The world according to me....

Every spring here in North Carolina, several of these emaciated, barnacle encrusted turtles show up stranded on the beaches. It is almost exclusive to loggerheads and usually at the subadult size. More often than not, these turtles are dead when they are found on the beach, as was the case with this loggerhead, discovered on Atlantic Beach on 18 April 2004. Sick and emaciated turtles are also seen in South Carolina and Georgia around this time of year, and sevearal wildlife veterinarians, biologists and managers from all three states have established a collaborative effort to more intensively study these cases. There seems to be more cases of these turtles showing up in recent years, although here in North Carolina we wonder if we have simply become more accustomed to recognizing this kind of stranding. It seems obvious to us now that the sunken-in areas around the carapace are not normal. Have any of you seen turtles in this condition in your region of work?

Stay tuned for more info on the ongoing study related to these emaciated turtles.

Posted by Matthew Godfrey at 06:01 PM | Permalink

What do Jeff Cordes, Catherine McClellan, Larisa Avens, Bill Irwin, Lisa Campbell, Jean Beasley, representatives of the Wildlife Resources Commission, and many volunteers and participants in the NC Sea Turtle Project have in common? They all gathered for the annual North Carolina Sea Turtle Workshop, held at the Hammocks Beach State Park visitor center in early April 2004.

There were excellent presentations, cool hand-outs, deep discussions, strong coffee, a few laughs, and a great opportunity for the different people working on turtles to get together and share experiences. North Carolina is home to a large group of people dedicated to the study and management of sea turtles, and fortunately we were able to capitalize on the depth. And yet, we barely scratched the surface: I anticipate inviting new presenters for the meeting next year. In the meantime, bring on the 2004 nesting season, scheduled to begin 01 May.

Posted by Matthew Godfrey at 04:11 PM | Permalink

Steel wool pads work very well to clean the carapace of a loggerhead in anticipation of the attachment of a satellite tag. This turtle, being cleaned by Wendy, was cold-stunned by cool water temperatures in North Carolina several months ago, and was found live-stranded on the coast. It was transferred to the Rehabilitation Center in Manteo that is adminstered by the Roanoke Aquarium and by NEST. It has been given a clean bill of health by a local wildlife veternarian, and is to be released in warm waters offshore as soon as possible. It will be carrying a satellite transmitter, as part of a project with the aim to evaluate the post-release behavior of rehabilitated turtles. So far, one loggerhead is being tracked since it was released in September 2003. Regularly updated maps and other information about this project is available here, and soon on seaturtle.org also.

Posted by Matthew Godfrey at 11:06 AM | Permalink