GULF SHORES — After months of rehabilitation, two sea turtles returned to the Gulf Tuesday morning.Pudge, a subadult Kemp's ridley, and Skipper, a loggerhead, were released from the Gulf State Park …
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GULF SHORES — After months of rehabilitation, two sea turtles returned to the Gulf Tuesday morning.Pudge, a subadult Kemp's ridley, and Skipper, a loggerhead, were released from the Gulf State Park Pavilion after being rescued following encounters with fishing gear. Both turtles spent months recovering at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies before being cleared for release.
Pudge arrived at IMMS in March after being hooked in a flipper. Skipper, the loggerhead, was brought in in May after also being hooked and becoming entangled in a monofilament line.
The turtles required different recovery plans based on their injuries and how they responded to treatment. Pudge developed pneumonia from aspirating water during the hooking incident and later developed additional infections.
Theresa Madrigal, stranding coordinator at IMMS, said situations like Pudge's show why people should report turtles caught on fishing gear rather than trying to remove the hook themselves.
"A lot of people, when they have minor injuries with hookings like that, have a tendency to want to just remove the hook and let it go," Madrigal said.
Madrigal said veterinary examinations can uncover injuries that may not be visible at first. In some cases, turtles that appear to have been hooked once are found to have multiple hooks inside them.
The rehabilitation process involves both medical care and daily care for the turtles. IMMS works with Mississippi State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, whose veterinarians provide treatment while IMMS staff assist and care for the animals throughout their recovery.
A NEW WAY OF LEARNING
For Pudge, the return to the Gulf also came with a new piece of equipment.
Before Tuesday's release, researchers fitted her with a satellite tag as part of IMMS' telemetry program. The tag will allow researchers to track Pudge's movements after she returns to the Gulf and learn more about how Kemp's ridleys use the region.
Kemp's ridleys are the most endangered sea turtle species and are native to the Gulf, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
"Every time that turtle comes to the surface to breathe, it'll send a transmission to that satellite, and then we can track their movements," Madrigal said.
The information collected from the tag can give researchers a better picture of where turtles travel, whether they avoid certain areas and where they may be finding food.
Madrigal said the data can also help researchers understand why turtles may repeatedly visit areas such as fishing piers.
"There may be a scarcity of food in another location that may be driving them to come up to the piers where they know they're going to get food," she said.
Marine ecologist Forrest Collins said IMMS has several turtles being actively tracked through its satellite program. The organization uses the data to study movement patterns and look for changes that could provide insight into the health of the Gulf ecosystem.
"We want to use them as more of like a canary in the coal mine type of animal," Collins said. "If there's something wrong that's going on with the ecosystem, we know that the animal will also reflect that, and at that point, we know that the next thing will be us."
Researchers can establish patterns in how turtles move through the Gulf and then look for deviations that could indicate a larger environmental problem.
"If anything deviates from that, there might be a problem, a bigger problem that's going on within the sound and within the Gulf," Collins said.
The tracking data has already shown researchers that many turtles move toward oil rigs in Louisiana waters. Collins said researchers believe the turtles may be using those areas because they provide an easy food source.
Fishing piers have also become regular destinations for some turtles. Collins said one tracked turtle, named Toast Malone, has been caught five times over five years at the same fishing pier.
"He's learned that there's a free meal and a hotel stay," Collins said.
While the tracking program helps researchers understand where turtles go after rehabilitation, officials also continue to focus on preventing the injuries that bring turtles into care.
Susan West, Alabama Sea Turtle Stranding Network coordinator, said some threats are simply part of nature, but human interactions are something people can help reduce.
"We can't do a thing about storms. We can't do anything about sharks. It's just the nature of the beasts," West said. "But we can try to mitigate human interactions."
West said that means educating anglers and beachgoers about what to do when they encounter a turtle caught on fishing gear.
"Don't take the hooks out. Don't unravel any fishing line," West said. "So we try to do it through education."
For Pudge and Skipper, Tuesday's release marked the end of months of rehabilitation and the beginning of a return to life in the Gulf. Skipper headed back into the water without a tracking device, while Pudge began her next chapter with researchers watching her movements from afar.
Gabriella Chavez is a Report for America corps member who writes about growth and development in Baldwin County and our natural spaces for Gulf Coast Media. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today.
