Thoughts on Release of Rescued Sea Turtle Hatchlings

Thoughts on Release of Rescued Sea Turtle Hatchlings

Recently people released several loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings in what appeared to be open water south of an island. They were rescued after being found inside a local marina.

I was involved in a similar happening in 1990; the article can be found at : http://www.seaturtle.org/mtn/archives/mtn52/mtn52p11.shtml . In this case the NMFS did the best thing, and released the hatchlings at floating Sargassum. 

When one does a rescue of anything, in my opinion, they should not do a half-rescue, but a full-rescue. This means the hatchling sea turtles are returned to the environment at a safe haven (as much as can be for them = floating Sargassum weed) rather than being dumped in open waters with no cover where fish and birds can prey on them before they reach the safe haven. For example, when we rescue people from drowning we do not take them half way to shore and then let them swim the rest of the way by themselves, nor do we rescue people from mountains and drop them off half way down to let them struggle the rest of the way down by themselves. We take them to a safer place, out of danger.

It could be that in the instance above the people looked for Sargassum, but could not find any, and had to release the turtles where they were (due to fuel, weather, or time limitations). Such a release did save the turtles some energy and some swimming time to reach where they were headed, but they were put back into the environment exposed, and in potential danger.

Those that rescue hatchling sea turtles should complete the job and release them in a safer environment. This should be the policy for ALL future hatchling sea turtle rescues. Sea turtle hatchlings should be released into their normal habitat, Sargassum weed, or other suitable cover they utilize, so they have a greater chance of survival.

I worked with sea turtles for 15 years at the J L Scott Aquarium.


Adrian R. Lawler, Ph.D. ,  (C) 2012 --