Researchers from Texas A&M University’s Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research have spent the last two months working nonstop with a global network of organizations to save some of the world’s most endangered species.
“We work year-round to rescue and rehabilitate sea turtles, but we get really busy during the cold months when temperatures drop, and coastal regions experience winter storm conditions,” said Dr. Christopher Marshall, Regents Professor in the College of Marine Sciences and Maritime Studies, Department of Marine Biology and director of the Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research (GCSTR).
Five of the world’s seven sea turtle species are found in Gulf waters. All these species are threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Sea turtles spend most of their lives at sea or in coastal bays, but females return to specific beaches to lay their eggs. They are vulnerable to multiple threats, including sharp temperature changes, in the shallower waters near the coast.
Photos by Laura McKenzie/Texas A&M University Division of Marketing and Communications
Marshall, along with a team of researchers and several hundred volunteers, works with state and federal organizations to rescue, rehabilitate and return them to their native waters through the center’s conservation programs, which include its sea turtle hospital. He also leads a consortium of researchers to fill in data that helps improve management policies, regulations, and how best to conserve sea turtles.
“We’re a research organization that does conservation work,” Marshall explained. “We were born from the need to fill data gaps on how sea turtles are nesting, feeding and migrating in and along the shores of the Gulf and the Galveston Bay system. We’re learning how much time sea turtles actually spend in Galveston Bay and the Gulf; our mission has evolved to include meeting conservation gaps, too.”
U.S. Sea Turtle Species
The Endangered Species Act protects all sea turtle species in U.S. waters, which includes Green, Hawksbill, Kemp’s Ridley, Leatherback, Loggerhead and Olive Ridley.
Sea turtles don’t regulate their body temperature. Instead, they rely on their environment. When water temperatures drop below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, they become weak and disoriented, and they stop feeding and swimming. They will float to the top of the water and can get blown ashore. While in this state, they’re at high risk for boat strikes, and when blown ashore they are at high risk of predation. If left in this condition, they become sick and can succumb to cold conditions.
“Cold stunning is dangerous, but the threat for these animals is constant,” Marshall elaborated. “Sea turtles fall victim to illness, injuries and human activity year-round. Human activity poses the highest risk to wildlife, and sea turtles are no different. Cold weather is just a concentrated period during which there are greater risks for their survival.”
Multiple Threats
Sea turtle populations are threatened by pollution, loss of habitat, changing water temperatures, water-borne commercial activities and illegal poaching. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) lists bycatch from commercial and recreational fishing gear as the greatest threat to all sea turtle species that occupy the Gulf. All U.S. fisheries are now required to use turtle excluder devices (TEDs) in shrimp trawls. Conservation measures such as gillnet bans and other fishery gear modifications can reduce the impact, but human activities remain the top threat to the species.
Global Threats to Sea Turtle Populations:
- Vessel strikes from boats
- Loss of habitat from coastal development
- Changing water temperatures
- Hunting and harvesting meat and eggs for human consumption
- Hunting and harvesting shells for illegal trade
Ocean’s Gardener
Sea turtles balance the structure and biodiversity of marine communities, such as seagrass meadows, coral reefs, oyster reefs and other seafloor habitats. They serve as the coast’s gardeners, weeding, tilling and fertilizing the seafloor, as well as bringing nutrients and energy to beach and dune habitats when nesting.
- They help seagrass beds and dunes stay healthy by transporting and recycling nutrients.
- They help balance sea sponges and jellyfish populations that threaten coral and other species if overgrown.
- They help create nursery habitats for small commercially and recreationally important fishes.
Sea turtles have a large impact on marine ecosystems.
They are called keystone species, which means that fluctuations in their population will positively or negatively dramatically affect the marine ecosystem. Sea turtles help marine ecosystems maintain the delicate ecological balance in marine communities.
For example, coral reefs need sea sponges to recycle the nutrients coral produces but will suffocate from an overpopulation of sea sponges. A single acre of healthy seagrass supports 40,000 fish and 50 million small invertebrates, and the actions of sea turtles can help spread new seagrass meadows and prevent the overgrowth of competing species such as marine algae.
