POINT PLEASANT – Injured and sick sea turtles that were rehabilitated were recently released back out into the ocean, all thanks to a New Jersey-based nonprofit.
Two marine scientists Bill Deerr and Brandi Biehl created Sea Turtle Recovery because they wanted to do more to help save the endangered and threatened animals in New Jersey. Sea Turtle Recovery is the first long term sea turtle hospital in the state, and its team is committed to ensuring that sea turtles have a future.
Co-Executive Officer Brandi Biehl explained how the company began after they realized there was no local hospital care for sea turtles.
“Time and time again we’d have to take the turtles to the closest hospital which usually ended up being in North Carolina. We’d take these turtles that are in critical condition and we would try to rush them down to long-term hospital care. He lost so many of them and we were heartbroken. That’s when we decided we have to do something,” Biehl said.
The nonprofit was established in 2014 and in 2016, the Turtle Back Zoo provided a facility where they can continue their work.
Since they opened in December 2016, they have released 87 sea turtles back into the ocean.
“It’s a labor of love. They’re our passion, they’re our everything,” Biehl said. “There was nothing here in New Jersey yet. Sea turtles continue to be stranded here and so we started our hospital and luckily this part of the community and people who have found out about us, it’s just been overwhelming and we’re slowly growing and we’re able to now take in sea turtles from other states when they become overcrowded and really work to make a difference for sea turtles.”
For sea turtles in New Jersey, it’s very uncommon for them to nest here and most of the eggs become non-viable if there’s any attempt. Sea turtles come up in the summer months and they enjoy crab off our shore, and usually stay along our coastline from about June all way to end of October then they have to migrate back down south.
“The majority of cases we get as far as sea turtle strandings is when they fail to migrate. That can be because they had a slight injury – whether it be a mild break in their flippers, something that prevented them from migrating – or sometimes they go in our back bays where it’s nice and warm and so as the cold-water currents push down, they stay in the back bay. As a result, they don’t get cues to migrate, their water temperatures are turning cold, their food sources are depleting and by the time that they realize it they start to head out but they’re trapped by those cold waters,” Biehl said.
She further explained how in these situations, sea turtles can undergo cold stunning. Similar to hypothermia, sea turtles will shut down their body system and can shut down all their organs but their brain and heart. Due to this, they wash ashore very sick.
Biehl and the team try to educate the public on what happens when a sea turtle in found ashore injured.
“What we need the public to understand with these sea turtles, it’s usually the colder months, people grab them and put them in their car and try to rush them to the hospital. But during those colder months people crank the heat, and that’s the worse thing you can do because these sea turtles need to be warmed slowly, five degrees a day, or they go into shock,” she said.
Cold stunned sea turtles that failed to migrate for illness or injury is the main reason for stranding in the area. Biehl said they also deal with cases where the animals are hit by boat propellers, and they’ve even had a case where one digested a balloon.
The process for rehabilitation and recovery is different for every patient, Biehl explained.
“Once we warm them back up, it really depends how long it takes. Majority of cases, if they haven’t cold stunned for long, it’s lung infection and we can get them out in about six months. Other cases if there’s more damage it could take years to release them,” she said.
This year, Sea Turtle Recovery released a total of 18 animals. Over the summer, they released about eight turtles and their most recent release at Point Pleasant Beach on September 20 featured two turtles. Sagari is a 120 lb loggerhead who was taken in from Virginia after having a lung infection and digestion issues. Sally J is a green sea turtle who was trapped in a river system in South Jersey.
“Sea turtles cannot survive in fresh waters, but this sea turtle went up the bay and with cold upwelling currents it pushed this turtle up into the river system. She was found in Linwood in the Patcong Creek system. She was very, very lost,” Biehl said.
All the sea turtles who are released are tagged, however two turtles released from Sea Turtle Recovery are specifically satellited tagged in order to track their swimming pattern.
“It is important to see where they are going. Since these sea turtles stranded here, what are they doing when we release them back out? That’s never been studied. Some of those things being researched is migration patterns, and how the rehabilitation affected them,” Biehl said.
Loggerhead sea turtle Titan is tracked via satellite so the team can follow where he swims. He has three flippers and is infamously named the ‘world’s toughest sea turtle.’ Titan was hit by a boat propeller and he was bit by a shark. He was later found by fishmen as he was being attacked by another shark.
“We know they were three different incidents based on the tissue and the aging of the injuries,” Biehl said.
There are many different ways the public can help sea turtles and support Sea Turtle Recovery. You can visit seaturtlerecovery.org and make a donation, or you can adopt or sponsor a sea turtle.
“Every donation helps. Some of these sea turtles, especially those in critical condition, need three to four blood works a week… Every donation goes to these sea turtles to save them,” Biehl said.
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