'Cold-stunned' sea turtles coming to LI for treatment

This autumn’s unusual warm spells, though delightful for outdoors-lovers, might have doomed rare sea turtles, experts said.

A surprising number of youngsters have perished — many lured into staying in the Northeast by the unusual warm spells and then stunned when seasonal cold returns — before washing ashore on Cape Cod, experts said. Some survivors are being flown to Long Island and other rescues for treatment, while others have been found on Long Island beaches.

For the past couple of decades, patrols have scoured East Coast beaches during autumn and early winter, searching for rising numbers of these climate change victims, juvenile greens, Kemp’s ridleys, and loggerheads that failed to head south before the Atlantic turned too cold.

“This seems a little early to see so many coming up that already are deceased,” said Connie Merigo, executive director of the National Marine Life Center, a Bourne, Massachusetts, nonprofit, which on Sunday shipped some of its overflow patients to Westhampton Beach's Atlantic Marine Conservation Society.

After all, this cold-stunned season is not even two weeks old.

“But we have had a bit of a roller coaster in terms of water temperatures this fall,” Merigo said.

On those 70-plus degree days, “The sun hitting their black shells may have warmed them quickly.”

And then as night fell, “Maybe they started to get cold again.”

Similarly, Maxine Montello, rescue program director at Riverhead’s New York Marine Rescue Center, said a warm rain might temporarily rouse them — but after weeks of struggling, their condition is far too dire for that to save them.

The Kemp’s ridleys the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society is rehabilitating all passed their swim test, said Rob DiGiovanni, chief scientist, though all are considered critical.

“We find out if the animal is alert, and how it’s behaving,” he said. “We put them in a tub of water to see how they respond to that, are they diving, moving around, do they appear agitated or are they doing what we think a turtle should be doing.”

Success means a transfer to a bigger tank — and blood tests and other exams, as the youngsters not only often have caught pneumonia but also suffer from other ailments, from propeller gashes to fungal infections.

Rescuers already have been surprised by this cold-stunned season’s exceptionally swift start.

Riverhead’s New York Marine Rescue Center now is caring for more than 30 endangered or threatened sea turtles all found on Long Island beaches.

That is seven more than just a few days ago — and 10 more than were found stranded all last autumn and winter, Montello said.

Massachusetts rescuers, including the New England Aquarium in Boston and the National Marine Life Center, this November alone took in about 235 sea turtles.

The mortality rate for all the sea turtles rescued in Massachusetts throughout this year, though most arrive in autumn, is 41%, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network.

Yet winter's cold, when it is much more common to find sea turtles that have died of hypothermia, has yet to set in.

“In December, as it gets colder and colder, these turtles that have been floating out there for months will start to succumb.”

Agreed Montello: “Unfortunately, the longer the turtles are out there, the more exposed to harsh elements, the less likely they are going to survive.”

This may partly explain why only 29% of the sea turtles recovered in Virginia were alive so far this year, according to NOAA's Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network.

“It all depends on the wind direction and the temperatures — how quickly we go into the winter months,” Montello said.

And global warming looms large.

The New England rescuers, which say they only rehabilitated dozens of sea turtles in the 1990s and 2000s, now handle hundreds a year — and some projections show thousands will need its care by 2030.

Said Katie Wagner, a NOAA spokesperson, by email: “For all sea turtles, a warming climate and changes in the temperature of the marine environment are likely to alter the abundance and distribution of food resources, leading to a shift in migratory and foraging ranges and nesting season.”

She added: “Significant contributing factors include the severity of winter weather events and abundance of turtles within areas of cold water temperatures.”

Until sea turtles began washing up in high numbers, noted DiGiovanni, much less was known about their care or habitat. "Learning about what these animals are doing ... helps us better understand what we can do."

To report a stranded sea turtle or mammal, call: 631-369-9829.