The Use of Satellite Tags in Tracking Sea Turtles
by Ana Noel
The NY Marine Rescue Center uses methods to keep tabs on their animals after they are released. One way they do this is with flipper tags. These are tags that are inserted in the flippers of the sea turtles and seals after they release them with their organization name and number. This allows for them to keep track of the animal if it were to return to shore. For example, if someone found this animal and called the number, they would be able to get the location of the animal as well as know that the animal is still alive after they released it.
Another tracking device they use is satellite tags. These are placed on the shell of the sea turtle and connected to a satellite. The satellite connects to a computer to show not only where the sea turtle is located currently, but also the path it took and the places it was before. This is beneficial because it allows the sea turtle to be monitored. This can help show if the sea turtles are displaying normal behavior by looking if they are migrating at the appropriate time. This can also help show if the sea turtle is still in the colder waters and gives them an idea if this turtle may need to be rescued again because of cold stunning. In addition, these tags can help show if the animal survives after they release them to see if their efforts to save them are working. A problem with this technique is that the tags are expensive ($1000-2000) and can fall off since they are located on the outside of the turtle’s shell.
Diagram of how satellite tags work from the satellite to the computer.
Location of five sea turtles that were released from the New York Marine Rescue Center. This is an example of how satellite tags work by being able to track the turtle’s location since their release.
Satellite tags attached to a turtle and the different examples of satellite tags used. These tags are not only used to locate the turtle, but also to collect the temperature and dive data of the turtle to see if the turtle may be experiencing cold stunning.
Example of data collected on the dive depth of the Atlantic green sea turtle with the use of satellite tags.
The New York Marine Rescue Center with Connection to Pinniped Stranding
by Mateo Rivera
Pinnipeds, which consist of seals, sea lions and walruses, are highly susceptible of becoming stranded on beaches along the East and West Coast. These strandings are caused by a multitude of reasons, but the most common are from fishing gear entanglements, boat strikes, and starvation. The factos that lead the mammals landing on these beaches can lead to their ultimate deaths. It is crucial that the information gathered be reported to NOAA so response and tratment methods can be improved. Also, it can support in educating the community and preventing fisheries from making fatal mistakes that can result in increased strandings. The pinnipeds in the pictures are from the Long Island Aquarium, NY and are represented by harbor seals and grey seals. They are extremely playful as you can witness by the picture on the right as they glide through the water in the enclosure.
The New York Marine Rescue Center is the only location that services these stranded organisms in the state and is stationed in Riverhead. Their effort is crucial to addressing these events and facilitating their rehabilitation. This part of the rescue center is known as “seal row” and it consisting of 16 tanks for holding small seals. Keeping them in an area where they are able to heal and in the water is important so that their recovery occurs rapidly. They are kept at a constant temperature and salinity, since the saltwater is apparently good for healing. Water quality is checked and maintained every single day. However, seals haven’t been stranded recently so they are adapting this part of the center for large loggerhead sea turtles.
NY Marine Rescue Center
by Sandra Reyes
During the trip to the New York Marine Rescue Center we learned a lot about the animals that they can care for and how small things we do can help reduce the number of animals they have to rescue. They are a nonprofit organization that helps rehabilitate, release and relocate marine animals that get entangled or need medical assistance. They are the only respondents for cetaceans, pinnipeds and sea turtles for the whole state of New York. They even have 3 volunteer veterinarians on call; two of which I have had the privilege to meet, Doctor Rob and Doctor Jen (Doctor Jen loves Stony Brook students because she is a Stony Brook graduate).
During the months of late October to mid-January is referred to as “cold stunt season” and since we are currently in that season Maxine Montello was telling all about it. The cold stunt season effects the sea turtles; and besides boat crashes, entanglements, and fish hook mishaps, it’s what brings in the most sea turtles. When a cold stunt sea turtle is called in the first thing that they do (as well as to any animal that is brought into the hospital) is give them a full physical. The physical includes x-ray scans, physical touch for reflexes as well as abnormalities and even blood work.
Figure 1. Maxine Montello displays two x-rays (one of a loggerhead sea turtle and one of a seal pup), talking about the x-ray procedure for each animal.
After they get a physical, they are categorized into one of four classes depending on the severity of their condition. There are four different types of sea turtles; the Atlantic green, the Loggerhead, Kemp’s Ridley and the Leatherback sea turtles. Out of the four the leatherback is the largest and the only sea turtle said to not be affected by the cold stunt; therefore, the other three take up most of their rescue calls. Class one cases are usually if they are still alert and have normal reflexes and class four means they have to responses and can’t even breath on their own. Once the turtles have had a full exam they want to warm them up to 15°C but very slowly (2-3 degrees per day) to make sure not to cause internal body damage. They go through a critical five-day intensive care protocol in which they are not left in the pools alone overnight and kept in a room that matches their internal body temperature. They say that the first 48 hours are the hardest and that if they survive past day 3 that they usually don’t have to worry too much after that.
Figure 2. This image displays the posters that the staff reference when trying to place a turtle in one of the four classes. The poster on the bottom helps the staff know what to look for in specifically a Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle.
