The Gulf Turtle Research Center’s official website is live and specialty plates are available for purchase!
Beginning April 29th, 2019, the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles will be offering a Texas Sea Turtle Specialty License plate that will generate revenue to support the new Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research and its activities.
Their website, www.tamug.edu/GulfCenterforSeaTurtleResearch, shares information about the Center, including its mission, research activities, partners and recent news.
The site also offers ways to support the Center’s sponsored research via grants, gifts and donations, or the purchase of a specialty license plate from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. These donations and specialty plate sales help to generate support for the Center and its research activities, such as the in-water sea turtle capture and tagging program.
For those interested in donating to the Center directly or purchasing the “Sea Turtle” specialty plate, information is available at http://www.tamug.edu/GulfCenterforSeaTurtleResearch/donation.html .
The cost of the Texas Sea Turtle Specialty license plate is $30, and the Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research will receive $22 of the $30 fee collected for every set of plates sold and renewed annually. The fee is $70 for a personalized plate in addition to the customers registration fees. Additional fees may be collected to establish a single expiration date for both the specialty plates and the vehicle registration.
As specialty license plate sales increase, it is the intent of the Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research to use the revenue to establish a Texas Sea Turtle Grants Program, with the goal to foster sea turtle research within the State of Texas by supporting graduate student projects as well as directly.There are 3 ways to purchase the new sea turtle specialty plate:
A. Apply in person at their county tax office with application form VTR-999 (if plates are applied for in person at the county tax office and the county registers the new plates to the vehicle, the plates will be mailed directly to the customers address on file) https://www.txdmv.gov/forms
B. Mail the form VTR-999 to their local county tax office (submitting the form by mail, the county may not register the plates to the vehicle. The plates will be shipped to the customers main county tax office 3 to 4 weeks from processing) https://www.txdmv.gov/forms
C. Apply online at https://renew.txdmv.gov/Renew/SpecialPlateOrderServlet?grpid=60&pltid=447 the customer if ordering for a trailer or motorcycle will need to collapse the “organizations” listing of plates indicated at the left of the page and open the list of plates for motorcycle or trailers.
