Loggerhead Turtles

A dead seas turtle lies on the beach between Avon and Salvo, Wildlife experts aren't sure what killed the 68 turtles that have been washed up on the Outer Banks since Friday, April 14th, 2000

Hatteras Island- Marine wildlife experts are baffled by the death of 68 sea turtles that have washed up since Friday on southern Outer Banks beaches.  The migrating turtles may have bunched up where warmer waters suddenly turn cold at Cape Hatteras, which would account for the large number of deaths but why they died, experts say.  Forty loggerhead, mostly juveniles and sub adults, were found on the ocean shores Saturday on Ocracoke Island, said Ruth Boettcher, sea turtle project coordinator for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.  And between Friday & Monday , about 28 dead turtles, including two endangered Kemps Ridleys, were brought in with the tides on Hatteras Island from Rodanthe to Hatteras Inlet.

"That might be unprecedented," said David Bernhart, a biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service.  "Sixty eight in a couple of days is pretty attention getting".  Loggerheads, a threatened species, typically weighs 80 to 200 pounds and mature at 20 to 30 years.  Biologist are uncertain how long the creatures live in the wild.  Kemp's Ridleys mature at age 10 and weigh up to 100 pounds.  The remains have been left on the beach to be taken away by nature, Boettcher said.  At a glance, the turtles appear to be alive, standing on the high tide line of the beach.  Anglers with four wheel dive vehicles fished nearby, ignoring the carcasses.

"We have no idea what the cause of death was," Boettcher said. "It was probably an offshore event."  The turtles likely were migrating   than foraging, she said, and whatever killed them happened in the ocean.  "The storm brought them in, because the winds were blowing in an easterly direction," Boettcher said.  Most were "moderately decomposed."

NO hooks were detected in the bodies, and its improbable that the storm hardly animals would have died because of the week ends rough weather, she said.  Sea turtles, in fact, are extremely resilient, Bernhart said.  The animals had plenty of fat on them and looked like the 7 have been in good health.  "It would appear more likely to me that there is some human cause for it," Bernhart said. "What that could be, I don't know."  There has been no indication that fishing activities have any relationship to the stranding, Bernhart said.  But the possibility that the turtles could have drowned in gill nets and been released bu storm currents or fishermen is being considered, he said.

Nearly 60 sea turtles deaths most Kemps Ridleys were reported tot he agency in December,.  Bernhart said the hundreds of gill nets in inlet waters behind Ocracoke Island were believed to have caught and drown at sea some of the turtles.  Water temperatures are warm right now along the coast of North Carolina from Cape Lookout up to Cape Hatteras, Bernhart said.  BUT at Hatteras, the water turns abruptly cold.  The cold blooded reptiles probably hugged the coast in their normal northern migration.  And when they reached the cold water, they stopped.

"Its possible that the turtles are concentrating right there where its warm offshore." he said.  "So whatever it is that's killing them would kill them in large numbers."  The problem is not happening elsewhere in the state or country, the biologist said.  "They're basically hitting a traffic jam and a stop light in Cape Hatteras," Bernhart said.  Necropsies done on every third stranded turtle on Ocracoke also will provide information about possible causes.  "We're getting good cooperation from everyone involved," he said.

Written by, Catherine Kozak for The Virginian Pilot
Drew C. Wilson/The Virginian Pilot Took the above Picture.

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