20 Cold-Stunned Sea Turtles Rescued By Westhampton Beach Group

WESTHAMPTON BEACH, NY — Once again, the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society has come to the rescue of cold-stunned Kemp's ridley sea turtles.

According to AMSEAS, on Friday, 20 of the cold-stunned turtles were admitted to triage in the organization's Westhampton Beach facility.

The sea turtles arrived Friday morning from New England Aquarium on a flight coordinated by Turtles Fly Too, landing at Gabreski Airport, AMSEAS said.

AMSEAS’ efforts are part of the specially trained animal response team to provide support to other organizations within the network; the mission was organized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Stranding and Disentanglement Coordinator Kate Sampson.

Just as in 2020, AMSEAS was asked again this year to help during the2021 cold stun season to provide short-term care for the turtles at their critical care triage Facility.

"Today's endeavor to provide them with a second chance consisted of two aircrafts, one that transported the turtles to AMSEAS and then continued on to New Jersey to our network partners at Sea Turtle Recovery," AMSEAS said. "The other transported turtles to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium and The Turtle Hospital."

AMSEAS biologists and volunteers have formed several internal teams — including transport, triage, and husbandry— to assess each sea turtle and create with a care plan, AMSEAS said.

Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are the smallest and most endangered species of sea turtles in the world, AMSEAS explained.

“When we founded Atlantic Marine Conservation Society in 2016, it was always with the idea that we would help other stranding network members and fellow conservation organizations,” said AMSEAS Chief Scientist Rob DiGiovanni. “Nothing we do is just about us. It truly takes a village to make a difference and we pride ourselves on being able to assist in stranding events such as these. Promoting marine conservation through action is absolutely a group effort.”

According to AMSEAS, cold stun season occurs in the northeast when water temperatures drop below 50 degrees Fahrenheit in the fall; some sea turtles are then not able to make their way south to warmer waters. The turtles become hypothermic or “cold stunned,” AMSEAS said.

Initial symptoms include a decreased heart rate, decreased respiration, and lethargy, followed by shock, pneumonia and possibly death, AMSEAS said. Between 400 and 900 cold-stunned sea turtles strand both alive and deceased in the northeast each year; in 2021 far, there have been more than 500 strandings, AMSEAS said.

NOAA Fisheries works with partner organizations for a coordinated rescue effort, AMSEAS explained: Volunteers from the Massachusetts Audubon's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary walk Cape Cod beaches to collect the cold-stunned turtles. Next, volunteers bring the turtles back to Mass Audubon, where staff checks for signs of life and evaluates the turtles, who then go to the New England Aquarium’s Animal Care Center or the National Marine Life Center, both NOAA Fisheries sea turtle stranding network members, for an initial evaluation and treatment, AMSEAS said.

Sea turtles are commonly found in waters off the mid-Atlantic and northeast U.S. during the summer and early fall. The turtles enter northeast bays and coastal waters in the summer. Some appear to stay too long into the fall, and those in Cape Cod Bay are blocked from warmer waters offshore and south by the arm of the Cape, AMSEAS said.

After last year's rescue efforts, thesea turtles were released in Hampton Bays as crowds cheered.