Turtle Release Schedule for Thursday
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NMFS Northeast Region MEDIA ADVISORY
Turtle Release Scheduled
for Thursday Woods Hole, Mass. – Four rescued sea turtles will be released
at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. The release will occur at Dowses Beach in Osterville,
which is in the town of Barnstable. Parking there is very tight, and
town officials request that the agencies coordinating the release minimize
the number of vehicles used. Any press interested in attending is asked
to gather at 12:45 p.m. at the Village Market in Osterville. We will
consolidate and shuttle rides from there. The turtles being released are two green sea turtles and two Kemp’s ridley sea turtles. All four animals are sub-adults that washed ashore on Cape Cod beaches last November. The turtles were cold stunned and would have died on the beaches if they had not been rescued by volunteers from Mass Audubon. The turtles were transported to New England Aquarium where they received critical medical care for three weeks. In late November they were moved to NOAA’s Woods Hole Science Aquarium. The aquarium staff has cared for the animals since November, feeding them, monitoring their health, and waiting until local waters warmed up enough that the turtles could be released safely. Green sea turtles are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species
Act. Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are highly endangered. Each individual
turtle is important and needs to be returned to the wild to help the
maintain genetic diversity in the population. The turtles being released
this week have been tagged with flipper tags that will provide information
if they strand again in future years. ------------------------------------------------------ NOAA Fisheries is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation's living marine resources through scientific research, management, enforcement, and the conservation of marine mammals and other protected marine species and their habitat. To learn more about NOAA Fisheries, please visit http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov. The Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. |