Once they have made it past the five days they are usually in the clear, however, they are still not permitted to stay in the pools overnight unless they can swim stably on their own. This includes being able to lift their heads above the water, swim to the bottom and back up, and interact in a non-threatening way with the enrichment around them. They must maintain the pools to make sure that they stay at the turtle’s body temperature as well as a constant 32 ppt in terms of salinity. After the turtles pass their physical exam and the five-day mark, they get charted and all their information gets sent to NOWA to be determined if they are releasable or not. Unfortunately, once the cold stunt patients are deemed releasable, they can’t be released here due to the cold weather, so they usually stay “in house” with them until the warmer weather comes back. If they have a large amount of them, they will partner up with a team in Florida so that they drive them to Boston and the other team drive them straight to Florida to be released there.
Figure 3. This is turtle 90, a baby Atlantic Green sea turtle who had been affected by the cold stunt and brought to the rescue center for a week ago. 90 is doing very well, and will have her first overnight in the pool soon
Deadliest Predator in the Ocean
by Katelyn Castler
The Riverhead NY Marine Rescue Center focuses on helping strained marine mammals and sea turtles. The biggest problem that these workers noticed the marine life have been facing is entanglement issues with nets or other marine debris. They provide a hazard as they may prevent an animal from feeding, limit movements, or even cause deadly wounds or infections. Once these animals face a problem like this, they can then become even more susceptible to other predators or ship strikes. The issue these marine mammals or sea turtles face is considered one of the top known human-caused mortality events. It is very dangerous and has become a serious problem today.
Figure 1. Image of nets/line that have or may cause marine mammal or sea turtle entanglements.
There are many ways to help prevent these entanglement issues. One way is to clean up after yourself. No matter where you are in the world, all the surrounding water ways are connected to the ocean. By picking up your trash, plastic bags, straws, ect. you are helping to prevent unneeded material from going into the ocean. Another way to help is to be cautious of your surroundings. If you are out fishing, be on the look out for protected marine mammals or sea turtles. Also be cautious of where you are putting line out and what you might be expected to catch. Lastly, spread the knowledge to your friends and family. The best way to protect marine life is to make everyone knowledgeable about the issue at hand so everyone can contribute to the protection. The more people who want to protect our oceans, the cleaner and safer it will be for marine life.
Permanent residents of the Long Island Aquarium
by Arthur Cody
During our trip to Long Island Aquarium and the New York marine Research Center, we saw a number of permanent residents to the aquarium and research center. The exhibit housed harbor seals and one gray seal by the name of Gray beauty. Gray Beauty was blind from cataracts in both her eyes and was rescued By New York Marine Rescue Center.
Other residents of the aquarium are the skates and rays that live in the display at the front of the aquarium. While we were there we saw a small baby in the tank and were informed not to touch it as it is very fragile as it was only recently born.
Another resident of the aquarium inside of the New York Marine Rescue Center is chestnut the Atlantic green Sea Turtle, housed within one of the tanks used by the rescue center for seals. Chestnut was struck by a boat that damaged its shell, the shell then began to reform. But instead of growing out throughout the entire shell, the shells carapace grew up, and this means that Chestnut was now top heavy and was more buoyant, which means he would never survive out in the wild. Overall, the trip showed us how these permanent residents rely on facilities like these to survive.
The History of Riverhead’s Alewife Ladder
by Charlotte Brennan
The Peconic River is an estuary meaning that there’s a mixture of salt and freshwater within the same body of water. The brackish water flows east and there’s saltier water on the bottom. As a result of this, there are brackish species within the river, including alewives, a species of fish. However, many estuaries are in trouble due to increased development around them. This affects migratory species such as alewives and American eels.
Within the Peconic River, alewives weren’t able to get over drops which endangers their ability to spawn and survive as a species. The population of Peconic alewives has plummeted since colonialism because we blocked their path within the river. In order to solve this problem, Bob Conklin developed a metal shoot in the early 2000s to place in the water to help the fish swim. However, while it worked okay, leaves would clog within the shoot and it required too much maintenance.
In 2010, a new natural slope, similar to a creek, was built within the river to replace the old shoot. It also includes rocks that helped slow water. Unfortunately, Bob Conklin died before it was put in, but the project has been a success for alewives and has helped their population. There is also a deep 12ft pool close to the ladder where 5000 alewives lay their eggs.
This is an example of signs that are posted all along the Peconic River where alewives live in order to protect their species and keep them away from further harm.
This is a rock located within the park dedicated to Bob Conklin who originally designed the fish ladder but wasn’t around to see the final form unveiled.
Here’s the alewife ladder in its full glory. To the untrained eye, it looks like a normal creek, but it actually is manmade and helps alewives greatly.
Right where the alewife ladder is, there’s an indentation in the concrete where an old gate used to be located that has since been removed to make way for the alewife ladder.
