A Blue View: Sea Turtle Conservation Series

A Blue View is a weekly perspective on the life aquatic, hosted by National Aquarium CEO John Racanelli.

From the smallest plants and animals invisible to the human eye to entire ecosystems, every living thing depends on and is intricately linked by water.

Tune in to 88.1 WYPR every Tuesday at 5:45 p.m. as John brings to the surface important issues and fascinating discoveries making waves in the world today.

In a two-part interview series with Dr. Kat Hadfield, Associate Veterinarian at National Aquarium, CEO John Racanelli discusses the endangered status of the world’s seven species of sea turtle and how organizations like the Aquarium and working to save them.

February 5, 2013: Sea Turtles and the Challenges They Face

Click here to listen to John and Dr. Hadfield discuss
the challenges facing sea turtle populations worldwide. 

The 33rd Annual International Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation is happening in Baltimore, Maryland, this week. More than 1,000 scientists from 75 different countries are gathering to discuss sea turtle biology, research and conservation, collaborative projects and community-based conservation efforts.

All sea turtles occurring in U.S. waters are listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and are under the joint jurisdiction of NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Major threats to sea turtles in the U.S. include, but are not limited to: cold-stunning; destruction and alteration of nesting and foraging habitats; incidental capture in commercial and recreational fisheries; entanglement in marine debris; and vessel strikes.

January 31, 2013: A Busy Year for Sea Turtle Rescues

Click here to listen to John and Dr. Hadfield discuss
this extraordinarily busy season of turtle rescues!

In a normal year, the New England Aquarium takes in between 25 and 60 sea turtles. In 2012, that number was more than 200, with an extraordinarily high number of loggerheads (10 times the usual number seen in a year).

Such an influx of rescues caused significant strain on staff and resources, which lead New England Aquarium to reach out for help from other stranding partners. Dr. Kat Hadfield, associate veterinarian at the National Aquarium, was among those who headed to Quincy, Massachusetts, to help. The Aquarium’s Marine Animal Rescue Program tended to multiple patients from New England until they were ready for release!

Scientists Gather in Baltimore for International Sea Turtle Symposium

Sea turtles have been an integral part of ecosystems for more than 60 million years and, this week, National Aquarium will be co-hosting the 33rd Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation to make sure they stay that way.

More than 1,000 scientists and conservationists from 75 countries are expected to attend the symposium presented by the International Sea Turtle Society.

The theme for this year’s symposium is “Connections” and will include discussions around sea turtle biology, research and conservation, marine turtle ecological interactions, coastal communities, collaborative research, community-based conservation and more. Outreach and educational activities planned for the symposium will highlight the presence of sea turtles in the Chesapeake Bay and the myriad of environmental issues impacting the watershed.

Being located on the Chesapeake Bay, the largest watershed on the east coast and an important foraging area for some sea turtle species, National Aquarium is deeply invested in the cause. The need for sea turtle conservation action is urgent. It is going to take many people from many countries across the world to save these species.

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest watershed on the east coast and home to more than 300 species of aquatic animal.

This year has been an extraordinarily busy sea turtle stranding season with a record of more than 200 reported strandings so far from along the east coast. As part of the Northeast Stranding Network, National Aquarium is responsible for responding to live sea turtle and marine mammal strandings along the nearly 4,300 miles of coastline in Maryland, including the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic coasts.

Early in the stranding season, National Aquarium rescued this loggerhead hatchling.

Although Maryland has not seen many local turtle strandings, National Aquarium’s Marine Animal Rescue Program is working closely with other institutions like New England Aquarium to take on many of the turtle patients. With successful releases earlier this month, the animal rescue team continues to work with these other institutions to provide rehabilitation.

Every patient release is cause for celebration! As was the case with Olympian, a green sea turtle rehabilitated at the Aquarium last year.

All sea turtles occurring in U.S. waters are listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and are under the joint jurisdiction of NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Major threats to sea turtles in the U.S. include, but are not limited to: cold-stunning; destruction and alteration of nesting and foraging habitats; incidental capture in commercial and recreational fisheries; entanglement in marine debris; and vessel strikes.

The Symposium will kick off with a Welcome Social on Monday, February 4 at National Aquarium and will run through Friday, February 8 at the Marriott Waterfront. The exhibit/vendor area will be open to the public on specific days.  In addition to on-site sessions and presentations, this year the event will also go off-site into the local Baltimore community, providing teacher and educator workshops, live streaming of special sessions to local schools and universities as well as a sea turtle art contest in Baltimore City schools. On Tuesday, students from four Baltimore City schools and one Baltimore County school will have the opportunity learn more about the importance of turtles at special Q&A sessions with sea turtle experts. Click here to download a full event program.

National Aquarium staff and experts will be present at many of the symposium’s events this week and would love to see you there! For more information on registration, click here.

Can’t join us in person? You can still participate online by submitting your questions to us in the comments section! If you could ask a sea turtle expert something, what would you want to know?

Super FISH Bowl: Our Fantasy Team Line-Up

As the competition between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers heats up in anticipation of Sunday’s Super Bowl XLVII, the National Aquarium, Baltimore and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco are enlisting the help of their aquatic animals to take their own friendly rivalry off the green and into the blue in the Super FISH Bowl!

You can’t have a #SuperFISHBowl without a strong team! As part of our fun wager, each organization is building their ultimate fantasy animal line-up!

