‘This is why we do what we do.’ Rare turtles released in Dennis as federal funding sought

WEST DENNIS — As rainclouds drifted overhead, and piping plovers peeped in their hidden dens among the seagrasses on the dunes, four critically endangered Kemp’s ridley turtles that have been under the care of the New England Aquarium’s sea turtle rescue and rehabilitation team were brought Wednesday morning to West Dennis Beach to be returned to the wild.

With the familiar scent of ocean air in their nostrils, and the surf’s rolling rhythm in their ears, the turtles came out of their carrying crates with flippers flapping, as if they could somehow fly into the water if given the chance.

It was the culmination of months of intensive care that began when the turtles were found cold-stunned on the beaches of Cape Cod in December.

“Being able to care for these critically endangered turtles throughout the year and ensure they have a chance to return to the ocean is something we’re extremely proud of as a conservation organization,” said Adam Kennedy, director of the New England Aquarium’s sea turtle hospital in Quincy.

Six-year-old Ozzie Abel, helps his dad David walk a turtle to the water line at West Dennis Beach on Wednesday morning where four Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles were released after their rehab at the New England Aquarium. The turtles were cold stunned on Cape beaches last December. Ozzie found one of the first cold stunned turtles in a previous stranding season.

Turtle rescue work takes a lot of resources; a proposed federal bill would help

Over the past 25 years, he said, the aquarium team has helped rehabilitate and release nearly 5,000 sea turtles. The work takes a lot of resources, which is why the New England Aquarium — in partnership with the National Aquarium in Baltimore and the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston — is working with U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Massachusetts, and Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, R-Puerto Rico, to advance the recently announced Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance Act.

The World Wildlife Fund points out that nearly all sea turtle species worldwide are endangered. And all recognized species of sea turtles found within the United States are considered threatened or endangered, according to the legislators involved in pushing for the assistance act — a bipartisan and bicameral bill that would create a permanent $30 million grant program through the Department of Commerce to fund efforts in Massachusetts and across the United States.

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Turtle No. 512 cuts a wake through the sea foam heading south Wednesday morning at West Dennis Beach, where four Kemp’s ridley sea turtles were released after their rehabilitation at the New England Aquarium. The turtles were found cold-stunned in December on Cape beaches.

Markey noted in a statement about the bill that the concern has only grown over the last two decades. This is reflected in the numbers of turtles stranding in Massachusetts, especially on the Cape — in 2000, 49 sea turtles were stranded on local beaches, and in 2022, that number was 866.

“Current rescue efforts are predominantly volunteer and underfunded, but sea turtles face increasing risks that make strandings more likely, including temperature changes, red tide events, and entanglement in marine debris,” the legislators said.

“We can’t leave our sea turtles stranded,” said Markey in the statement.“Organizations and volunteers across the United States have rallied to help protect threatened and endangered sea turtles — now, it’s our turn to rally behind them.”

Keating agreed, noting in the same statement that “passage of the Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance Act will reduce the strain on nonprofit organizations doing the vital work to save these endangered animals, including the hundreds rescued on Cape Cod annually.”

While sea turtles are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, the organizations that work to save them agree there is “inadequate direct federal support” to help manage the high costs of sea turtle stranding response and rehabilitation.

Connie Merigo, president and executive director of the National Marine Life Center in Buzzards Bay, said federal support would be “monumental”, especially since there’s no special money set aside for organizations that rehab endangered turtles.

“And you know, here on Cape Cod, endangered turtles are stranding in the hundreds every fall,” she said, “so to have some dedicated funding to help us take care of them is really a game changer for us. Transformative is a better word.”

Karen Moore Dourdeville, sea turtle research coordinator for Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, also said federal assistance would be welcome. Aside from the “hugely expensive” rehab work the aquarium and marine life center provides, she said, the rescue efforts carry their own expenses.

“It’s a big effort, with a lot of volunteers, but it also requires staffing,” she said.

The Wellfleet sanctuary alone brings on three seasonal technicians and someone to coordinate volunteers during the cold-stun season, maintains a year-round coordinator position, organizes training for volunteers, and hires a cargo van for winter rescue operations, she said.

The sanctuary also responds to summer strandings, which are most often deceased leatherbacks and loggerheads that have suffered fatal vessel strikes, entanglements of other “human impacts,” and conducts ongoing research.

Those efforts, Dourdeville said, require a lot of fundraising that can sometimes be challenging and is never a sure thing, so more support from the government “certainly would help.”

‘This is why we do what we do.’

The release Wednesday into Nantucket Sound attracted a small crowd of onlookers — including many of the volunteers who helped rescue hundreds of cold-stunned turtles during the winter. Among the newly freed turtles were Bucatini, rescued from an Eastham beach; Bavette, rescued in Barnstable; and Kluski and Gnocchi, both rescued in Dennis.

“This is really great,” said Sandy Restrepo, of Brewster, who was observing a sea turtle release for the first time.

Over the winter, she was one of the volunteers working with the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary to rescue cold-stunned turtles, which are transported either to the New England Aquarium or the National Marine Life Center for care. It was Restrepo’s first year on beach patrol, and it turned out to be the third busiest cold-stunning season on record, with more than 800 dead and alive turtles recovered from Cape Cod beaches — mostly Kemp’s ridley turtles, but also a record 53 green sea turtles and some loggerhead turtles.

“It’s really rewarding to see them released back into the ocean,” Restrepo said.

She said it’s especially gratifying to see the turtles’ healthy crawl back into the ocean after having found them, barely alive, in tangles of frozen wrack, suffering from pneumonia, dehydration, severe frostbite, systemic infections and various other illnesses and traumas.

Kennedy, the head of the aquarium’s sea turtle hospital, agreed.

“This is why we do what we do,” he said after watching the last of the four turtles return to the ocean. “They did great.”

In all, the rehab team cared for more than 500 turtles this past cold-stun season, which usually spans from November to January. Most began their rehabilitation in the Quincy hospital before being sent to partner facilities in the South to complete their recovery and then get released into warmer southern waters. Fifty-one turtles that were in the most critical condition remained for more intense treatment. Of those, 22 remain in the rehab team’s care and are expected to be released later this summer.

Kennedy said each of the newly released Kemp’s ridley turtles is hope for a species that’s been severely depleted by fisheries interactions, climate change, ocean pollution, and habitat degradation. The same holds true for other species the team cares for and returns to the wild.

Heather McCarron writes about climate change, environment, energy, science and the natural world. Reach her at hmccarron@capecodonline.com, or follow her on Twitter @HMcCarron_CCT

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: As rare turtles return to sea, Cape rescuers say new bill would help