Disney helps protect ocean wildlife and you can, too

Yesterday Walt Disney World celebrated World Oceans Day with various education stations and interactive activities for kids inside Epcot’s The Seas with Nemo & Friends. Even if you missed the event, though, you still can learn about ways in which Disney is helping to protect and promote the world’s oceans.

World Oceans Day was proposed in 1992 at the United Nations’ Earth Summit and officially recognized by the world body in 2008. Since then, a couple of organizations charged with protecting the world’s oceans, The Ocean Project and the World Ocean Network, have coordinated celebrations each year in an effort to promote a better understanding of the importance of the seas.

A cast member explains why coral needs to be protected.

At one booth inside The Seas, a cast member explained how The Walt Disney Ã‡o. is helping to protect coral reefs near Castaway Cay, Disney Cruise Line’s private island in the Bahamas, by relocating sea urchins that help control the algae there. At another booth, guests could see the teeth of various sea animals and learn how they have helped the animals survive. At still another site, kids could play a game with cast members with the goal of teaching them about ocean conservation.

A dolphin’s teeth.

A whale’s vertabrae.

But my kids and I found the area dedicated to sea turtles the most interesting – and if you missed World Oceans Day, you still can get involved with these projects and make a difference.

Cast member Leslie Wells explains Disney’s role in sea turtle conservation.

At three Disney sites, you can contribute to the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund’s sea turtle conservation efforts through the Adopt-A-Nest Program. You can do so at the gift shop at Epcot’s The Seas with Nemo & Friends; the Out of the Wild shop at Animal Kingdom; and at Disney’s Vero Beach Resort.

The adoption program, which launched on July 5, 2007, offers guests adoption packages for $50 that include a Disney Worldwide Conservation Hero Button, a “Finding Nemo” themed keychain, and an adoption certificate that lists the species of turtle and the date the eggs were laid in the nest. Guests can use their certificate numbers to track online their nest’s success and possible hatchings at http://www.nestingturtles.com/adoptanest/

Proceeds from the program benefit turtle and beach conservation efforts throughout the state of Florida.

A model of a sea turtle’s nest illustrates the process of the eggs hatching.

At Disney’s Vero Beach Resort, guests also can take guided tours of the beach during turtle nesting season, which runs approximately May through October. Turtle Troop, the tour arranged by the resort, is a popular summertime activity. And because visitors and residents to the Treasure Coast are aware of the precarious nature of baby sea turtles – only about 10 of the dozens of eggs laid in each nest will survive to adulthood – they tend to be the ones adopting the nests, a cast member said. Disney’s Vero Beach guests are invited to use the same beaches where the sea turtle nests are marked and located.

In addition, trained Disney cast members monitor a stretch of coastline at Disney’s Vero Beach Resort, collecting important data on sea turtle nests in cooperation with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In August, The Walt Disney Co. will participate in the Tour de Turtles, which is a marathon of sorts for migrating sea turtles. Disney describes the event this way: “For at least three months, Tour de Turtles will follow multiple sea turtles, using satellite-tracking technology, as they travel from their respective nesting sites to unknown foraging grounds, with the goal of being the first to complete the 2,620 km marathon. By tracking sea turtle migrations, scientists can learn more about these mysterious mariners and the routes they take. Just as with human marathons, each turtle swims to raise awareness about a particular “cause” or threat to their survival.”

You can follow the Tour de Turtles at http://www.tourdeturtles.org/

From “Finding Nemo” to “The Little Mermaid,” many Disney films and theme-park attractions have offered entertainment based on ocean settings and the animals who live there. But through various ongoing conservation and awareness programs, Disney clearly is going a step farther and educating as well as entertaining its theme-park guests and fans.