“The affected loggerheads have been found underweight and emaciated. “In the Coastal Bend, around one third of the stranded loggerheads have been found alive and are receiving care at permitted rehabilitation facilities, including the Amos Rehabilitation Keep, Texas State Aquarium, and Texas Sealife Center,” said Mary Kay Skoruppa, US Fish and Wildlife Service sea turtle coordinator for Texas, in the statement. The ones found alive are “underweight and emaciated.” Around two-thirds of the stranded sea turtles are found dead, according to the service. Most of this year’s strandings have occurred in Texas’s Coastal Bend between the counties of Calhoun and Kleberg.
Over the past decade, an average of 109 loggerhead sea turtles have stranded on Texas beaches each year, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. As adults, the sea turtles can be as long as 3.5 feet and weigh as much as 350 pounds, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Loggerheads are the most abundant species to nest in the United States, although their population has still faced decline, largely due to bycatch from fishing operations. There are five species of sea turtle found in the Gulf of Mexico. “This dramatic increase in loggerhead strandings this year is alarming and has STSSN participants on high alert in the Coastal Bend to be ready for the increased influx of incapacitated loggerheads needing immediate rescue and care.”
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