Concerns were raised on social media regarding the safety of the release.
Some were big, some were small, and all were eager to get back into the ocean. Under the curious gaze of hundreds of onlookers at Galveston's Stewart Beach, around 40 recently cold-stunned green sea turtles made their triumphant return to the Gulf of Mexico on Friday. Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research Director Dr. Christopher Marshall estimated around 300 people were in attendance. "When we have a bunch like this, people want to see them," Marshall told Chron.
As the audience cooed over the sea turtles and snapped photos and videos, staff and volunteers carried the marine reptiles down a path between two crowds, like a soul train line, to the sea. To their amusement, some of the turtles were excitedly flipping their fins mid-air in anticipation. And they had a good reason.
"Out of our 54 turtles, we probably have three that didn't make it," Marshall said, adding that it's a relatively good number compared to other cold-stunning events. It's a grim reminder of just how dangerous cold-stunning can be. The phenomenon occurs when water temperatures drop below 50 degrees, which is too cold for sea turtles to maintain their body temperature. As a result, the cold-blooded creatures become lethargic and unable to swim, putting them at risk of drowning and exposing them to other hazards. "They go into a coma-like state," Marshall said. "They stop eating. They stop swimming. They float to the top. They're hit by boats. The wind blows them into the marsh. They get frostbite. Birds can start to peck at them. All kinds of stuff."
The rescued cold-stunned sea turtles were warmed up at the center and are now ready to go. The facility is already preparing to have more patients soon, with an upcoming arctic blast set to send temperatures plummeting across the area next week. As many sea turtles as possible that have been medically cleared from the hospital have been released to make room for new ones. Additionally, a team of 150 volunteers is ready to go out into the field to search for stranded and cold-stunned sea turtles in known hotspots, along with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and other local partners keeping a watchful eye on the water.
"We will probably send troops out Monday afternoon, Tuesday morning, and Wednesday morning," Marshall said. "We're one of six groups in the state, up and down the coast, all the way down to Brownsville, where people are doing this." The center receives calls from the public via its hotline (1-866-TURTLE-5), alerting them to cold-stunned and stranded sea turtles.
Some concerns were raised on social media regarding the sea turtle release ahead of the cold weather event, leading the center to issue a statement on Facebook explaining the necessity of the release. Marshall assured them they need not worry as these sea turtles will not cold stun in the warmer waters of the Gulf of Mexico. "Today is the warmest day of the week and it's the warmest surf temperature of the week," he said. "We have a real window here to get these turtles to safe, warm water before the next one."
Each of the newly released sea turtles came from shallow bays in the area, where water temperatures can drop very quickly. So fast, that the turtles don't have time to swim out to the Gulf. "Green sea turtles are vegetarians," Marshall said. "They like to eat seagrass and all our seagrasses are in the back bays."
Other areas along the Texas Gulf Coast, including South Padre Island and Corpus Christi, were hit harder by the recent temperature drops, with hundreds of sea turtles being treated for cold-stunning in the past week. "Our turtles here, they have more opportunities to get out, so we have fewer cold stuns," Marshall said. "Down south, you have the Laguna Madre, so it's like our back bays, but it goes for like 40 miles and there's no exit. So turtles might work their way down and they can't swing that far back that before the temperature drops."
Depending on how next week goes, Marshall said the center will likely hold another release in the next couple of weeks.