by Lauren Schenkman on June 29, 2010 3:25 PM<\/p>\n
For the tens of thousands of sea turtle eggs incubating in the sands of the
\nnorthern Gulf of Mexico-and dangerously near the oil-it’s come to this:
\nOfficials are planning to dig up the approximately 700 nests on Alabama and
\nthe Florida panhandle beaches, pack the eggs in Styrofoam boxes, and fly
\nthem to a facility in eastern Florida where they can mature. Once the eggs
\nhave hatched, the young turtles will be released in darkness on Florida’s
\nAtlantic beaches into oil-free water. Translocation of nests on this scale
\nhas never been attempted before.<\/p>\n
“This is really a worst-case scenario,” says Michael Ziccardi, a University
\nof California, Davis, veterinarian and oil-spill veteran who is leading the
\ngovernment’s response efforts for marine mammals and sea turtles. “We hoped
\nwe wouldn’t get to this point.”<\/p>\n
Sea turtles that hatch in the Northern Gulf of Mexico typically spend a few
\nmonths near the coast, and many eventually enter the Loop Current to make
\ntheir way into the Atlantic. This year, that path would put them right in
\nthe oil spill. Federal officials in charge of response “believe that most,
\nif not all, of the 2010 Northern Gulf hatchling cohort would be at high risk
\nof encountering oil during this period,” according to the written
\ntranslocation plan, developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the
\nNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries
\nService, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. They
\nestimate that 50,000 hatchlings could be lost to the oil.<\/p>\n
Nests are already being marked so that cleanup crews can skirt them, and
\nofficials hope to begin moving them within weeks, says Ziccardi. The
\noperations will continue well past laying season, which ends in August,
\nbecause eggs incubate for about 60 days. The logistics of finding
\ncontractors to train and lead collection teams, a facility where the eggs
\ncan come to term, and an air-freight company that can transport them three
\ntimes a week for the next 3 months are daunting.<\/p>\n
Officials plan to dig up the eggs at about day 50 of their incubation-well
\nafter the hatchling’s sex, which is determined by the nest’s temperature, is
\nset. Workers moving the eggs have to be careful not to turn them over or
\nroll them so as not to disturb membranes that connect the embryo to the
\nshell and cushion it, says Philip Allman, a marine biologist at Florida Gulf
\nCoast University in Fort Myers. “If the orientation of the egg is turned
\nsignificantly from the position in the nest, the rotation can break the
\nmembranes and cause the embryos to die,” he says. “Even in flight,
\nturbulence and a bumpy landing could be enough” to break the membranes.<\/p>\n
Moving the eggs could also affect where the turtles go to nest once they’re
\nadults, Allman says, because “a lot of evidence indicates that sea turtles
\nreturn to the same region where they hatch from to nest.” Some researchers
\nbelieve embryos somehow learn the location of their home beach while still
\nin the egg; others think that “imprinting” process happens as hatchlings
\nmake their way to the water. The plan could mean the hatchlings imprint on
\nthe east coast of Florida, which “may impact which breeding population they
\njoin once maturing,” Allman says. Although this could change the genetic
\nmakeup of east coast populations, which aren’t identical to those in the
\nnorthern Gulf of Mexico populations, he thinks the risks of negative effects
\nare minimal. “I think it is a chance worth taking,” he says.<\/p>\n
Individual nests are sometimes moved above high tide or brought into
\ncaptivity to protect eggs from predators or poaching. Although an operation
\nof this scale is unprecedented, it’s the best option right now, says Thane
\nWibbels, a herpetologist at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. “You’re
\neither reactive or proactive, and if you’re reactive, it’s too late.”<\/p>\n
Smaller-scale translocations have been successful, Wibbels points out; Each
\nyear from 1978 until 1988, about 2000 Kemp’s ridley sea turtle eggs were
\nmoved from the species’ sole nesting beach in Rancho Nuevo, Mexico, to Padre
\nIsland National Seashore near Corpus Christi, Texas, in a bid to start a
\nsecond nesting beach. Today, he says, about 200 turtles nest there.<\/p>\n
After the Ixtoc I well blew out in the Gulf of Mexico in 1979, 9000 Kemp’s
\nridley hatchlings were kept on their nesting beach and then transported to
\ncleaner waters, says Allman. “Multiple authors reported a few years later
\nthat the oil spill did not have a significant impact to the Kemp’s ridley
\nsea turtles,” he says.<\/p>\n
“In a normal year you’d think, ‘That’s crazy,’ ” Wibbels says. “We want
\nthese turtles to do what’s natural, … but if you have to prevent a large
\namount of mortality, you have to make tough decisions.”<\/p>\n
Allen Salzberg<\/p>\n
Publisher\/Editor of HerpDigest. The Only Free Weekly E-Zine That Reports on
\nThe Latest News on Herpetological Conservation, Husbandry, and Science
\nwww.herpdigest.org.
\nHerpDigest is a registered (in NYS) not-for profit organization\/publication.<\/p>\n
Member of the of IUCN\/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group
\nSpecial thanks to Richard Charter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Lauren Schenkman on June 29, 2010 3:25 PM For the tens of thousands of sea turtle eggs incubating in the sands of the northern Gulf of Mexico-and dangerously near the oil-it’s come to this: Officials are planning to dig up the approximately 700 nests on Alabama and the Florida panhandle beaches, pack the eggs … Continue reading Herpdigest.org: Thousands of Sea Turtle Eggs To Be Moved Out of Oil’s Way<\/span>