Turtle Prayers

Today the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center released a plan formed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA-Fisheries and the Florida Wildlife Commission to translocate an anticipated 700 sea turtle nest eggs this season along the Florida Panhandle and the Alabama Gulf Coast. This is not an event to be taken lightly as nest disturbance risks killing the eggs; however, given the oiled beaches and waters, biologists think this is the best plan for the potential hatchlings.
In this extraordinary plan, permitted surveyors search the beaches at night for sea turtle tracks. Since females come on land only to lay eggs, the tracks lead to nests. The nests are marked and left to incubate until a point is reached in the incubation cycle where disturbance is less likely to injure eggs.

Experts will then place the eggs in special containers and transport them to a secure, climate-controlled location. Once the hatchlings emerge, they will be released on the east-central coast of Florida.

Under normal conditions a retrieval, removal and remote hatching of an entire season’s nesting would never be considered but given the unlikely survival of hatchlings due to oil in the water and on the shore, scientists feel they must make this drastic move.

The majority of sea turtles nesting along the northern Gulf Coast are loggerheads but we also have Kemp’s ridley, leatherback and green turtles.

As you go through your day say a little prayer for the mother turtles coming ashore to lay eggs. They are moving through toxic waters onto shores that are sometimes covered in oil and dispersant chemicals. Just the task of surviving to lay eggs this year is difficult. Then…say more prayers for the babies as they lay safely tucked inside their eggs. May their ocean dreams be filled with much love.

Image of green sea turtle in rehab with helpers Hans (holding turtle) and Tim Tristan, DVM …Texas.