The Summer Ends:
Cold-Stunned Turtles, Rehabilitation and Satellite Tagging

As the weather grows colder, so does the water and the sea turtles begin to leave the area. They run the risk of hypothermia, also known as cold-stunning, by staying too long as the waters of the North Atlantic cool for the winter.

Cold-stunning generally occurs once the water dips below 50°F, which can happen very quickly in bays and inlets, and some turtles may not leave the area before this occurs. This sudden temperature drop causes them to be lethargic as their bodily processes begin to slow down, and they often float to the surface of the water. They also have difficulty swimming and eating.

If the water gets too cold (between 41°F and 44°F), their bodies simply stop functioning and they die. Many cold stunned-turtles end up stranded on beaches. Riverhead Foundation volunteers walk beaches in search for them, them, while others end up in pound nets, retrieved when the fisherman calls the hotline.

Cold-stunned turtles can be rehabilitated, provided they are found in time. There are several stages of cold-stunning severity, and the chance of survival differs depending on the severity.

The Riverhead Foundation has rehabilitation facilities at the Atlantis Marine World Aquarium, where they rehab several turtles each season. They are the only authorized marine mammal and sea turtle rescue programs in New York. It can take many months for a turtle to be brought back to health for release back to the ocean, but every individual counts for an endangered species.

To better understand what happens after these rehabilitated juvenile turtles are released, Riverhead and Wildlife Trust are partnering in a satellite tagging study of rehabbed turtles. Before release, a satellite tag is attached to the turtle's shell with special glue. Whenever the turtle surfaces to breathe, this tag will transmit a signal with the data that was collected while the turtle was underwater, including the turtle's latitude/longitude location, temperature, time intervals between surfacing, and depth and dive profiles. Polar orbiting satellites pick up the signal, thereby allowing researchers thousands of miles away to gather information on the turtle's behavior.

"By tracking rehabilitated sea turtles we are provided with a unique opportunity to evaluate rehabilitation protocols while establishing baseline data on habitat usage, DiGiovanni explains. "Through satellite tracking, broad scale movements from release location to known nesting areas can be monitored. Initiatives such as these will provide environmental managers with data to address future issues. Knowing where the turtles go and what they might be doing there informs us about areas that may need to be studied more carefully or require greater protection as important sea turtle habitat."