Attention to Detail
by Kristi Flanigan
When we visited the NY Marine Rescue Center, the first critters we encountered were the seals outside, swimming peaceably in their enclosure. Inside, there was a touch tank comprised mostly of stingrays. Past then, and all of this before our tour even began, we saw fish. One of my favorite things about aquariums is how much information is everywhere if you can drag your eyes away from the animals long enough to read it. Now starting to contain my excitement enough to take notice of the posted signs, I read up on the Gulf Stream and how it affects fish distributions while we were given time to look around pre-tour. Gulf Stream riders are tropical fish that are carried, as the name suggests, by the Gulf Stream, which can transport them hundreds of miles away from the warm southern waters we most immediately associate them with. It’s such an impossibly massive thing to imagine, watching the fish in the tank wind their way through the water so serenely, that in the wild they could see hundreds of miles of ocean in their lifetime. The vastness and complexity of so many small lives is certainly not something I’m really able to fathom even when I look out at the ocean. I kind of hope I’ll never lose that sense of wonder.
Speaking of a sense of wonder, we move from the main part of the aquarium into the repurposed warehouse that is the animal hospital for our tour, and I find it worth reflecting on that I’m passing through a space that makes a constant impact on the health of various types of marine life. In such a short time span I’ve walked past seals, fish, and turtles, and was we stand in front of the rows of tanks, we learn about why dolphins are not present and are never present inside the NY Marine Rescue Center. The reason? Viral disease. It’s a different kind of detail not exactly visible or easily fathomed, especially looking at the up-to-code cleanliness of the animal hospital. But that’s what happened – a highly contagious and airborne disease was becoming an issue in local waters to an uncontrollable degree and the facility happened to test positive. It could have spread to other animals in the facility, so for the safety of the animals the facility complied with regulations and no longer houses dolphins. It’s the kind of information I find hard to believe, even saddening – a place so dedicated to the care of their animals, so committed to the health of marine life, simply unlucky enough to lose an invisible fight against microbes. That said, and very much so to the facility’s credit, they have been able to move forward and help more sea turtles, in particular, than ever, and are doing so wonderfully. While we’re there we see a sea turtle finally go to the bottom of its tank on its own. The viral disease situation might be called a setback, but the center has moved forward to make an in-house impact where it can. It’s that attention to detail and love for the ocean that I really enjoy and respect. Aquariums and rescue centers for marine life are truly inspiring, fulfilling places in the face of the challenges inherent in caring for the world’s oceans.
Estuaries (Riverhead)
by Tyler Rodriguez
The above image is from an estuary in Riverhead, New York. An estuary is a semi-enclosed body of water where saltwater and freshwater meet. This type of mixed water is known as brackish water. Estuaries are a unique environment that are home to a large and diverse set of wildlife, including fish such as alewifes and birds such as seagulls and ducks. Because of the influence of tides and freshwater rivers draining into saltwater, these areas are rich in nutrients and contribute to a very productive ecosystem. The below image is of Mallards that live in the estuary area in Riverhead.
Estuaries have been important to coastal communities for hundreds of years. Early coastal communities realized the benefit of these areas and many harbors were developed in estuary regions. Because they are semi-enclosed, they are generally protected from ocean hazards such as large waves from storms. The very nature of estuaries provide protection to boats and harbors that development at the open ocean would not. As we have seen in past trips for this class, many harbors and maritime points of significance (such as the launching point for trans-Long Island Sound ferries) are in protected areas. Estuaries, historically, have been the perfect location for coastal development.
The Atlantic Green Sea Turtle #90: on the way to Recovery
by Joanna Zhu
During our visit to the New York Marine Rescue Center, we saw three cold-stunned sea turtles in rehabilitation. All three were rescued on Saturday, November 9th, 2019; one of them is a loggerhead and the other two are both Atlantic green sea turtles. The Atlantic greens are given the numbers 90 and 91 in order to identify them. #90 was discovered in Southampton by the founder of Tate’s house, in front of her house. It is the tiniest Atlantic green sea turtle the facility had ever rehabbed; this species is the largest hard-shelled sea turtle species so it can potentially grow very large.
We were very lucky to witness #90 diving, which indicated it was recovering from cold stunning. It was swimming slowly on the surface of the tank when we just arrived. It was very weak when it arrived at the rescue center, classified as a type III, meaning that it could respond to touching but with shallow breathing. According to Maxine Montello, the director of the rescue program, #90 cannot dive yet. However, after a few minutes we were all surprised to see #90 repeatedly diving slowly to the bottom and swimming up to the surface to breathe.
Photo 1: #90 when we first arrived, floating on the surface with heads raised above water (©NY Marine Rescue Center).
Photo 2: #90 slowly diving to the bottom of the tank (©NY Marine Rescue Center).
From #90, we can see the efforts the rescue team putted into rehabilitating these animals. Before #90 can dive, it was in a critical period and could not be left in the tank alone overnight. One team member was needed every night to watch over it before it can dive. Also, the tanks were decorated with red ribbons to help with recovery. These ribbons were imitating kelps in which juvenile sea turtles like to hang around for protection. We frequently saw #90 swim around and under them. Now that #90 can dive on its own, it is showing great signs of recovery and increase in strength. We hope that all cold stunned sea turtles in the facility can be successfully rehabbed and released back to the ocean!
[Photo 3] Photo 3: #90 swimming and floating below red ribbon which imitates kelp (©NY Marine Rescue Center).
