It appears the latest storm system will spare the Space Coast, but it became a practice run Friday for people dedicated to helping baby sea turtles.

Volunteers practiced looking for 'wash-back' sea turtles

Baby sea turtles can get caught in sargassum on shore

Volunteers need special permit to handle hatchlings



Many of the 140 Sea Turtle Preservation Society volunteers took to the sand, practicing sifting through washed-up seaweed, where tiny sea turtles may get trapped in the plants and need a little help to survive.

Jo-Ellen Mathews has been a volunteer for years.

"What we are looking for is a 'wash-back' sea turtle," she said as she sifted through the aquatic plants on the shore.

After sea turtles hatch, they make their way out to the ocean, where they hang out for a couple of years in the Sargasso Sea, a floating algae line in the water. That's where they feed and hopefully grow enough to swim away and live a long life.

But that doesn't always happen.



Baby sea turtles can get caught in sargassum washed up on the beach. (Greg Pallone, staff)

Mathews' task, when called, is to search for baby turtles that may have come back to shore in big storms and could get stuck on land.

"They can be very camouflaged and covered in algae and very hard to find," Mathews said. "We use gloves and gently go through the seaweed."

The little turtles aren't strong enough to get out of the washed-up sargassum, so they need help.

The Preservation Society volunteers have a special state permit to collect them, take them in for rehabilitation and take them by boat back to the Sargasso Sea.

Volunteers will be back on the 70 miles of Brevard County beachline Saturday for more practice.

They also get a lot of questions from beach-goers curious as to what they are doing. They say that's a chance to spread some sea turtle education.