Globe-Trotting Patients
GCTSR partners include NOAA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Parks Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas Master Naturalis and the Houston Zoo. Together, they have helped return hundreds of sea turtles back into the population. Some have traveled all the way from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the United Kingdom and northern Europe. The center’s hospital works with veterinarians at the Houston Zoo to provide health care to ensure turtles are healthy enough to be returned to their native waters.
Photos by Emily Caroline Sartin/Texas A&M University Division of Marketing and Communications
World’s Rarest Sea Turtles Return to Gulf Waters for Release by GCTSR:
- Tally traveled by way of the British Royal Airforce from Northern Wales
- Boeier was rescued by a commercial fisherman in the Netherlands
“The center and, really, all of Texas A&M are wonderful partners,” said Mary Kay Skoruppa, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Sea Turtle Coordinator for Texas. “They lead sea turtle recovery efforts on the entire upper Texas coast. We rely on them to do everything from nest protection for our nesting sea turtles to rescuing stranded sea turtles to rehabilitating sea turtles. They also perform sea turtle research for us so we can better support the five species that help us understand how sea turtles nest, feed and migrate in and along the Gulf.”
Decades of Dedication
Understanding the lifespan of sea turtles and whether conservation efforts are successful is difficult because sea turtles can live up to 60 years old and take decades to reach sexual maturity. Because they travel vast distances and spend the majority of their lives in the open ocean, most research is confined to the short period they are ashore during nesting periods.
“It is extremely difficult to gauge whether our current protection and conservation methods are effective,” Marshall explained. “If we’re wrong in a particular area, we’re talking decades to recover. With new technologies, we can begin to understand sea turtle ecology at sea and collect data over longer periods that will help fill in information and data gaps. This information will help agencies adjust conservation efforts and place resources where they can do the most good.”
Channeling Passions for Protection
Sea turtles are ancient and remain relatively unchanged. They are among the most charismatic and recognized marine animals in the world. The team at GCSTR recognizes that value as an opening to educate and foster awareness of marine conservation activities anyone can take. They have plans to expand the center and hospital into an educational outreach center that will also provide valuable tourism revenue to the region and sustain their efforts over decades.
“Because people love sea turtles, they’re often the gateway to marine conservation stewardship,” Marshall said. “We release turtles publicly on the beaches in Galveston. We’ll have families on vacation walk over, and they’re smitten at seeing an animal they associate with the Caribbean 1,500 miles away swim out into the Gulf in their backyard. The next time they’re at the beach, they’ll be more likely to pick up trash they see because they have a connection between what they love and what they do.”
Photos by Taylor Bounds, Megan Cornett and Miles Shellshear/Texas A&M University Division of Marketing and Communications
Love of sea turtles is also what powers GCSTR’s extensive volunteer network. Over 400 volunteers support GCSTR’s year-round coast monitoring for nesting, sick, injured, entangled or dead sea turtles that wash up along the Texas coast.
“The GCSTR would not be able to conduct much of its work without our highly dedicated volunteers,” Marshall said. “We partner with the Galveston Bay Area Chapter of the Texas Naturalists, but we have volunteers from every aspect of society, from undergraduate students to people in financial, education and medical fields and retirees. Our volunteers enable us to make community impacts, and that’s the one thing I’m most proud of.”
GCSTR strives to make its activities accessible to the public as long as it doesn’t interfere with the health and well-being of their turtle patients. Marshall also points out that not all sea turtles survive or recover from injuries enough to survive in the wild. When GCSTR patients cannot be released back to their native waters, the center finds them permanent homes. One of GCSTR’s former patients, Slash, is now enchanting and educating visitors to the San Antonio Aquarium on ocean conservation.
Get Involved
The Texas Sea Turtle Hotline allows the public to call in injured or sick turtles so they get a chance to be rehabilitated.
If you see a sea turtle in trouble or spot a nest, call the Texas Sea Turtle Hotline at 1-866-TURTLE-5 (or 1-866-887-8535). The federal government gives all sea turtles legal protection in the United States and its waters under the Endangered Species Act; do not handle sea turtles without permission.
You can support the Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research by donating directly, purchasing a sea turtle special license plate from the DMV, or visiting the GCSTR’s Amazon wish list on their website.
You can also apply to join the Sea Turtle Rescue Team, which responds to sick, injured, entangled or deceased sea turtles stranded along the upper Texas coast. Due to federal protections, applicants will undergo training and permitting before handling sea turtles.
