesting leatherback, hawksbill and green turtles on Grenada's beaches since 1999, running what is now the longest continuous sea turtle survey in the country. Levera Beach, its main index nesting site, is home to one of the top three leatherback nesting populations in the wider Caribbean region, and years of ranger patrols and community outreach have cut illegal egg poaching on that beach to under 5 percent. In the 2023 nesting season alone, the team logged 271 leatherback nesting encounters, of which 193 were confirmed successful nests. Ocean Spirits also runs school programmes, summer camps and a 24-hour sea turtle hotline for the public to report strandings or nesting activity.