Here’s who we’ve got out on the field:

Blue Crab

Golden Lion Tamarin

Sand Tiger Shark

Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin

Porcupinefish

Macaw

Tarpon

Roughtail Ray

Snapping Turtle

Giant Octopus

Cardinalfish

Green Sea Turtle – Calypso!

Kicker – Blue Crab
Cornerback – Golden Lion Tamarins
Defensive Line – Sand Tiger Sharks
Fullback – Dolphins
Linebacker – Porcupine Fish
Quarterback – Blue Hyacinth Macaw (Margaret)
Center – Snapping Turtle
Wide Receiver – Tarpon
Tight End – Roughtail Ray
Coach – Octopus (Poulpe)
Referees – Banggai Cardinalfish
Cheerleader – Green Sea Turtle (Calypso)

Tell us your favorite player & they could be our fan-voted MVP!

TODAY Show’s Erica Hill Visits National Aquarium, Baltimore!

National Aquarium, Baltimore recently had a very exciting guest, Erica Hill from NBC’s Today Show, join for a behind-the-scenes day  to help care for our animals and learn more about our Marine Animal Rescue Program!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO OF ERICA’S VISIT

To kick off her behind-the-scenes visit, Erica met with Poulpe, our giant Pacific octopus! She began by making and feeding the octopus some fish treats with our Aquarist, Morgan. Morgan then offered Erica the opportunity to touch Poulpe! Not expecting a tentacle handshake so early in the morning, Erica had to build up the courage to touch him. With Morgan’s reassurance and watchful eye, Erica let Poulpe stick to her! And now they can be best friends for life, right, Erica?

Poulpe saying hello to Erica!

Erica then moved on to our Dolphin Discovery exhibit to meet our Atlantic bottlenose dolphins! Here she learned about our daily husbandry exams from Allison, our manager of marine mammal training. In these daily exams, our staff checks the health of each of the eight dolphins. Erica learned the commands to get the dolphins to allow her examination of their dorsal fin and tail. She also got to have a little fun by participating a dolphin enrichment session!

Erica and the dolphins were fast friends!

After the excitement of bonding with Poulpe and the dolphins, it was onto Animal Planet Australia: Wild Extremes. Here, Erica helped our aviculturist, Mallorie, care for the many birds that call this immersive exhibit home, including Rosie our cockatoo! Erica helped our exhibit staff prep all kinds of bird food – from fresh fruit to live worms!

Erica assisting our staff with Rosie the cockatoo

After helping with the Australia birds, Erica also got to help our herpetologist, Kyle, with a stingray and barramundi feeding. During her feeding, she even shared some of her new animal knowledge with Aquarium guests! (We’re ready to hire you if you’re ever looking for work, Erica!)

Erica and Kyle explaining what stingrays eat

The second part of Erica’s day with us was spent at our off-site Animal Care Facility, where she met some of the turtle patients being cared for by our Marine Animal Rescue Program (MARP) team. MARP team member, Amber, shared many stories from her amazing experience on the team rescuing and caring for seals and turtles.

Erica and Amber talking turtle resuces

One of Erica’s favorite turtles to meet was the young loggerhead turtle hatchling survivor that our team rescued shortly before Hurricane Sandy.

National Aquarium rescue turtle hatchling!

After spending the day with us, Erica’s biggest take way was this: “the National Aquarium’s goal is simple: educate and inspire conservation.”

From all of us here at National Aquarium, we would like to sincerely thank Erica and the Today Show team for visiting us! We hope to see you again soon!

Thoughtful Thursdays: Update on Rescued Sea Turtles

2013 is off to a busy start!

As we mentioned in a previous post, our Marine Animal Rescue Program (MARP) is currently caring for seven patients in our Animal Care Center’s sea turtle rehab area. All of our patients have come from the New England Aquarium, where there has been a historic influx of cold-stunned turtles.

Their rescue team has been doing an amazing job responding and treating more than 200 turtles in just a few short months. Once some of their patients were deemed healthy enough for travel, they were transported to animal care institutions along the east coast for additional treatment and release.

Our Associate Veterinarian Kat Hadfield prepares for the ride back to Baltimore with one of our current patients! Photo via NEAQ

All seven of our patients (three Kemp’s ridleys, three green sea turtles and one loggerhead) are being treated for cold-stunning - a hypothermic reaction that occurs when sea turtles are exposed to cold water for a prolonged period of time.

Unfortunately, as water temperatures drop, it impairs a turtles’ ability to swim/dive normally. This puts them at a greater risk of being struck by things in the water, such as boat propellers. That was the case for our loggerhead patient, who also sustained multiple injuries, including one that required amputation of its right front flipper.

These deep cuts in the loggerhead’s carapace (shell) were likely done by a boat propeller.

We’re happy to report that this turtle is healing well on its own and is eating a lot (it is currently enjoying a well-rounded diet of crab, squid, shrimp and fish)!

Even with his injury, the loggerhead is swimming well and enjoys exploring his temporary home!

Due to his steady improvement and recovery, we hope to be able to release this turtle in the coming weeks. We will be tracking him via satellite to collect additional data to support our past research on how turtles with front flipper amputations survive in the wild.

To learn more about MARP and how you can help support our animal rescue efforts, visit aqua.org/MARP.

Want to get more behind-the-scenes access to what’s happening here at the Aquarium? Subscribe to our YouTube channel for updates on our animals, rescues/releases and the construction of our new exhibit, Blacktip Reef!