Cold-stunned sea turtles rescued from Northport, taken to rehab center until next summer

When crewmembers at Seymour’s Boatyard noticed leaves rustling along the shoreline of a beach in their slipway, they stopped to investigate. What they found was a sea turtle struggling, moving lethargically in the water. The turtle was scooped out and brought to a warm work shed, and owner and operator of Seymour’s, Dave Weber, contacted the NY Marine Rescue Center hotline who dispatched a volunteer to pick up the turtle for rehab.

Weber and his crew have rescued four sea turtles from Northport Harbor over the past few days, during a “cold-stun” season – when the water is too cold for turtles to maintain their body temperature – that’s become longer over the years due to a lack of normal seasonality.

Executive Director of NY Marine Rescue Center Maxine Montello told the Journal that last year they rescued and rehabilitated 90 turtles, and this season is proving to be no different. 

Cold-stun season is a normal occurrence in New York, usually starting in November and going into late January and early February. “Over the years, our season has extended its length. Originally, it would be a quick four to six weeks, but we’re now pushing into that 12-week period,” Montello said. 

Sea turtles are cold-blooded animals, so they can’t regulate their internal temperature. They live and forage in our harbors all summer, but need to leave before the temperatures drop in order to survive. 

Temperature distinctions between summer, fall and winter are becoming less clear – the warmer temperatures throughout fall are misleading to sea turtles, who are dependent on temperature cues to migrate. “So they stay here too long and then all of a sudden we drop in temperature. That makes these turtles debilitated,” Montello explained. 

The turtles then freeze and float to the surface of the water. Their heart rate and breathing decrease, and strong winds and high tide leave them stranded on the beach, Montello said.

This season, the cold-stun temperatures began on November 25 and since then, NY Marine Rescue has received reports for over fifty stranded sea turtles. “It’s a lot of turtles in a short amount of time,” Montello said. Many of these turtles were found in the Northport and Huntington area, where they lived all summer and were unable to leave on time. 

The Marine Rescue team responds to stranded turtles and rehabilitates them until next summer. They aim to respond within a few hours and although their headquarters are in Riverhead, they have trained responders around the Huntington area who can arrive on scene quickly. The cold-stunned turtles are transported to their Riverhead facility, in the same building as the Long Island Aquarium, where it takes four to five days to initiate their rehabilitation, Montello said. 

“We slowly warm them up over the course of those days. It’s really not ideal to warm them up too fast, but by doing it slowly, we can ensure that we’re monitoring all of the issues that they might be having, like their electrolytes, white blood cell counts for infection and their glucose because they haven’t been eating,” she explained. Once the turtles are out of the cold-stunned phase, it takes about six to nine months to successfully rehabilitate them, help them to gain weight and build strength for swimming. The rehabilitated turtles will be released next summer. 

It’s important for people to report stranded, cold-stunned turtles to the group’s hotline, Montello said. The longer the turtles remain in the harsh elements, the lower the chances of their survival. Some of the turtles die before rescue, but those that are transported to the rehabilitation center have a very high survival rate, she added. 

Of the four turtles recently rescued by Seymour’s Boatyard, one was a federally protected Green Sea Turtle under the endangered species act. These turtles are seldom seen this far north, and “it was incredible to see one here in Northport Harbor,” said Weber, who is also a Village trustee and commissioner of waterways. Weber took his workboat along the shore from the boatyard all the way to Duck Island on his search; two of the turtles he found were in Asharoken. Protecting our waterways and harbor is a responsibility we all share, he said, adding that this past week’s rescues are unlike anything he’s seen in almost 30 years. 

NY Marine Rescue Center is a small non-for-profit organization that is currently seeking volunteers or donations. Founded in 1996, they are the only facility in New York permitted to rehabilitate marine mammals and sea turtles. More information on the organization can be found here. 

To report a stranded sea turtle, call the 24-hour NY Marine Rescue Center hotline at 631-369-9829. If you find a turtle on the beach, do not put it back in the water.