Ask any fisherman and he’ll tell you: Atlantic green sea turtles are a beautiful sight to behold, surfacing in the waters of the Texas Gulf.
But when the turtles started washing up along the shorelines in record numbers -- many cold, lethargic and unresponsive -- marine biologists became alarmed.
The cold winter has taken its toll on the turtle population. The same winter weather that brought a white Christmas to the Hill Country also brought chilly temperatures hundreds of miles south to the coastal waters.
“We care about the sea turtles," said Cynthia Rubio, a biologist with the Padre Island National Seashore. "Green turtles are native to our bays. It’s a natural occurrence, the cold weather, and it kills.”
Volunteers began collecting turtles January 9 on a stretch of coast from East Matagorda Bay to the Lower Laguna Madre. The stunned sea turtles range in weight anywhere from five to 200 pounds each. Experts say a sudden temperature drop of 10 degrees can cause sea turtles to go into a hypothermic state.
Rubio donned her heavy coat and headed to the sandy beachfront. She got a call from residents in condos along the shoreline about a floundering turtle.
“I went to pick up one and ended up picking up seven,” Rubio said.
State wildlife officials said in just over a week’s time, more than 425 turtles were gathered, wrapped in dry towels and transported to sanctuaries in Port Aransas, Corpus Christi and other locations. Once there, the turtles were fed and cared for in the warm waters of an aquarium.
Rubio put the sea turtles that she found in her Chevy Tahoe and headed for Port Aransas.
“Their metabolism slows down because it’s so cold," she said. "Some looked dead or barely breathing. But holding them to my body, they started to warm up and move a little more.”
Rubio said she was hopeful since she could feel the turtles stir in her arms. And when she checked on hers last Friday, she was happy to hear her turtles would survive.
But the turtles that Rubio found were lucky. Biologists say that this year, only 36 percent of these sea turtles were found alive.
As soon as water temperatures rise, the sea turtles will be released back into the water, but not before being tagged for further study, since they are an endangered species. State wildlife officials say in the front left flipper of each turtle, they place a metal "monel" tag and a Passive Integrated Transponder, or PIT.
The PIT tag is a small microchip. A second metal monel tag was also placed on the rear flipper.
“If they come back to us, we’ll know we released them too soon," Rubio said. "But we’ll also be able to tell where they go, because we may find them in different areas of the coastline or the bays.”
Biologists said they were surprised at the volume of turtles that floated ashore during the cold weather. Though a tragic event, the high numbers are a sign the Atlantic green sea turtle is making a comeback in Texas’ gulf waters.
