Cold Weather Brings First Large Batch of Stranded Sea Turtles November 14, 2019

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

Courtesy of the New England Aquarium.

QUINCY – Three cold-stunned sea turtles rescued over the long weekend were joined by 11 more Wednesday at the New England Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital in Quincy.

The Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, the most endangered sea turtle species in the world, were rescued by Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary staff as the frigid air hit the region.

“The water temperature in the middle of the bay turned to 52 degrees and for some reason that seems to be the magical temperature where sea turtles will start stranding in volume,” said Tony LaCasse, a New England Aquarium spokesman.

During Veterans Day weekend, the water temperature was 53-54 degrees and only three live turtles were found despite strong northwest winds late last week.

“We thought that we might be seeing a fair number of turtles come up over the weekend,” LaCasse said.

Most of the new batch of turtles rescued were found in Wellfleet and Eastham.

“The strandings are usually somewhat more dependent on wind direction and the staff at Mass Audubon are experts in being able to predict where that is and putting out staff and volunteers, particular following a high tide,” LaCasse said.

LaCasse said it is critical to rescue the turtles quickly in frigid temperatures. Four of the turtles were found after the overnight high tide.

“If they are not found for six or eight hours their body temperatures can drop down into the 40s or even the 30s, and survival rates go way down once you get beyond the mid-40s,” he said.

The sea turtle stranding season used to begin around November 1 through the 1990s and 2000s. Since 2010, the stranding season has started a few weeks later, according to LaCasse.

“The sea surface temperatures are much warmer than they used to be,” he said. “We are always waiting for that magical 52 degrees where we start seeing a lot of sea turtles that will strand.

LaCasse said the season started a little late and slow this year.

The Sea Turtle Hospital in Quincy has an ideal capacity between 80 and 100. They are kept dry for the first few days and are slowly rewarmed by about 5 degrees per day.

“It is a different method than you would use with humans with hypothermia, but it increase survival rates,” LaCasse said. “After three or few days they will be going into tanks.”

The hospital can handle between 120 and 150 turtles.

“We are usually in that case looking to start to move turtles out to other rehab facilities down south or in the mid-Atlantic,” LaCasse said.

A volunteer group, Turtles Fly Too, transports sea turtles down to Gulf States.

“We are always looking for pilots,” LaCasse said. “So if somebody happens to be flying south for some type of holiday event in a private plane and they have room, we ask that they contact the Aquarium.”

Pilots can also visit turtlesflytoo.org to find contact information.
Source: Brian Merchant grew up in Central Massachusetts and now lives in South Dennis on the Cape. He has been part of the news team in the CapeCod.com NewsCenter since the spring of 2014.